WOW, I cannot believe that it has been 6 months since I have written on my blog! I think about doing it all the time, but I have been so busy (at least since school has started) that I haven't really had the time to sit and do it.
So, here I sit, taking the day off - as I have pretty much done all week. I have been feeling completely awful for the past 2 weeks, I could barely stand to go out (or stay awake) for Halloween celebrations, and I just generally felt like I was hit by a truck. I talked to both of my parents and they both had the same response - "Mono?". So, finally, on November 1st I decided to go to UHS to see if they could help me out. When the doctor walked into the room, I told her how I was feeling (and how it was not due to hangover because I wasn't really even able to drink anything) and also told her that my parents thought it could be mono. After doing a check up, she ruled that I had been sick with the flu and offered to do a mono test. I declined because the doctor said that I did not have a "mono throat" and my liver and spleen were not enlarged. After a week had gone by, my throat began to hurt so badly that it became very hard to swallow. I tried to suck it up and just say that it was because of my sinuses, but it got so bad that I decided to get a follow-up appointment with the doctor. After a blood test, we found that I did, indeed, have mono. GREAT. Just what I need. Two weeks before Thanksgiving break, when school work is pretty much at an all-time high, grad school stuff is due to my professors, and tests are prominent. The good news is that I am beginning to feel better, but I am still EXHAUSTED.
Anyway, I made it through the summer without any broken bones, I have made some great new friends that I can honestly say are amazing, and I have been doing fairly well in school. I started off 2 of my classes with BOMBING the first exam, but it looks as if I will be getting B's in the final grades! Now, its crunch time for grad school stuff. I have to have all my information to my professors by weeks end. I am FREAKING out a little bit about this. I need 3 different professors to write me letters of recommendation. I only have two. I am making up an exam on Monday for one of the professors I was going to ask, so I figured I would just ask her then. BUUUUT, of course nothing ever goes my way. She has me making the exam up with some other lady. EFF. I have to figure something out and ASAP. Ugh.. I am gonna go take a nap before I get myself more stressed out. :-(
BBL.....
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind? For me it happens all the time...
I want to travel. I want to go to new places, sail the open seas, talk to strangers, try new foods. I want to visit friends in other countries. As much as I hate the unknown and vulnerability, there is something about traveling that makes these things appealing. I want to go to Turkey, since I never made it there on SAS, to visit Bahar and have her show me around Istanbul and other places.. and hopefully make it to Pamukkale. I want to see the castles of Ireland, I want to go back to Italy and climb Vesuvius, go back to Greece and get to Santorini. I would even settle for traveling to new places in the US. Go to the north east and see the coastline, visit Theresa in Rhode Island, see the Grand Canyon, go to New Orleans, cruise down Duval in Key West, get to Seattle and drink coffee :P. Hopefully I make it to L.A. in July. I just love new and exciting things.
On a completely unrelated note, I am REALLY excited for the wedding I am in on June 12. I think it will be so fun to get all fancy with my hair, my nails, and my pretty dress. It is at a winery, so it will be great to try the different types of wine they will have - just hope my mom is driving me home. lol. Also, I will be attending a wedding July 17. I need to find myself a date for this wedding! No one likes to go to weddings alone, that's boring. I also need to make some snicker doodles for the wedding. I am gonna have to start making them the week before.. thats a LOT of snicker doodles.
Hmm... what else? I am really bored and cannot sleep, so I am just droning on. I am ready for summertime. I know I am done with school, but where in the world is the warm weather?! I know for sure that it is NOT in Pennsylvania/Virginia, or anywhere in between. Speaking of summer, I am kind of torn with what to do. I already have 2 jobs in State College, but I kinda want to be in Johnstown for the summer, buuuuuuuuuuuut I think that I will go INSANE at home. I LOVE my family to death, but being there ALL the time is a little stressful, as far as having to answer to someone all the time. Buuuuut I am also going to be kinda lonely in State College. I mean, I will have friends there, but everyone is going to be busy working and some are taking classes, so I feel like a lot of time will be spent alone. Hopefully thats a good thing... might make me focus more on my life. Who knows. Also, someone from my past keeps coming back into my life. I don't know how to feel about this. It kind of makes me feel confused. I feel happy about it because this person is on my mind a lot, but at the same time, its probably not the best thing because... it just is what it is and will most likely not be anything more than that... It is just.. all the good memories are what sticks out in my head. I could list so many good things, but I could list a good number of not so great things. It's just hard and confusing and I just don't even know how to feel.
Confused?
Yeah, me too.
Oh well.
I am really excited to go home. Even if it is just for a few days. It will be nice to be there. Buuut at the same time, I don't want to leave Virginia, because I am pretty sure that this is the last time I will be in my Grandmother's house. This is so hard. Although, this house is SUPER haunted by my Grandfather - I think, anyway.
Well, I think that is all I have to randomly ramble about tonight. Thanks for reading. If you made it this far, you should probably check yourself into the psych ward. I would have stopped reading a long time ago. xoxo Katie
On a completely unrelated note, I am REALLY excited for the wedding I am in on June 12. I think it will be so fun to get all fancy with my hair, my nails, and my pretty dress. It is at a winery, so it will be great to try the different types of wine they will have - just hope my mom is driving me home. lol. Also, I will be attending a wedding July 17. I need to find myself a date for this wedding! No one likes to go to weddings alone, that's boring. I also need to make some snicker doodles for the wedding. I am gonna have to start making them the week before.. thats a LOT of snicker doodles.
Hmm... what else? I am really bored and cannot sleep, so I am just droning on. I am ready for summertime. I know I am done with school, but where in the world is the warm weather?! I know for sure that it is NOT in Pennsylvania/Virginia, or anywhere in between. Speaking of summer, I am kind of torn with what to do. I already have 2 jobs in State College, but I kinda want to be in Johnstown for the summer, buuuuuuuuuuuut I think that I will go INSANE at home. I LOVE my family to death, but being there ALL the time is a little stressful, as far as having to answer to someone all the time. Buuuuut I am also going to be kinda lonely in State College. I mean, I will have friends there, but everyone is going to be busy working and some are taking classes, so I feel like a lot of time will be spent alone. Hopefully thats a good thing... might make me focus more on my life. Who knows. Also, someone from my past keeps coming back into my life. I don't know how to feel about this. It kind of makes me feel confused. I feel happy about it because this person is on my mind a lot, but at the same time, its probably not the best thing because... it just is what it is and will most likely not be anything more than that... It is just.. all the good memories are what sticks out in my head. I could list so many good things, but I could list a good number of not so great things. It's just hard and confusing and I just don't even know how to feel.
Confused?
Yeah, me too.
Oh well.
I am really excited to go home. Even if it is just for a few days. It will be nice to be there. Buuut at the same time, I don't want to leave Virginia, because I am pretty sure that this is the last time I will be in my Grandmother's house. This is so hard. Although, this house is SUPER haunted by my Grandfather - I think, anyway.
Well, I think that is all I have to randomly ramble about tonight. Thanks for reading. If you made it this far, you should probably check yourself into the psych ward. I would have stopped reading a long time ago. xoxo Katie
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Reality of life.
Well I made it to the light at the end of the tunnel of my 4th, but not quite final, year at Penn State. Finals sucked every last bit of life out of me. I had two 8am finals and another one in the afternoon and I worked 20 hours (which is the most we are allowed to work while working for PSU and going to school). Needless to say, I was pretty delirious and my room was a wreck by the end of the week..... buut after all that work, even though I wasn't planning on it, my friends got me to go out to the Indigo with them. We did not even get there until midnight, but it was a GREAT way to end finals week. A couple drinks, a lot of dancing, and some pizza to finish off the night - instead of packing. :P
After 4 hours of sleep, a double shift on Friday, 2 coffees, a milkshake, and LOTS of loud music, dancing and singing, I made it to Virginia.. around 1 am Saturday morning. It's been a pretty uneventful weekend, which is just perfect because I am exhausted. Yesterday, we went to the Herberts for a cookout and game night. It was a really great time. Tonight, we had a mother's day dinner -- even though my grandmother could not even get out of bed. We had a great dinner - cheesy potatoes, they had some kinda beef and I had grouper, creamed spinich, and salad - great drinks - red wine, champagne, and some beer - and great friends - Donna and Darrell. All was well until my dad sent me upstairs to check on my grandmother to see if she needed anything - even though if she did, she would never tell me. She just isn't doing that well, and it's really hard to see her so weak and fragile. It brought me to tears. I am just scared because I do not do well with losing people that I love. Hopefully she gets better soon, its hard to see her in pain.
Tomorrow is my last full day in Virginia, then its home, and then NYC. Hopefully the next week and a half is GREAT.
After 4 hours of sleep, a double shift on Friday, 2 coffees, a milkshake, and LOTS of loud music, dancing and singing, I made it to Virginia.. around 1 am Saturday morning. It's been a pretty uneventful weekend, which is just perfect because I am exhausted. Yesterday, we went to the Herberts for a cookout and game night. It was a really great time. Tonight, we had a mother's day dinner -- even though my grandmother could not even get out of bed. We had a great dinner - cheesy potatoes, they had some kinda beef and I had grouper, creamed spinich, and salad - great drinks - red wine, champagne, and some beer - and great friends - Donna and Darrell. All was well until my dad sent me upstairs to check on my grandmother to see if she needed anything - even though if she did, she would never tell me. She just isn't doing that well, and it's really hard to see her so weak and fragile. It brought me to tears. I am just scared because I do not do well with losing people that I love. Hopefully she gets better soon, its hard to see her in pain.
Tomorrow is my last full day in Virginia, then its home, and then NYC. Hopefully the next week and a half is GREAT.
Monday, April 26, 2010
April Showers...
April is the LONGEST month everrr when you are in college. So close to finals and summer time, but so freaking long. I have been SUPER busy in the past month. Lots of tests, homework, and school work has kept me busy. My sister came to visit me which was fantastic because I hadn't seen her since Christmas break (I think). We hung out, had a movie night, had a game night, went to the creamery, and just had a good time. The next weekend, I had to go home to go to Emily's bridal shower. It was kind of at an inconvenient time as far as school goes, I had SO much due the next week, but I had to be there cause I am a bridesmaid. I am SO glad that I went, I had a FANTASTIC time seeing Emily and just hanging out.
Then this past weekend (Blue and White), Martie came to visit me! It was absolutely great because I got a nice break from school - even though I had an exam today and a paper to write for today. We went to the ShandyGaff on Friday night because the line for Indigo was OUTRAGEOUS and we got to hang out with my friend Alyssa, which was really nice. Then Saturday, we went to Waffle Shop EARLY before the line started, and instead of going tailgating and whatnot, we went shopping and found some SWEEEEEEEEEET glasses.
Theeeen on Saturday night, we were gonna go to Indigo, but when we stepped outside, it was raining. We tried to get a cab, buuuuut they were all full. Soooo we decided to stay in, take
pictures, make homemade tortillas and hummus, drink, and play card games. Then we went to waffle shop again and we TRIED to upload the pictures from the previous night, buuuuuut my camera deleted the pictures.
Sooooo we decided
to retake the photos! We had SO much fun doing it! I am so sad the weekend is over and its back to reality. I had to wake up at 7 to finish up a paper before my 9 am class, then I had to take a test at 1, which... hopefully went well. But I have pretty much decided that I will NEVER be an SLP in the south! Their accents are too crazy for me! :P
Next week is finals week. AHHHHH. I see the light at the end of the semester. Only one more year until I graduate. The next few months are going to be crucial for me. I have to get my GRE skills up to par, research more schools, and apply to grad school. O M G. I am freaking out a little... but I am concentrating on finals and current grades before I can seriously commit time to research. Also, I have to find places to volunteer for the summer, and get myself another job :-\
Thursday, April 1, 2010
hmmm.
Well, a lot has happened since I have last written. I did well in my first semester of CSD, I have not broken any MORE bones, I went to the OBX with Dad, Steph, Moni, and Dad's friends and had a BLAST, acquired a snuggie (thanks mom!), was asked to be in a friend's wedding in June (which I said yes to, and acquired a beautiful bridesmaid's/sun dress), got a job serving food to freshmen - not all in that order.
That brings us to 2010, which began at the OBX. I started the year off with 2 ear infections and strep throat. Awesome, right? Well, at least things can pretty much only go up from there.. right? Well, kinda. I get back to school after spending time with the fam, and things are going well. We celebrated 21st birthdays, celebrated weekends, celebrated friendships.... until a whole group of my friends decided I wasn't gonna be their friend anymore - with no legitimate reason... well at least that I know of. It's all good though, cause I am legit better off without them.
Sooo, a few months pass and its time for SPRING BREAK!
Well, Martie and I decide that we are going on a cruise. We booked a cruise on the Carnival Destiny for 5 nights for only $430!!! AMAZING! We decide to drive to Miami to save money instead of flying. So we met in VA, then drove to Charleston, SC to stay at her friend Matt's apartment. We had fun; we went out for mexican dinner and a margarita (or two, or three). The next day we drove to Miami (overnight) and got on the ship. We had a BLAST. The cruise started Monday, Tuesday was FREEZING at sea, Wednesday was spent in Grand Turk, Thursday was supposed to be spent at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas but it was too windy/wavy for the tender boats to get us to land, so it was a beautiful day at sea, Friday was spent at Nassau, and we came back Saturday. I tried a LOT of new things on the cruise. I ate salmon sushi, lobster, escargot, conch in the Bahamas, grouper.... I feel like there were more, but I cant recall.
So that pretty much brings us up to speed with my life over the past few months. I am thinking about moving to Queens for the summer, but there are some things that need worked out before that can happen. It would be a fantastic summer filled with Martie time, game nights, but also lots of money making. It will be oh so exciting for quite a few reasonnnnnssssss.
That brings us to 2010, which began at the OBX. I started the year off with 2 ear infections and strep throat. Awesome, right? Well, at least things can pretty much only go up from there.. right? Well, kinda. I get back to school after spending time with the fam, and things are going well. We celebrated 21st birthdays, celebrated weekends, celebrated friendships.... until a whole group of my friends decided I wasn't gonna be their friend anymore - with no legitimate reason... well at least that I know of. It's all good though, cause I am legit better off without them.
Sooo, a few months pass and its time for SPRING BREAK!
Well, Martie and I decide that we are going on a cruise. We booked a cruise on the Carnival Destiny for 5 nights for only $430!!! AMAZING! We decide to drive to Miami to save money instead of flying. So we met in VA, then drove to Charleston, SC to stay at her friend Matt's apartment. We had fun; we went out for mexican dinner and a margarita (or two, or three). The next day we drove to Miami (overnight) and got on the ship. We had a BLAST. The cruise started Monday, Tuesday was FREEZING at sea, Wednesday was spent in Grand Turk, Thursday was supposed to be spent at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas but it was too windy/wavy for the tender boats to get us to land, so it was a beautiful day at sea, Friday was spent at Nassau, and we came back Saturday. I tried a LOT of new things on the cruise. I ate salmon sushi, lobster, escargot, conch in the Bahamas, grouper.... I feel like there were more, but I cant recall.
So that pretty much brings us up to speed with my life over the past few months. I am thinking about moving to Queens for the summer, but there are some things that need worked out before that can happen. It would be a fantastic summer filled with Martie time, game nights, but also lots of money making. It will be oh so exciting for quite a few reasonnnnnssssss.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Oh life.
SO much has happened to me this year. I have learned a lot about who I am and who I want to be. I think that I finally have my head in the right place, finally, in my senior year (even though I will have whole other year before I graduate in May 2011...weird to think about). I have been working in my classes for my new major. I love it. I have met some great new people and have become VERY close with the people currently in my life. I think I have begun to straighten things out with family, but, still have more work to do there. Between breaking 3 bones within 4 months, boys, friends, family, I have had a bit of a wake-up call... and like I said, I think I am on a better track.
I finally got cleared last Wednesday to resume normal activity with my ankle, which is GREAT news! I have been going to the gym and my limp is minimal, so I couldn't be any happier. (Although I should be at the gym now.. I just have NO energy, so I am gonna finish this up and clean... and MAYBE get to the gym before 9..).
I have realized what great friends I have in my life. Jen (my roommate) and I have cleared up things that went sour last year, and living with her has been great. I think that we have become pretty good friends and it makes me truely happy that I don't dread coming back to my apartment. Jer and I have also made up, and I love him like a brother. Mark... well, he has a new girlfriend, so he is mostly MIA, but still makes some time to come over and goof off. I really am happy for him that he has found a good girl, I just hope he can stay focused on school and graduate on time! Mr. Kreshnik, I just found out last night, is graduating in December! WHAAAT!? That is so scary to think about. He is the first of my better friends to graduate and leave!! I guess I have to get used to it, since most (and when I say most, I mean a good 85-90%) of my friends will be graduating and moving on with their lives. I think that Lauren has become my best friend here. We have helped each other through the bad and celebrated the good. Hopefully, we can stay great friends after she leaves in the fall, but I don't want to think about that. Also, Adrian has become a really great friend (even if I am unsure about her boy situation, I still try to support her, because it is a really hard situation for her). The Polish boys (& Craig too!) across the hall are so great to me. They make me laugh and I just love going over there and hanging out with them. I am glad to have Ana and Deb back at UT (even if I don't see them as much anymore since they moved to the T building...).
In the past.. year or so, Marcella (my fcubeddd W2T) and I have become REALLY close. This really makes me happy. I have known her literally all my life and cannot wait to move up to New York to live with her. She has been coming to visit me at school and I am pretty sure she loves it, and I love going to the city to visit her, even if it doesn't happen as often as I would like... its just hard with school.
So Halloween is this weekend, and I am pretty pumped. Marcella is coming! Kyle and Nicole are also coming and I cannot wait to see them as well! I miss them being in State College, so I really appreciate when they come up and visit (even if it's not solely to visit me). I have two costumes planned out, but they are a secret. I'll let you know how it goes sometime later.. :P
I miss my sister. I haven't seen her in a long while. I feel like things are slowly getting better between us, even though we still fight a little too much (but its mostly when we are together). I know she is having a rough time at school and I wish I could go visit her, but I am legit out of money. :( I need a job.
Anyway, I think that is all for right now.
Peace, Love, and Bobby Sherman lol
I finally got cleared last Wednesday to resume normal activity with my ankle, which is GREAT news! I have been going to the gym and my limp is minimal, so I couldn't be any happier. (Although I should be at the gym now.. I just have NO energy, so I am gonna finish this up and clean... and MAYBE get to the gym before 9..).
I have realized what great friends I have in my life. Jen (my roommate) and I have cleared up things that went sour last year, and living with her has been great. I think that we have become pretty good friends and it makes me truely happy that I don't dread coming back to my apartment. Jer and I have also made up, and I love him like a brother. Mark... well, he has a new girlfriend, so he is mostly MIA, but still makes some time to come over and goof off. I really am happy for him that he has found a good girl, I just hope he can stay focused on school and graduate on time! Mr. Kreshnik, I just found out last night, is graduating in December! WHAAAT!? That is so scary to think about. He is the first of my better friends to graduate and leave!! I guess I have to get used to it, since most (and when I say most, I mean a good 85-90%) of my friends will be graduating and moving on with their lives. I think that Lauren has become my best friend here. We have helped each other through the bad and celebrated the good. Hopefully, we can stay great friends after she leaves in the fall, but I don't want to think about that. Also, Adrian has become a really great friend (even if I am unsure about her boy situation, I still try to support her, because it is a really hard situation for her). The Polish boys (& Craig too!) across the hall are so great to me. They make me laugh and I just love going over there and hanging out with them. I am glad to have Ana and Deb back at UT (even if I don't see them as much anymore since they moved to the T building...).
In the past.. year or so, Marcella (my fcubeddd W2T) and I have become REALLY close. This really makes me happy. I have known her literally all my life and cannot wait to move up to New York to live with her. She has been coming to visit me at school and I am pretty sure she loves it, and I love going to the city to visit her, even if it doesn't happen as often as I would like... its just hard with school.
So Halloween is this weekend, and I am pretty pumped. Marcella is coming! Kyle and Nicole are also coming and I cannot wait to see them as well! I miss them being in State College, so I really appreciate when they come up and visit (even if it's not solely to visit me). I have two costumes planned out, but they are a secret. I'll let you know how it goes sometime later.. :P
I miss my sister. I haven't seen her in a long while. I feel like things are slowly getting better between us, even though we still fight a little too much (but its mostly when we are together). I know she is having a rough time at school and I wish I could go visit her, but I am legit out of money. :( I need a job.
Anyway, I think that is all for right now.
Peace, Love, and Bobby Sherman lol
Monday, June 15, 2009
Reflections..
So here I am. One year ago, this very moment, I was on a boat (yes, I know. I'm on a boat) en route to Bergen, Norway. I honestly cannot believe it has been a whole year. I was so nervous and so very excited to experience everything that was about to happen for the next 2 and a half months. The first person I really met was my roommate, Amber. She was a great roommate. Yes, we had our differences and got on each others nerves from time to time (which is bound to happen when your room is 2x2, haha), but overall she was a good roommate. Then I met Marissa, and we obviously became best friends on the trip and I miss her so much, and then her roommate Aimee and many more people from there.
As I sit here, looking at pictures and reminiscing, I feel like I learned SO SO much about myself through friends, the staff on the ship, the countries we visited, and the people I met in these countries. I certainly caught a BAD case of the travel bug after this trip, and can't wait for my next journey -- whether it be in the US or somewhere else. (Although, I AM looking to try and go again next summer......)
Anyway, enough sappy reminiscing. In 5 days, I am about to have a milestone birthday. Yes, the big 2-1. I am pretty excited about this, despite my lack of money to support being able to go out and drink with friends. I am just really excited that my good friends are coming out to see me (if they aren't already here) and celebrate my birthday! I am excited for everyone to come, but in particular, my SAShole -- Marissa and also my Fcubed -- Marcella! I miss them so much!
So. That's about all I have to say right now as I am EXHAUSTED and have 4 papers to write in the next 2 weeks... so back to that. I will write again sometime after muh birthday and let you (whoever you may be) know how it goes.
Until then...
As I sit here, looking at pictures and reminiscing, I feel like I learned SO SO much about myself through friends, the staff on the ship, the countries we visited, and the people I met in these countries. I certainly caught a BAD case of the travel bug after this trip, and can't wait for my next journey -- whether it be in the US or somewhere else. (Although, I AM looking to try and go again next summer......)
Anyway, enough sappy reminiscing. In 5 days, I am about to have a milestone birthday. Yes, the big 2-1. I am pretty excited about this, despite my lack of money to support being able to go out and drink with friends. I am just really excited that my good friends are coming out to see me (if they aren't already here) and celebrate my birthday! I am excited for everyone to come, but in particular, my SAShole -- Marissa and also my Fcubed -- Marcella! I miss them so much!
So. That's about all I have to say right now as I am EXHAUSTED and have 4 papers to write in the next 2 weeks... so back to that. I will write again sometime after muh birthday and let you (whoever you may be) know how it goes.
Until then...
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Quite frankly, this seems like a more fun idea than studying lifespan development right now...
Soooo, it has been entirely too long since I have written in this blog. It is coming up on a year since I left for my Semester at Sea (June 15, 2008). I feel so blessed to have been able to participated in that adventure. I made tons and tons of memories - many of you probably read along as I went - and even more so, I made some really great friends that I will NEVER forget.
So this past school year was my first year at the main Penn State campus (thank GOD I am done with Altoona). I absolutely loved it! I have learned so much about myself, including that I do not EVER EVER EVER want to be in the hospitality business. (Ooops, expensive life decision...) I have finally figured out what I want to do with my life - be a speech therapist. Now I am not 100% sure where I want to go with this. I have a few options, all of which have good job placement and good pay. I am leaning toward working in an elementary school with children that have autism or just children with speech impediments, but after having a conversation with Marcella about her brother and people who were in the ICU, I am also leaning toward working in a hospital with victims of accidents and so on. I am so glad that I figured out what I want to do. I always knew I wanted to do SOME sort of teaching but found out that being an actual teacher was not in the cards for me (i.e. I decided against standardized tests, being moved around between grades, bad pay).
I have met some really great people here in State College. Most of my friends I met at my apartment complex, which I love. They have been pretty good to me and help me when I need them and vice versa. I have also made some great friends in the major I now call the "oopsie major". I am really glad to have met them. I really do believe that everything happens for a reason, and I did get something good out of a year of torture.
So now, it is summer break, and guess how I am spending it. Yes, thats right, SUMMER CLASSES. Ugh! But thats what happens when you change your major at the very end of your 3rd year of school. I am taking 2 classes and I am SUPPOSED to be working at Dunkin Donuts, but clearly they are overstaffed, so the new girl gets no hours. Great.
But, my favorite month is coming up! Yes, June. Why? Oh.. maybe just cause its my birthday month! Oh.. and 24 days till my 21st! Yayaya! But, honestly who is counting? I do have an exciting few months coming up a head of me, though. Firstly, my birthday is the 20th. A week after, on the 27th, I am going to the Kenny Chesney concert, courtesy of my friend Jordan! I am SOSOSOSOSOSO pumped for that. I have been wanting to see Kenny Chesney for soo long! Then I have finals and all that jazz.
July is going to be an exciting month! Two big things are happening for me. 1) Marcella and I are going to go on a trip for her graduation present from her mom. I think things are looking toward San Diego! I have NEVER been to California, so I am really pumped about it! We are gonna go to the zoo, shopping, beach, go out.. all the fun stuff!! 2) I am going BACK to CA a week and a half later to go see my SASHOLES! I will be flying into LAX to see Heather and Emily! Also, I will be really close to Christian, so I am gonna head there for a day or two or whatever and see her and her fam! I cannot waiiit!
So after all that craziness, I will be heading to the OBX with my faja and sistah the second week of August. Then all the fun is over and school starts again like a week or two after that. Sad Party. Buuuut I will be jumping right into my new major (provided I can get into my classes...but thats a different story).
Welp, that is all for now. I have to get to studying for my first summer exam that is happening at 6pm tomorrow!! :)
Peace out Boy/Girl Scouts
So this past school year was my first year at the main Penn State campus (thank GOD I am done with Altoona). I absolutely loved it! I have learned so much about myself, including that I do not EVER EVER EVER want to be in the hospitality business. (Ooops, expensive life decision...) I have finally figured out what I want to do with my life - be a speech therapist. Now I am not 100% sure where I want to go with this. I have a few options, all of which have good job placement and good pay. I am leaning toward working in an elementary school with children that have autism or just children with speech impediments, but after having a conversation with Marcella about her brother and people who were in the ICU, I am also leaning toward working in a hospital with victims of accidents and so on. I am so glad that I figured out what I want to do. I always knew I wanted to do SOME sort of teaching but found out that being an actual teacher was not in the cards for me (i.e. I decided against standardized tests, being moved around between grades, bad pay).
I have met some really great people here in State College. Most of my friends I met at my apartment complex, which I love. They have been pretty good to me and help me when I need them and vice versa. I have also made some great friends in the major I now call the "oopsie major". I am really glad to have met them. I really do believe that everything happens for a reason, and I did get something good out of a year of torture.
So now, it is summer break, and guess how I am spending it. Yes, thats right, SUMMER CLASSES. Ugh! But thats what happens when you change your major at the very end of your 3rd year of school. I am taking 2 classes and I am SUPPOSED to be working at Dunkin Donuts, but clearly they are overstaffed, so the new girl gets no hours. Great.
But, my favorite month is coming up! Yes, June. Why? Oh.. maybe just cause its my birthday month! Oh.. and 24 days till my 21st! Yayaya! But, honestly who is counting? I do have an exciting few months coming up a head of me, though. Firstly, my birthday is the 20th. A week after, on the 27th, I am going to the Kenny Chesney concert, courtesy of my friend Jordan! I am SOSOSOSOSOSO pumped for that. I have been wanting to see Kenny Chesney for soo long! Then I have finals and all that jazz.
July is going to be an exciting month! Two big things are happening for me. 1) Marcella and I are going to go on a trip for her graduation present from her mom. I think things are looking toward San Diego! I have NEVER been to California, so I am really pumped about it! We are gonna go to the zoo, shopping, beach, go out.. all the fun stuff!! 2) I am going BACK to CA a week and a half later to go see my SASHOLES! I will be flying into LAX to see Heather and Emily! Also, I will be really close to Christian, so I am gonna head there for a day or two or whatever and see her and her fam! I cannot waiiit!
So after all that craziness, I will be heading to the OBX with my faja and sistah the second week of August. Then all the fun is over and school starts again like a week or two after that. Sad Party. Buuuut I will be jumping right into my new major (provided I can get into my classes...but thats a different story).
Welp, that is all for now. I have to get to studying for my first summer exam that is happening at 6pm tomorrow!! :)
Peace out Boy/Girl Scouts
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
I've had the time of my life.... and I owe it all to you
On our 12-day journey home from Croatia to Norfolk, Va, These are some exciting things that have happened:
Monday 8/11/08
Today was a class day and a day of paper writing! I did work all day and took naps, I was still tired from all the exploring on land. I stayed up all night writing papers because at 2:30 we were supposed to be able to see a meteor shower and my biology professor told us that it was going on and he’d meet us all on the front of the ship to watch. We stayed out for about 45 minutes laying on the deck and watching the stars. It was absolutely beautiful and we saw quite a few falling meteors!!
8/12/08
Even though I only got a few hours of sleep, I was able to stay awake all day, get some sun between classes, and get a little bit more paper writing done! I was going to stay up all night again to watch the meteor shower tonight as well – our professor told us that it was going to be better tonight – but I fell asleep around 1. I woke up at 2:30 to go out and watch – the crew turned the lights out on the front of the ship -- but it was soo windy and cold, I only stayed out for a bit. I saw a few meteors, but it was better the night before.
8/13/08
Today was a study day, so naturally, we had out last life boat drill at 10am. At 11, I got a hot stone massage (it was a birthday present a la dad – but I decided to get it when I was stressed about finals and papers and really needed it..). It was really wonderful! I wrote papers all day, so I didn’t get to lay out. Around 4pm, we stopped in Gibraltar, Spain to refuel and whatnot, and we were there until about 11. I had a SAS family dinner with my family – minus Joyce (our ‘aunt’) and her daughter Bridget. There was also an auction in the union – I went, but didn’t buy anything. They were auctioning things off like unlimited Internet for the rest of the trip, seats at the captain’s table, a weekend of photography with Photo Mike who does Nikon workshops (which I really wanted, but don’t have $1000 to drop…).
8/16/08
Today was another class day of papers and work. There was a partial moon eclipse that was absolutely GORGEOUS! I didn’t get pictures because I forgot my camera, but I am hoping to snag some from someone!
8/18/08
Yesterday was the global studies final, which totally sucked, but two of the students did a comedy routine at night, so that was some good comic relief. Today was a study day, but I woke up at 7, so I did a little bible study while I watched the sunrise on the 7th deck, it was really pretty. I got breakfast at 8, laid out from 9-12, got some lunch, and studied throughout the day. It was wonderful!!
8/19/08
Today was the last day of finals – I had my Biology final at 8 and my circus final at 1. I woke up at 6 to get outside and study while the sun was rising as well as get a good healthy breakfast for brain food. I took my final and felt really good about it! I went back into the cave (my room) and studied for my circus final, with a lunch break. I took the final and felt really good about it, so I was happy!! I worked out and showered and took my good old time getting ready for the ball since it was only 4 when I was done working out and we didn’t need to be ready until 6. We had pictures with Captain Jeremy at 7 then took pictures out on the deck, but it was soo windy, it was hard to get a good one with my dress and my hair flying everywhere. We got in line for our 8pm dinner and got champaign on the way in. We sat down and ate bread and then we were served bruschetta, French onion sup (my favorite!!!), Caesar salad, and steak and twice baked potatoes as our main course. The dance was going on in the union from 10 – 1 and dessert was being served throughout the ship for a while. We ate our dessert in the fac/staff and Aimee and I were able to get a picture with our biology professor, Iain Cambell, who is from Scotland and the most awesome professor ever (even though he is from Pitt and doesn’t like Penn State). We went back to dance and then got some more dessert and I got a picture with my favorite waiter – Henry. We did more dancing and then when the dance was over at 1, I went to Paul’s room to watch a movie with him, Aimee, Marissa, Emily, and Jackie. I came back and got a shower around 2 and was SO thankful to turn the clock back an hour and get that extra hour of sleep!!!
8/20/08
Only 2 days left. I got up at 8 and got some breakfast. I came back to my room, put my bathing suit on, and hit the deck to get some sun. I fell asleep lying on my stomach for about an hour, so my back got nice and tan! Around 11, a huge gust of wind came along and brought a storm about, so I came inside and got some lunch. At lunch, I got really sad and started crying and then laughing hysterically to cover it up. After lunch, I packed up my stuff, and then went to a reflection meeting of the voyage, picked up my paper from my TA for global studies (I got a B/B- -- points were taken off because I cited Wikipedia), and then went to a meeting held by the psychologists about coping with leaving. Again, I started crying a lot and Marissa joined in with me this time. After, we hit up the pub night and had a drink with friends for the last time!
I have had the MOST amazing summer ever!! I am soo sad to leave it behind, but I have made so many friends and had a wonderful time with them! I cant wait to get home and see you all!!
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog! Stay tuned for the follow up blog to my voyage!
Love,
Kate
Monday 8/11/08
Today was a class day and a day of paper writing! I did work all day and took naps, I was still tired from all the exploring on land. I stayed up all night writing papers because at 2:30 we were supposed to be able to see a meteor shower and my biology professor told us that it was going on and he’d meet us all on the front of the ship to watch. We stayed out for about 45 minutes laying on the deck and watching the stars. It was absolutely beautiful and we saw quite a few falling meteors!!
8/12/08
Even though I only got a few hours of sleep, I was able to stay awake all day, get some sun between classes, and get a little bit more paper writing done! I was going to stay up all night again to watch the meteor shower tonight as well – our professor told us that it was going to be better tonight – but I fell asleep around 1. I woke up at 2:30 to go out and watch – the crew turned the lights out on the front of the ship -- but it was soo windy and cold, I only stayed out for a bit. I saw a few meteors, but it was better the night before.
8/13/08
Today was a study day, so naturally, we had out last life boat drill at 10am. At 11, I got a hot stone massage (it was a birthday present a la dad – but I decided to get it when I was stressed about finals and papers and really needed it..). It was really wonderful! I wrote papers all day, so I didn’t get to lay out. Around 4pm, we stopped in Gibraltar, Spain to refuel and whatnot, and we were there until about 11. I had a SAS family dinner with my family – minus Joyce (our ‘aunt’) and her daughter Bridget. There was also an auction in the union – I went, but didn’t buy anything. They were auctioning things off like unlimited Internet for the rest of the trip, seats at the captain’s table, a weekend of photography with Photo Mike who does Nikon workshops (which I really wanted, but don’t have $1000 to drop…).
8/16/08
Today was another class day of papers and work. There was a partial moon eclipse that was absolutely GORGEOUS! I didn’t get pictures because I forgot my camera, but I am hoping to snag some from someone!
8/18/08
Yesterday was the global studies final, which totally sucked, but two of the students did a comedy routine at night, so that was some good comic relief. Today was a study day, but I woke up at 7, so I did a little bible study while I watched the sunrise on the 7th deck, it was really pretty. I got breakfast at 8, laid out from 9-12, got some lunch, and studied throughout the day. It was wonderful!!
8/19/08
Today was the last day of finals – I had my Biology final at 8 and my circus final at 1. I woke up at 6 to get outside and study while the sun was rising as well as get a good healthy breakfast for brain food. I took my final and felt really good about it! I went back into the cave (my room) and studied for my circus final, with a lunch break. I took the final and felt really good about it, so I was happy!! I worked out and showered and took my good old time getting ready for the ball since it was only 4 when I was done working out and we didn’t need to be ready until 6. We had pictures with Captain Jeremy at 7 then took pictures out on the deck, but it was soo windy, it was hard to get a good one with my dress and my hair flying everywhere. We got in line for our 8pm dinner and got champaign on the way in. We sat down and ate bread and then we were served bruschetta, French onion sup (my favorite!!!), Caesar salad, and steak and twice baked potatoes as our main course. The dance was going on in the union from 10 – 1 and dessert was being served throughout the ship for a while. We ate our dessert in the fac/staff and Aimee and I were able to get a picture with our biology professor, Iain Cambell, who is from Scotland and the most awesome professor ever (even though he is from Pitt and doesn’t like Penn State). We went back to dance and then got some more dessert and I got a picture with my favorite waiter – Henry. We did more dancing and then when the dance was over at 1, I went to Paul’s room to watch a movie with him, Aimee, Marissa, Emily, and Jackie. I came back and got a shower around 2 and was SO thankful to turn the clock back an hour and get that extra hour of sleep!!!
8/20/08
Only 2 days left. I got up at 8 and got some breakfast. I came back to my room, put my bathing suit on, and hit the deck to get some sun. I fell asleep lying on my stomach for about an hour, so my back got nice and tan! Around 11, a huge gust of wind came along and brought a storm about, so I came inside and got some lunch. At lunch, I got really sad and started crying and then laughing hysterically to cover it up. After lunch, I packed up my stuff, and then went to a reflection meeting of the voyage, picked up my paper from my TA for global studies (I got a B/B- -- points were taken off because I cited Wikipedia), and then went to a meeting held by the psychologists about coping with leaving. Again, I started crying a lot and Marissa joined in with me this time. After, we hit up the pub night and had a drink with friends for the last time!
I have had the MOST amazing summer ever!! I am soo sad to leave it behind, but I have made so many friends and had a wonderful time with them! I cant wait to get home and see you all!!
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog! Stay tuned for the follow up blog to my voyage!
Love,
Kate
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Croatia!!
8/8/08
We are in Croatia!! I woke up early this morning to watch us pull into our last foreign port; it was very pretty!! We didn’t have a morning meeting this morning; we had the meeting last night because we had to use our tender boats for this port. There is not a whole lot of room to dock, so we didn’t get priority and had to be out in the middle of the water and take the tender boats in. We left on the 9:30 tender and got ashore right before 10. There was a large group of us – Heather, Emily, Marissa, Aimee, and Paul – and we walked around, got some money, and hopped the bus to the beach! It was really cool and very downhill, which sucked coming back up after the beach. Anyway, it was a pebble beach with beautiful clear water, which sounded cool in theory, but since we didn’t bring water shoes, it KILLED our feet getting in and out of the water. It was hot, so we managed to get in and out a few times. Around lunchtime, we headed up the hill to get some lunch, and we ended up getting pizza. After sitting there for a long time, we went up the hill a little more to make plans to go snorkeling. The only time they had open was 5:30, so we took it. We had some time since it was only 3, so we did a little souvenir shopping and got a pitcher of sangria to split between us all. It was tasty! We had to walk across that part of the land to get to the other beach at a hotel for the snorkeling. We waited for an hour and the boat finally got there at 6:30, but people who went snorkeling said they didn’t see a whole lot, so we decided to do a banana boat ride instead! It was SO much fun! All six of us fit on the banana and it was attached to a speedboat that pulled us along and occasionally flipped us off! It was sooo hard for Heather and I to get back on the banana because we are taller and have long legs. When we were done, we changed at the hotel and hopped on the bus to go to the Old Town to go to this supposedly cool bar called Buza. We got into the Old Town, which is surrounded completely by walls and had to walk up some hefty stairs to the top right of the inside of the wall to get to this bar. When we got there, it was literally a little hole on the outside of the wall overlooking the water, an island called Lokrum, and the sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous. I got a dessert wine and we just sat and sipped for a long time. When we were done there, we walked back down to the middle of the town and got some pizza for dinner. It was fantabulous! Probably the best pizza I’ve ever eaten! We also got some wine with dinner. We hopped back on the bus, went to the post and had to wait for the tender boat back to the ship, took a shower and went to bed! It was a long day in the sun! Can’t wait for another one tomorrow!!
8/9/08
This morning, we were in no rush to get out, so we went out on the 10 am tender to the port – Paul, Aimee and I. We took the bus into the old city, got some ice cream, walked around, and made reservations for kayaking. We decided to walk around the city walls on the top. It was incredibly hot, but so cool to see the city from the top of the walls. After, we stopped at a little wine bar and got a glass of wine. We got hungry after sitting for a bit, so we went to a little seafood place… yes, I said seafood. I got shrimp and it was so good! After, we got more ice cream because it was soo hot. We walked around a little more and then around 2:45 decided to walk to the beach for the kayaking. They told us it would only be a 15-minute walk from the Old Town, boy did they lie. It took about 45 minutes to get there and we had to walk up and down hills and then down these massively steep steps. It was another pebble beach, and it was much prettier than the one from before. As soon as we got there, we jumped right into the water because it was so hot. Our kayaking started at 4 and there were 2 other girls from SAS and then a couple from Dublin, Ireland. Aimee and I were in the double kayak and Paul was by himself. We were supposed to go to the other side of the island that faced the open water, but our guide said that the water was too rough, and it was a little rough, so we went to the side the was closest to the main land, and walked across the island. We walked to a little lagoon and swam for a little big, and then the guide left crackers, bread, and wine. It was a fun little excursion. We had an hour and a half on the island before heading back to the beach. This time, Paul and I were in the double and we kicked butt getting back. We laid out on the beach even though it was 8ish at that time, but it was so pretty with the sun setting over the Old Town. When we were leaving, BOTH of my flip-flops broke, so it was a LOOONG walk back o the bus stop. When we got on the bus, we ran into Caitlin, Carly, and Amber. We sang songs on the way to the ship and when we made it back to the port, Photo Mike and his family were there, so we sang Disney songs to his litte girls – Riley and Rachel who are 3 and 4. When I got back to the ship, I went to the 7th deck to see if I could get a burger or something since I didn’t eat dinner, but they were done serving real food, so I went to my room to go to bed and watched The 40 Year Old Virgin since it was playing on the loop.
8/10/08
This morning, I had to get up early to go to an orphanage and children’s hospital with SAS. We took a charter to the top of a hill and took pictures before going to the orphanage. There were about 40 of us SASers and only 16 kids. The kids were so cute and excited for us to be there. They did not speak any English, but they had their caretakers there who were helping us talk to them. They loved all the gifts we brought them – puzzles, coloring books, temporary tattoos, play do. We were there for 2 hours and when we were done, we headed over to the hospital, but the doctor wasn’t ready when we got there, so we sat for a little bit. When the doctor was ready, we had a tour of the children’s department and then had a Q & A with the doctor. She gave us postcards and with that, we headed back to the port. I decided to go off on my own and explore the city by myself. I went back into the Old Town to shop around for souvenirs. As I was walking, I saw a friend Angela sitting by herself at a restaurant, so I decided to sit with her and get lunch. We sat and talked for a good two hours. And then I headed back toward the port. I stopped at the grocery store to get some snacks before getting on the boat. Since this was our last night in port, we had a BBQ and then a group picture on the back of the ship after the BBQ. We went to the community meeting after dinner and then went outside to watch the sunset and to watch us leave our last port. So, now we are on our way back home and I have a rough week of classes and finals ahead of me! Wish me luck!!
We are in Croatia!! I woke up early this morning to watch us pull into our last foreign port; it was very pretty!! We didn’t have a morning meeting this morning; we had the meeting last night because we had to use our tender boats for this port. There is not a whole lot of room to dock, so we didn’t get priority and had to be out in the middle of the water and take the tender boats in. We left on the 9:30 tender and got ashore right before 10. There was a large group of us – Heather, Emily, Marissa, Aimee, and Paul – and we walked around, got some money, and hopped the bus to the beach! It was really cool and very downhill, which sucked coming back up after the beach. Anyway, it was a pebble beach with beautiful clear water, which sounded cool in theory, but since we didn’t bring water shoes, it KILLED our feet getting in and out of the water. It was hot, so we managed to get in and out a few times. Around lunchtime, we headed up the hill to get some lunch, and we ended up getting pizza. After sitting there for a long time, we went up the hill a little more to make plans to go snorkeling. The only time they had open was 5:30, so we took it. We had some time since it was only 3, so we did a little souvenir shopping and got a pitcher of sangria to split between us all. It was tasty! We had to walk across that part of the land to get to the other beach at a hotel for the snorkeling. We waited for an hour and the boat finally got there at 6:30, but people who went snorkeling said they didn’t see a whole lot, so we decided to do a banana boat ride instead! It was SO much fun! All six of us fit on the banana and it was attached to a speedboat that pulled us along and occasionally flipped us off! It was sooo hard for Heather and I to get back on the banana because we are taller and have long legs. When we were done, we changed at the hotel and hopped on the bus to go to the Old Town to go to this supposedly cool bar called Buza. We got into the Old Town, which is surrounded completely by walls and had to walk up some hefty stairs to the top right of the inside of the wall to get to this bar. When we got there, it was literally a little hole on the outside of the wall overlooking the water, an island called Lokrum, and the sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous. I got a dessert wine and we just sat and sipped for a long time. When we were done there, we walked back down to the middle of the town and got some pizza for dinner. It was fantabulous! Probably the best pizza I’ve ever eaten! We also got some wine with dinner. We hopped back on the bus, went to the post and had to wait for the tender boat back to the ship, took a shower and went to bed! It was a long day in the sun! Can’t wait for another one tomorrow!!
8/9/08
This morning, we were in no rush to get out, so we went out on the 10 am tender to the port – Paul, Aimee and I. We took the bus into the old city, got some ice cream, walked around, and made reservations for kayaking. We decided to walk around the city walls on the top. It was incredibly hot, but so cool to see the city from the top of the walls. After, we stopped at a little wine bar and got a glass of wine. We got hungry after sitting for a bit, so we went to a little seafood place… yes, I said seafood. I got shrimp and it was so good! After, we got more ice cream because it was soo hot. We walked around a little more and then around 2:45 decided to walk to the beach for the kayaking. They told us it would only be a 15-minute walk from the Old Town, boy did they lie. It took about 45 minutes to get there and we had to walk up and down hills and then down these massively steep steps. It was another pebble beach, and it was much prettier than the one from before. As soon as we got there, we jumped right into the water because it was so hot. Our kayaking started at 4 and there were 2 other girls from SAS and then a couple from Dublin, Ireland. Aimee and I were in the double kayak and Paul was by himself. We were supposed to go to the other side of the island that faced the open water, but our guide said that the water was too rough, and it was a little rough, so we went to the side the was closest to the main land, and walked across the island. We walked to a little lagoon and swam for a little big, and then the guide left crackers, bread, and wine. It was a fun little excursion. We had an hour and a half on the island before heading back to the beach. This time, Paul and I were in the double and we kicked butt getting back. We laid out on the beach even though it was 8ish at that time, but it was so pretty with the sun setting over the Old Town. When we were leaving, BOTH of my flip-flops broke, so it was a LOOONG walk back o the bus stop. When we got on the bus, we ran into Caitlin, Carly, and Amber. We sang songs on the way to the ship and when we made it back to the port, Photo Mike and his family were there, so we sang Disney songs to his litte girls – Riley and Rachel who are 3 and 4. When I got back to the ship, I went to the 7th deck to see if I could get a burger or something since I didn’t eat dinner, but they were done serving real food, so I went to my room to go to bed and watched The 40 Year Old Virgin since it was playing on the loop.
8/10/08
This morning, I had to get up early to go to an orphanage and children’s hospital with SAS. We took a charter to the top of a hill and took pictures before going to the orphanage. There were about 40 of us SASers and only 16 kids. The kids were so cute and excited for us to be there. They did not speak any English, but they had their caretakers there who were helping us talk to them. They loved all the gifts we brought them – puzzles, coloring books, temporary tattoos, play do. We were there for 2 hours and when we were done, we headed over to the hospital, but the doctor wasn’t ready when we got there, so we sat for a little bit. When the doctor was ready, we had a tour of the children’s department and then had a Q & A with the doctor. She gave us postcards and with that, we headed back to the port. I decided to go off on my own and explore the city by myself. I went back into the Old Town to shop around for souvenirs. As I was walking, I saw a friend Angela sitting by herself at a restaurant, so I decided to sit with her and get lunch. We sat and talked for a good two hours. And then I headed back toward the port. I stopped at the grocery store to get some snacks before getting on the boat. Since this was our last night in port, we had a BBQ and then a group picture on the back of the ship after the BBQ. We went to the community meeting after dinner and then went outside to watch the sunset and to watch us leave our last port. So, now we are on our way back home and I have a rough week of classes and finals ahead of me! Wish me luck!!
Monday, August 18, 2008
It's All Greek To Me... ;)
8/3/08
This morning when I woke up at 7, we were already docked in Piraeus. Exciting! After the normal morning meeting routine, Tanya and I were off to buy ferry tickets to take us to an island, we were sure which one; we finally decided on Aegina, which was an hour away. After we got our tickets, we headed to the subway to go to Athens! The subway system is not very hard to navigate and after about a 20-minute ride, we were in Athens (by 11). When we got off the subway, we got a phylo-dough biscuit filled with warm feta cheese, it was delicious, as well as a fredoccino (which is a frozen cappuccino). We went to the Acropolis (even though Tanya came to Greece to help with the 2004 Olympics and saw all the sights before) and got the student discount, which was really nice. We had to climb this huge hill to get to the Parthenon, which had a spectacular view; you could see everything! Tanya and I sat up on the wall and talked for a good 30 minutes while just looking at our surroundings! We went over and looked at Athena’s temple, which was soo cool as well. After spending a little time on the hill, we went to this huge rock and sat on there for a little bit, it was where peter preached to 1,000 people many many years ago! When we were done being lazy and sitting and people/city watching, we decided to move along and see a temple that was on a nearby hill. On the way, we stopped at a very old church and went inside, it was only one room with paintings inside that were fading away. I have no idea how it was, but it was pretty cool. After checking it out, we continued toward the temple, but me being the graceful person that I am, I stubbed my toe on a rock. I was just going to let it go, when Tanya pointed out that my toe was basically gushing blood. It was really disgusting, so we went to the little information desk and they provided me with band-aids, saline solution, and iodine. The guy behind the desk even came out and helped me fix my toe up it was really nice of him. We never made it to the temple, on account of my toe being super messed up and it being on a big hill. We were ready to leave the acropolis area and head toward the shops and get something to eat. We walked through the marketplace and Tanya and I got sandals in one of the shops for a really decent price! They are so cool! We continued walking, and one of the shop owners (a fifty some odd old guy) commented on my necklace – my Celtic cross, which kind of resembles the Greek Orthodox cross. He asked where I got it, at home or in Greece, and I told him at home. He then proceeded to tell me his love for America and how he used to live in California for a little bit, and how I look Greek, talked about our plans, and then he said that if I ever came back to Greece, that he’d take me to Santorini since I didn’t get a chance to go this time. Kinda awkward. We said goodbye and kept on keeping on. We FINALLY found gyros, so we got one! They were HUGE and sooo good. I got a chicken one, because I didn’t see lamb on the menu. We walked around a little more through the market place before getting on the subway and visiting the little town that Tanya stayed in when she was there 4 years before, but nothing was open because it was a Sunday and was not a tourist area, so we got back on the subway to Piraeus. When we got back, we got a Freddochino and headed back to the ship to relax. Little did I remember it was my friend Emily’s birthday and we had plans to go out for dinner and some drinks. I got ready quickly and we met on the gangway with some other girls who were coming, including Caitlin, a girl that lives in Windber and was in the Windber colorguard. I had a sandwich and a glass of wine. We were going to find a club to go dance, but no one was feeling well – the ship termed it ‘Pharoah’s Revenge’ (aka bad diarrhea from Egypt), so we stopped at a little local bar by the ship for Emily to get a birthday drink – it was her 21st. I got a red martini since I had never had one before, and it took me like 1 ½ hours to drink because it was pretty strong – it was a small glass, too. There were 2 older men there who were really confused about why we were in that bar instead of at a club with the younger kids. We went back to the ship; I got my computer and headed to the port to get Wi-Fi. I got to talk to the family and wish nana and pap happy anniversary for like 2 minutes but something was weird with the connection, so I couldn’t stay connected; it was still nice to see familiar faces! I went to bed then, because I had to get up early to get ready for the island tomorrow!!
8/4/08
Last night was TERRIBLE! I woke up many times during the night, but I accidentally woke up my roommate up at 5am because I was moaning and breathing heavily in my sleep because my stomach hurt so badly. I had to get up for good at 6:50 when Amber woke me up, I was supposed to meet Tanya at 7 for breakfast before getting out 8 am ferry. I slept most of the hour it took to get to Aegina. When we got there, we went straight to the tourist office to get a place to stay for the night. It was 20 euro each for the night for a double bed, fridge, TV, AC, and bathroom. It was a fairly good deal. Once we got settled, we went to the beach!! It was a good 20 minutes from our room, but it was a pretty walk. We laid out for a bit, got nice and hot, and then got in the FREEZING water. I was only able to stay in the water for a short amount of time because it was so cold, and then we laid out to dry off. We started to get a little hungry and my stomach was still hurting, so we stoppd at a little fruit stand/grocery store on our way back to the room and I got an apple, crackers, and water. We took a nap when we got back to the room, I slept for 2 hours and Tanya slept for 1 and explored around our room for an hour. We walked around once I woke up, and went to a pay phone for Tanya to call with the phone card that she bought. We walked around the outskirts of the island before getting some dinner. We found a cute place off the main street, where I got a crepe and eggs, which turned out not to be the greatest idea because I felt sick after I ate it. We went back to the room for me to lay down and I decided that it would be best for me to go back to the ship tonight because I still was feeling crappy (no pun intended). Tanya’s friends were to come on the 8pm ferry to the island, so she wouldn’t be alone, but they ended up missing the last ferry by 15 minutes, but I really needed to get back to the ship for the comfort of ‘home. I felt really bad, but I left Tanya there by herself; it was a safe island and I, myself would have been fine staying overnight by myself. I took the last ferry – the flying dolphin – back to the ship and it only took 45 minutes. I got some ginger ale, talked to Marissa for a little bit, and then went to bed.
8/5/08
I slept in this morning since I still wasn’t feeling well when I went to bed last night. I got some lunch and saw Jackie who was being a bum that day too, and told her that I was meeting Emily and Heather later when they got back from Athens. When they got back, we went to the port authority and got stamps and Internet. I came back to the ship to wait for Marissa to get back from a trip and watched A Walk to Remember. When Marissa came back, I was feeling much better – not 100% yet – and we went out looking for a theater to see Mamma Mia!, but came up short handed. We decided to go out for dessert and I got a chocolate soufflé. It was SOO good, but I couldn’t finish it because it was so rich. We came back to the ship and I got some Internet at the port building and tried to video chat with Stephanie again, but it didn’t work, so I talked to her and then my mom on AIM. It was my mom’s first AIM chat, pretty exciting haha. Bedtime!! Tomorrow is our last day in Greece!!
8/6/08
I could not get my butt out of bed this morning! Amber and I woke up at 8, went to breakfast, and then went back to bed until around 10:30. Marissa and I decided to walk around and shop a little before meeting up with Heather and Emily for lunch at 1 (since my service visit to the SOS Children’s Village was cancelled). I tried to find some cool sandals for my mom, but the cute ones weren’t in her size ☹. We got lunch at a gyro place and then I got a freddoccino. Emily and I really wanted to find a grocery store to get some bottled water and snacks for the ship, so after walking around and asking multiple people, Emily and I found the store – Heather and Marissa went back to the ship. After shopping, we went back to the ship, I got one last dose of internet, sent my postcards, and then we watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! Perfect way to end Greece!!! ☺
Watch out Croatia, here we come!!!
This morning when I woke up at 7, we were already docked in Piraeus. Exciting! After the normal morning meeting routine, Tanya and I were off to buy ferry tickets to take us to an island, we were sure which one; we finally decided on Aegina, which was an hour away. After we got our tickets, we headed to the subway to go to Athens! The subway system is not very hard to navigate and after about a 20-minute ride, we were in Athens (by 11). When we got off the subway, we got a phylo-dough biscuit filled with warm feta cheese, it was delicious, as well as a fredoccino (which is a frozen cappuccino). We went to the Acropolis (even though Tanya came to Greece to help with the 2004 Olympics and saw all the sights before) and got the student discount, which was really nice. We had to climb this huge hill to get to the Parthenon, which had a spectacular view; you could see everything! Tanya and I sat up on the wall and talked for a good 30 minutes while just looking at our surroundings! We went over and looked at Athena’s temple, which was soo cool as well. After spending a little time on the hill, we went to this huge rock and sat on there for a little bit, it was where peter preached to 1,000 people many many years ago! When we were done being lazy and sitting and people/city watching, we decided to move along and see a temple that was on a nearby hill. On the way, we stopped at a very old church and went inside, it was only one room with paintings inside that were fading away. I have no idea how it was, but it was pretty cool. After checking it out, we continued toward the temple, but me being the graceful person that I am, I stubbed my toe on a rock. I was just going to let it go, when Tanya pointed out that my toe was basically gushing blood. It was really disgusting, so we went to the little information desk and they provided me with band-aids, saline solution, and iodine. The guy behind the desk even came out and helped me fix my toe up it was really nice of him. We never made it to the temple, on account of my toe being super messed up and it being on a big hill. We were ready to leave the acropolis area and head toward the shops and get something to eat. We walked through the marketplace and Tanya and I got sandals in one of the shops for a really decent price! They are so cool! We continued walking, and one of the shop owners (a fifty some odd old guy) commented on my necklace – my Celtic cross, which kind of resembles the Greek Orthodox cross. He asked where I got it, at home or in Greece, and I told him at home. He then proceeded to tell me his love for America and how he used to live in California for a little bit, and how I look Greek, talked about our plans, and then he said that if I ever came back to Greece, that he’d take me to Santorini since I didn’t get a chance to go this time. Kinda awkward. We said goodbye and kept on keeping on. We FINALLY found gyros, so we got one! They were HUGE and sooo good. I got a chicken one, because I didn’t see lamb on the menu. We walked around a little more through the market place before getting on the subway and visiting the little town that Tanya stayed in when she was there 4 years before, but nothing was open because it was a Sunday and was not a tourist area, so we got back on the subway to Piraeus. When we got back, we got a Freddochino and headed back to the ship to relax. Little did I remember it was my friend Emily’s birthday and we had plans to go out for dinner and some drinks. I got ready quickly and we met on the gangway with some other girls who were coming, including Caitlin, a girl that lives in Windber and was in the Windber colorguard. I had a sandwich and a glass of wine. We were going to find a club to go dance, but no one was feeling well – the ship termed it ‘Pharoah’s Revenge’ (aka bad diarrhea from Egypt), so we stopped at a little local bar by the ship for Emily to get a birthday drink – it was her 21st. I got a red martini since I had never had one before, and it took me like 1 ½ hours to drink because it was pretty strong – it was a small glass, too. There were 2 older men there who were really confused about why we were in that bar instead of at a club with the younger kids. We went back to the ship; I got my computer and headed to the port to get Wi-Fi. I got to talk to the family and wish nana and pap happy anniversary for like 2 minutes but something was weird with the connection, so I couldn’t stay connected; it was still nice to see familiar faces! I went to bed then, because I had to get up early to get ready for the island tomorrow!!
8/4/08
Last night was TERRIBLE! I woke up many times during the night, but I accidentally woke up my roommate up at 5am because I was moaning and breathing heavily in my sleep because my stomach hurt so badly. I had to get up for good at 6:50 when Amber woke me up, I was supposed to meet Tanya at 7 for breakfast before getting out 8 am ferry. I slept most of the hour it took to get to Aegina. When we got there, we went straight to the tourist office to get a place to stay for the night. It was 20 euro each for the night for a double bed, fridge, TV, AC, and bathroom. It was a fairly good deal. Once we got settled, we went to the beach!! It was a good 20 minutes from our room, but it was a pretty walk. We laid out for a bit, got nice and hot, and then got in the FREEZING water. I was only able to stay in the water for a short amount of time because it was so cold, and then we laid out to dry off. We started to get a little hungry and my stomach was still hurting, so we stoppd at a little fruit stand/grocery store on our way back to the room and I got an apple, crackers, and water. We took a nap when we got back to the room, I slept for 2 hours and Tanya slept for 1 and explored around our room for an hour. We walked around once I woke up, and went to a pay phone for Tanya to call with the phone card that she bought. We walked around the outskirts of the island before getting some dinner. We found a cute place off the main street, where I got a crepe and eggs, which turned out not to be the greatest idea because I felt sick after I ate it. We went back to the room for me to lay down and I decided that it would be best for me to go back to the ship tonight because I still was feeling crappy (no pun intended). Tanya’s friends were to come on the 8pm ferry to the island, so she wouldn’t be alone, but they ended up missing the last ferry by 15 minutes, but I really needed to get back to the ship for the comfort of ‘home. I felt really bad, but I left Tanya there by herself; it was a safe island and I, myself would have been fine staying overnight by myself. I took the last ferry – the flying dolphin – back to the ship and it only took 45 minutes. I got some ginger ale, talked to Marissa for a little bit, and then went to bed.
8/5/08
I slept in this morning since I still wasn’t feeling well when I went to bed last night. I got some lunch and saw Jackie who was being a bum that day too, and told her that I was meeting Emily and Heather later when they got back from Athens. When they got back, we went to the port authority and got stamps and Internet. I came back to the ship to wait for Marissa to get back from a trip and watched A Walk to Remember. When Marissa came back, I was feeling much better – not 100% yet – and we went out looking for a theater to see Mamma Mia!, but came up short handed. We decided to go out for dessert and I got a chocolate soufflé. It was SOO good, but I couldn’t finish it because it was so rich. We came back to the ship and I got some Internet at the port building and tried to video chat with Stephanie again, but it didn’t work, so I talked to her and then my mom on AIM. It was my mom’s first AIM chat, pretty exciting haha. Bedtime!! Tomorrow is our last day in Greece!!
8/6/08
I could not get my butt out of bed this morning! Amber and I woke up at 8, went to breakfast, and then went back to bed until around 10:30. Marissa and I decided to walk around and shop a little before meeting up with Heather and Emily for lunch at 1 (since my service visit to the SOS Children’s Village was cancelled). I tried to find some cool sandals for my mom, but the cute ones weren’t in her size ☹. We got lunch at a gyro place and then I got a freddoccino. Emily and I really wanted to find a grocery store to get some bottled water and snacks for the ship, so after walking around and asking multiple people, Emily and I found the store – Heather and Marissa went back to the ship. After shopping, we went back to the ship, I got one last dose of internet, sent my postcards, and then we watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! Perfect way to end Greece!!! ☺
Watch out Croatia, here we come!!!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Walk like an Egyptian!!!
7/29/08
So, today, we were supposed to be docking in Istanbul, Turkey, but because of the recent shootings at the US embassy and the bombings that killed 18 people and injured about 150, ISE & SAS decided, much to my dismay, that it would not be in our best interest to go. Because of this, last night we pulled a huge U-turn to head towards…
… ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT!!! As bummed as I was not being able to see Bahar in Turkey, Egypt sounds pretty cool!! So today we had a day at sea to study and/or relax!! The field office was able to put together some last minute trips for us to do. MY friends Emily, Heather, Marissa, and I decided to do the Camel ride and Jeep Safari in Cairo. Since there is not a whole lot to do in Alexandria, we decided we were going to sign off the trip in Cairo and stay the night in a hotel that Heather’s mom booked for us, and then come back the last day and spend that in Alexandria.
7/30/08
When I woke up for breakfast at 7:15, we were already docked in Alexandria. We decided to fill up on breakfast because we were kind of nervous to eat Egyptian food. We were able to get off at 8:45 to get on the bus for our 3-hour drive to Cairo. (We had to take our passports and were DELIGHTED to have it stamped in Egypt!! The last place it got stamped was Russia) 22 million people live in Cairo, which is ¼, the population of everyone in Egypt. We went first to the pyramids – it was SO crazy to see them in real life! They are HUGE! It was pretty annoying that there were guys on camels everywhere trying to get us to take pictures and then pay them, but I was able to avoid them! We took lots of pictures, we were only there for ½ hour but that was enough, there isn’t a whole lot to see besides the pyramids and its MONDO hot there. Next, we drove down the hill to see the Sphinx, which was really cool as well. After the Sphinx, we went to a country club for lunch that was a buffet of Middle Eastern food and it was actually REALLY good. After eating, we headed to a tomb. It was SO hot in there and very cramped, but really really cool to see all the carvings on the walls! The next part of the trip was definitely one of the coolest parts. They took is in Jeeps and drove us all over the sand dunes, pretty fast. It was kind of scary at first, but they knew what they were doing. They drove us to our caravan of camels that were waiting for us in the middle of the dunes. There were over 100 of us, that’s a lot of camels. We rode the camels for ½ hour and that was soo cool. The tour was over then, and the bus was headed back to Alexandria, so we talked to our tour guide about the best way of getting to our hotel and she said that she could have the bus drop us off on their way back to Alexandria. We got dropped off pretty much directly in front of our hotel, which was REALLY sweet. It was called La Meridien at the Pyramids. Our room overlooked the Pyramids. It was definitely the best hotel room with a view!!
After we settled in, we went to the lobby for dinner. They had 3 restaurants in the hotel and we went to the Tex-Mex grill, I had a vegetarian burrito and it was fabulous! When we finished, Heather and I went to the café bar in the lobby and got some coffee. There we met some guys from the US and Australia who were filming an extreme sports show in Cairo. They were really nice. Then, we saw an Egyptian wedding taking place in the hotel lobby. It was crazy! We stuck around to watch. There was an Egyptian man beside us that was part of the wedding and the wedding party had gone upstairs, so we asked him if that was the ceremony or the reception, and he told us the ceremony and invited us up to see the reception, we went, but it was instantly awkward, so we left and went back to the room. Emily and I decided to go back downstairs to hang out with the guys from the TV show, so we went back to the restaurant and got a drink and sat to talk with them fir a while. It was kind of cool to talk to them about their show and how they felt about Egypt and their perspectives. We talked to them for about an hour and decided it was time to go to bed because we were tired. (we fit 4 people in a 2 person room.. mostly because we are poor.. but there were 2 beds that were between a full and a twin, so we snuggled).
7/31/08
We tried to wake up early this morning to watch the sun rise over the pyramids, but we were too tired. We finally woke up at 8:30, went to breakfast, got ready, and left around 10. We got a cab to the Nile River, where we took a little boat across. We needed to find the train station, so Emily asked a guy that was on the boat and he said he would show us the way because he was on his way past it. It was about a 30-45 minute walk there and the guy helped us to get the train tickets for the 3:00 train back to Alexandria. After we had our tickets, we headed to the Kahn El Khalily Bazaar in a taxi. They had soo much stuff there; spices, knick-knacks, scarves, shoes, anything and everything you can think of. We stayed there for about an hour and then headed back to the train station to be there by 2:30 to make sure we were on time for the train. We got to the station and found Aimee and Paul and other SASers. We had 1st class tickets, thank God, because the coach class was ridiculously packed and no Ac. It was about a 2 ½ hour ride back. We had to take a taxi back to the ship and got dinner on the ship. We kind of just stayed in for the night and got some stuff done and watch movies since we were touring Alexandria in the morning.
8/1/08
We missed breakfast this morning by 15 minutes, so when we finally got our butts off the ship at 11, we headed out to find the little bazaar and food in Alexandria. We finally found the bazaar after a little walking around, but it was dirty and gross and disgusting. We decided to walk back to where we started and then go look for food. Aimee and Paul were looking for this one Egyptian dish and when they found it, I got some falafel sandwiches, they were soo good. We were getting really hot, so we – Aimee, Paul, Marissa, Emily and Heather – decided to start back towards the ship. We thought we were heading in the right direction, but we were taking a very long round about way, so we didn’t make it back until 12:45. When we got back to port, I still had 200 Egyptian Pounds left, which was about $40, so we hit the little shops that were beside our ship. I was able to get 4 cashmere scarves for 100 pounds, or $5 each! I thought that was a pretty good deal! We got on the ship and went swimming to cool off because it was a scorcher. I took a little nap before dinner and then we watched 27 Dresses and 13 Going On 30 in Aimee and Marissa’s room. It was fun!
Overall, Egypt was definitely a cool place to go, but I don’t know if I will ever go back. It is dirty, smelly, and the guys look at American women like we are a piece of meat. I definitely had a good time with what we did, though!
So, today, we were supposed to be docking in Istanbul, Turkey, but because of the recent shootings at the US embassy and the bombings that killed 18 people and injured about 150, ISE & SAS decided, much to my dismay, that it would not be in our best interest to go. Because of this, last night we pulled a huge U-turn to head towards…
… ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT!!! As bummed as I was not being able to see Bahar in Turkey, Egypt sounds pretty cool!! So today we had a day at sea to study and/or relax!! The field office was able to put together some last minute trips for us to do. MY friends Emily, Heather, Marissa, and I decided to do the Camel ride and Jeep Safari in Cairo. Since there is not a whole lot to do in Alexandria, we decided we were going to sign off the trip in Cairo and stay the night in a hotel that Heather’s mom booked for us, and then come back the last day and spend that in Alexandria.
7/30/08
When I woke up for breakfast at 7:15, we were already docked in Alexandria. We decided to fill up on breakfast because we were kind of nervous to eat Egyptian food. We were able to get off at 8:45 to get on the bus for our 3-hour drive to Cairo. (We had to take our passports and were DELIGHTED to have it stamped in Egypt!! The last place it got stamped was Russia) 22 million people live in Cairo, which is ¼, the population of everyone in Egypt. We went first to the pyramids – it was SO crazy to see them in real life! They are HUGE! It was pretty annoying that there were guys on camels everywhere trying to get us to take pictures and then pay them, but I was able to avoid them! We took lots of pictures, we were only there for ½ hour but that was enough, there isn’t a whole lot to see besides the pyramids and its MONDO hot there. Next, we drove down the hill to see the Sphinx, which was really cool as well. After the Sphinx, we went to a country club for lunch that was a buffet of Middle Eastern food and it was actually REALLY good. After eating, we headed to a tomb. It was SO hot in there and very cramped, but really really cool to see all the carvings on the walls! The next part of the trip was definitely one of the coolest parts. They took is in Jeeps and drove us all over the sand dunes, pretty fast. It was kind of scary at first, but they knew what they were doing. They drove us to our caravan of camels that were waiting for us in the middle of the dunes. There were over 100 of us, that’s a lot of camels. We rode the camels for ½ hour and that was soo cool. The tour was over then, and the bus was headed back to Alexandria, so we talked to our tour guide about the best way of getting to our hotel and she said that she could have the bus drop us off on their way back to Alexandria. We got dropped off pretty much directly in front of our hotel, which was REALLY sweet. It was called La Meridien at the Pyramids. Our room overlooked the Pyramids. It was definitely the best hotel room with a view!!
After we settled in, we went to the lobby for dinner. They had 3 restaurants in the hotel and we went to the Tex-Mex grill, I had a vegetarian burrito and it was fabulous! When we finished, Heather and I went to the café bar in the lobby and got some coffee. There we met some guys from the US and Australia who were filming an extreme sports show in Cairo. They were really nice. Then, we saw an Egyptian wedding taking place in the hotel lobby. It was crazy! We stuck around to watch. There was an Egyptian man beside us that was part of the wedding and the wedding party had gone upstairs, so we asked him if that was the ceremony or the reception, and he told us the ceremony and invited us up to see the reception, we went, but it was instantly awkward, so we left and went back to the room. Emily and I decided to go back downstairs to hang out with the guys from the TV show, so we went back to the restaurant and got a drink and sat to talk with them fir a while. It was kind of cool to talk to them about their show and how they felt about Egypt and their perspectives. We talked to them for about an hour and decided it was time to go to bed because we were tired. (we fit 4 people in a 2 person room.. mostly because we are poor.. but there were 2 beds that were between a full and a twin, so we snuggled).
7/31/08
We tried to wake up early this morning to watch the sun rise over the pyramids, but we were too tired. We finally woke up at 8:30, went to breakfast, got ready, and left around 10. We got a cab to the Nile River, where we took a little boat across. We needed to find the train station, so Emily asked a guy that was on the boat and he said he would show us the way because he was on his way past it. It was about a 30-45 minute walk there and the guy helped us to get the train tickets for the 3:00 train back to Alexandria. After we had our tickets, we headed to the Kahn El Khalily Bazaar in a taxi. They had soo much stuff there; spices, knick-knacks, scarves, shoes, anything and everything you can think of. We stayed there for about an hour and then headed back to the train station to be there by 2:30 to make sure we were on time for the train. We got to the station and found Aimee and Paul and other SASers. We had 1st class tickets, thank God, because the coach class was ridiculously packed and no Ac. It was about a 2 ½ hour ride back. We had to take a taxi back to the ship and got dinner on the ship. We kind of just stayed in for the night and got some stuff done and watch movies since we were touring Alexandria in the morning.
8/1/08
We missed breakfast this morning by 15 minutes, so when we finally got our butts off the ship at 11, we headed out to find the little bazaar and food in Alexandria. We finally found the bazaar after a little walking around, but it was dirty and gross and disgusting. We decided to walk back to where we started and then go look for food. Aimee and Paul were looking for this one Egyptian dish and when they found it, I got some falafel sandwiches, they were soo good. We were getting really hot, so we – Aimee, Paul, Marissa, Emily and Heather – decided to start back towards the ship. We thought we were heading in the right direction, but we were taking a very long round about way, so we didn’t make it back until 12:45. When we got back to port, I still had 200 Egyptian Pounds left, which was about $40, so we hit the little shops that were beside our ship. I was able to get 4 cashmere scarves for 100 pounds, or $5 each! I thought that was a pretty good deal! We got on the ship and went swimming to cool off because it was a scorcher. I took a little nap before dinner and then we watched 27 Dresses and 13 Going On 30 in Aimee and Marissa’s room. It was fun!
Overall, Egypt was definitely a cool place to go, but I don’t know if I will ever go back. It is dirty, smelly, and the guys look at American women like we are a piece of meat. I definitely had a good time with what we did, though!
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...
Day 1
Marissa and I woke up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise as we pulled into Naples, Italy. Holy dream come true. It was pretty much the best thing I have ever experienced in my whole life. We got up just in time to see the sun peek out from behind Mount Vesuvius! It was absolutely stunning. After about a half an hour of being whipped by the wind, we went in to shower, get ready, and eat breakfast! We ate out on the 6th deck so that we could watch as we finished pulling into port. It looked just like all the pictures! We had our boring pre-port and then got off the boat to take our guided 5 city tour of Italy! We headed straight onto a ferry to take us to Capri. It was breathtaking over there. We went on a tram that took us up a steep hill to the top of Capri. We took some pictures and then headed to this garden in Capri that overlooked some gorgeous water and cliffs. We took many many pictures there. We spent a while there and then headed to this cute little place on the top of the hill for lunch. On the way to lunch, we passed a place that sold Lemoncelo (sp?) and our tour guides told us to go in and try it. Let me just tell you that this stuff is like lemon and sugar and 32% alcohol. They gave us a little tiny bit of it and it was more than enough to knock you off your feet. I wanted to bring some home for you all to try since it is pretty popular over here, but we are not allowed to bring alcohol on the ship. Anyway, back to lunch. We started off with bread, then some ravoli, then some nasty fish risotto (I did try it.. I just did not like it.. it had many weird fish in it and it smelled bad). After that, we had some salad with some shrimp as well as some calamari. I did try the calamari, but it was too rubbery for me. It wasn’t tooo bad, but I just did not really enjoy it. We had desert and then headed out to explore the hill for about 40 minutes before we had to take the tram back down. We hit up some shops and then got some Italian gelato! YUUUM. I got Nutella and something that was vanilla with chocolate shavings and brownie pieces. It was goooood!! We headed down the hill when we were done and we were able to spend another 40 minutes at the bottom of the hill. Marissa, Alyssa, and Melissa (tongue full I know!) went to the little waterfront where they had all the boats tied up and stood in the Mediterranean Sea! It was really cool! Of course, we took more pictures!
We then hopped another ferry to Sorrento. It is a beautiful place. As soon as we got off the ferry, we hopped onto a bus to take us up the hill to get to our 4 star hotel. (4 stars here is definitely a little less then 4 stars in the states, but its still nice). I have a random roommate and she is very nice. Our room over-looks the courtyard in the back and has a view of the outdoor pool – which is gorgeous – as well as the water, and a bit of the city of Sorrento. After we got settled, Marissa, Melissa, and Alyssa, and I tried to walk to one of the bigger plazas in the upper city, but couldn’t really find it. Along the way, we had fun crossing the roads – they followed me like little baby ducks running across a road and I had no idea where I was going, but it was HYSTERICAL. Then we stumbled across a little orchard in the middle of the city. It grew Oranges and Lemons. They also sold the Lemoncello. Since I already tried it, I tried the orange version. It wasn’t bad.. strong, but not as pungent as the lemon one. So we walked a little more and then had to head back to get ready for dinner. We went to the 5 star hotel next door for dinner. Boy, it was awesome. It was dinner with the most spectacular view of the sun setting over the water and mount Vesuvius in the back. Wow. We had pasta – SOO good – a ‘hamburger’ that was more like a big sausage patty (it was either that or flying squid – I did try a piece of the squid, but did not like it), a salad, and cake for desert. We also got a bottle of wine to share for dinner. It was a good red wine, I wish I would have looked to see exactly what it was, but we were so overwhelmed with the whole atmosphere – the live music, fun waiters, good food. The guy that was playing guitar sang stuff like “That’s Amore”, and “Fly Me To The Moon”, “New York, New York” (They LOVE that in Europe..), and “Time To Say Goodbye” but all in Italian. Wow. After dinner, the girls and I took the bus into the main square where we walked around and got more gelato. I got coffee and it was probably the best tasting coffee ‘ice cream’ I have ever eaten in my life! We finished up, walked around a little, window shopped, listened to music that was playing in the restaurants, and then headed back on the bus. WONDERFUL DAY!!!
Day 2:
We woke up and left Sorrento around 8am. We went to Pompeii and had a wonderful tour guide named Roberto! He took us all round to see the devastation that Mount Vesuvius had on Pompeii when it first exploded in 79 AD. It was beautiful and sad at the same time, as well as being SUPER hot. After our tour, we headed to a little restaurant and had some AWESOME pizza with buffalo mozzarella. We had a WHOLE plate of it to ourselves. Next, we started our 3 hour drive from Pompeii to Roma!! I slept pretty much the whole time. It was a nice nap! When we finally got to the GORGEOUS hotel, we had about 2 hours to explore before leaving for dinner, so first we got some gelato! It was so good. I got Hazelnut and some kind of chocolate with rum. We still had a lot of time, so we headed over to the shopping district. It took a little bit of time, and a stop at a store to get some water (which ended up being sparkling EW! So Alyssa got regular water and we switched, she likes the sparking!), but we finally made it there. It was cool; there are over 3,000 shops on the street, including Fendi and Ferrari label stuff!! We window shopped for a bit and had to get back to the hotel to get the bus for dinner. We went to this cute little restaurant off the well-beaten path. SAS pretty much took over, but everyone was sitting outside, so it was cool. It was so pretty; there was a band playing fun Italian music! They also put on a show with the band; there were people on the upstairs of the restaurant being silly and ‘fighting’ with the band. After a dinner of manicotti, noodles, and some weird mashed potato thing with ham and cheese in it, and finally ice cream, we headed off for a rushed tour of the Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, and a cute square where I got a watercolor sepia painting of the coliseum. We headed back to the hotel, got some more gelato – this time I got pistachio and rice with honey. They were both good, but the rice and honey, although it sounds crazy, was actually very good!! Then, I broke down and bought an hour of internet which was 10 euro ($15) so that I could do a video chat with Steph and mom!!! It was sooooooo nice to see their faces and hear their voices! Tomorrow is a long day! Cant wait!! ☺
Day 3:
We had another 7 am wake up call for breakfast. Today is our day in Roma! Our first stop was the Vatican and we got to pass all the lines of people because we were doing the group tour. We started off with the Vatican museum and got to see a lot of cool art work and history, even the Sistine Chapel (we weren’t allowed to take pictures though). After the museum, we went into St. Peter’s Cathedral; it was so beautiful. There was a corpse of a dead pope in there – he looked fresh although he has been dead for a long time. It was… creepy. We had a little free time in the square, then hopped on the busses and got some lunch on the way to the Colesium. We had salad, bruschetta – which was amazing – and pasta, followed by some delicious fruit salad for dessert. Before we got back on the bus, we snuck over to get some gelato!! It was so cool to go and be able to see and walk around the coliseum.
Day 4:
This morning, we had to get up early again, this time to check out of out hotel to begin our journey to Naples. We stopped at Casserta and got to walk through the palace there. We had a tour aid that you have an earpiece hooked up to a walkie-talkie sort of device that the guide talked into so that you can hear him if he gets a head and so there aren’t multiple tours yelling at their groups. It was super uncomfortable and still hard to hear, so I didn’t get a whole lot out of what he was saying. It was very beautiful though! After the tour, we went back to old Napoli to get some lunch with the tour group. We had mozzarella and tomatoes, pizza margarita, and wine – which for once was included in the meal. It was okay, but the pizza in Rome was much better! The service took forever there as well, we were the last table to get served.. at least 35-40 minutes AFTER the first table to get served.. it was hard because I was soooo hungry. After lunch, we were given free time in one of the main squares by our ship. We were on a mission to find an ATM (since we could use the Euro in Greece) and stamps. We couldn’t find them, so Alyssa and I gave up to go sit by the water for a bit. We stayed down there and people watched with out feet in the water. We only had an hour, so we started back up the hill and got some refreshing gelato, for the last time, on the way back up. I don’t know if you were keeping track, but I had gelato 8 times and 14 different flavors (because I repeated 2 flavors). Gelato wasn’t as good as it was in Rome. Just as we were about to leave, Stefania told us where to find stamps, so we went up there to get some, and we told the guy that we needed to send the postcards to the US. He gave us .60-euro stamps, which was not enough, we later found out. Stefania told us we needed a 1-euro stamp, so she let us give her to postcards and money to cover the rest of the stamps and sent them out for us. How sweet! We got back to the pier at 5:30, had to go through security at the pier, and then had to go through the ship security. It took a little more than an hour and a half to get on the ship because they were letting independent travelers go in front of our large group, and needless to say, we were all getting pretty mad.; especially because they were having a BBQ on the 7th deck. We missed the actual BBQ, but they did keep some food warm for us, although it was not as good as it is when its fresh from the grill.
I LOVED Italy and cannot wait to go back and explore all the things I didn’t get to see in the places I was, and also to go explore the rest of the country!! ☺
Marissa and I woke up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise as we pulled into Naples, Italy. Holy dream come true. It was pretty much the best thing I have ever experienced in my whole life. We got up just in time to see the sun peek out from behind Mount Vesuvius! It was absolutely stunning. After about a half an hour of being whipped by the wind, we went in to shower, get ready, and eat breakfast! We ate out on the 6th deck so that we could watch as we finished pulling into port. It looked just like all the pictures! We had our boring pre-port and then got off the boat to take our guided 5 city tour of Italy! We headed straight onto a ferry to take us to Capri. It was breathtaking over there. We went on a tram that took us up a steep hill to the top of Capri. We took some pictures and then headed to this garden in Capri that overlooked some gorgeous water and cliffs. We took many many pictures there. We spent a while there and then headed to this cute little place on the top of the hill for lunch. On the way to lunch, we passed a place that sold Lemoncelo (sp?) and our tour guides told us to go in and try it. Let me just tell you that this stuff is like lemon and sugar and 32% alcohol. They gave us a little tiny bit of it and it was more than enough to knock you off your feet. I wanted to bring some home for you all to try since it is pretty popular over here, but we are not allowed to bring alcohol on the ship. Anyway, back to lunch. We started off with bread, then some ravoli, then some nasty fish risotto (I did try it.. I just did not like it.. it had many weird fish in it and it smelled bad). After that, we had some salad with some shrimp as well as some calamari. I did try the calamari, but it was too rubbery for me. It wasn’t tooo bad, but I just did not really enjoy it. We had desert and then headed out to explore the hill for about 40 minutes before we had to take the tram back down. We hit up some shops and then got some Italian gelato! YUUUM. I got Nutella and something that was vanilla with chocolate shavings and brownie pieces. It was goooood!! We headed down the hill when we were done and we were able to spend another 40 minutes at the bottom of the hill. Marissa, Alyssa, and Melissa (tongue full I know!) went to the little waterfront where they had all the boats tied up and stood in the Mediterranean Sea! It was really cool! Of course, we took more pictures!
We then hopped another ferry to Sorrento. It is a beautiful place. As soon as we got off the ferry, we hopped onto a bus to take us up the hill to get to our 4 star hotel. (4 stars here is definitely a little less then 4 stars in the states, but its still nice). I have a random roommate and she is very nice. Our room over-looks the courtyard in the back and has a view of the outdoor pool – which is gorgeous – as well as the water, and a bit of the city of Sorrento. After we got settled, Marissa, Melissa, and Alyssa, and I tried to walk to one of the bigger plazas in the upper city, but couldn’t really find it. Along the way, we had fun crossing the roads – they followed me like little baby ducks running across a road and I had no idea where I was going, but it was HYSTERICAL. Then we stumbled across a little orchard in the middle of the city. It grew Oranges and Lemons. They also sold the Lemoncello. Since I already tried it, I tried the orange version. It wasn’t bad.. strong, but not as pungent as the lemon one. So we walked a little more and then had to head back to get ready for dinner. We went to the 5 star hotel next door for dinner. Boy, it was awesome. It was dinner with the most spectacular view of the sun setting over the water and mount Vesuvius in the back. Wow. We had pasta – SOO good – a ‘hamburger’ that was more like a big sausage patty (it was either that or flying squid – I did try a piece of the squid, but did not like it), a salad, and cake for desert. We also got a bottle of wine to share for dinner. It was a good red wine, I wish I would have looked to see exactly what it was, but we were so overwhelmed with the whole atmosphere – the live music, fun waiters, good food. The guy that was playing guitar sang stuff like “That’s Amore”, and “Fly Me To The Moon”, “New York, New York” (They LOVE that in Europe..), and “Time To Say Goodbye” but all in Italian. Wow. After dinner, the girls and I took the bus into the main square where we walked around and got more gelato. I got coffee and it was probably the best tasting coffee ‘ice cream’ I have ever eaten in my life! We finished up, walked around a little, window shopped, listened to music that was playing in the restaurants, and then headed back on the bus. WONDERFUL DAY!!!
Day 2:
We woke up and left Sorrento around 8am. We went to Pompeii and had a wonderful tour guide named Roberto! He took us all round to see the devastation that Mount Vesuvius had on Pompeii when it first exploded in 79 AD. It was beautiful and sad at the same time, as well as being SUPER hot. After our tour, we headed to a little restaurant and had some AWESOME pizza with buffalo mozzarella. We had a WHOLE plate of it to ourselves. Next, we started our 3 hour drive from Pompeii to Roma!! I slept pretty much the whole time. It was a nice nap! When we finally got to the GORGEOUS hotel, we had about 2 hours to explore before leaving for dinner, so first we got some gelato! It was so good. I got Hazelnut and some kind of chocolate with rum. We still had a lot of time, so we headed over to the shopping district. It took a little bit of time, and a stop at a store to get some water (which ended up being sparkling EW! So Alyssa got regular water and we switched, she likes the sparking!), but we finally made it there. It was cool; there are over 3,000 shops on the street, including Fendi and Ferrari label stuff!! We window shopped for a bit and had to get back to the hotel to get the bus for dinner. We went to this cute little restaurant off the well-beaten path. SAS pretty much took over, but everyone was sitting outside, so it was cool. It was so pretty; there was a band playing fun Italian music! They also put on a show with the band; there were people on the upstairs of the restaurant being silly and ‘fighting’ with the band. After a dinner of manicotti, noodles, and some weird mashed potato thing with ham and cheese in it, and finally ice cream, we headed off for a rushed tour of the Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, and a cute square where I got a watercolor sepia painting of the coliseum. We headed back to the hotel, got some more gelato – this time I got pistachio and rice with honey. They were both good, but the rice and honey, although it sounds crazy, was actually very good!! Then, I broke down and bought an hour of internet which was 10 euro ($15) so that I could do a video chat with Steph and mom!!! It was sooooooo nice to see their faces and hear their voices! Tomorrow is a long day! Cant wait!! ☺
Day 3:
We had another 7 am wake up call for breakfast. Today is our day in Roma! Our first stop was the Vatican and we got to pass all the lines of people because we were doing the group tour. We started off with the Vatican museum and got to see a lot of cool art work and history, even the Sistine Chapel (we weren’t allowed to take pictures though). After the museum, we went into St. Peter’s Cathedral; it was so beautiful. There was a corpse of a dead pope in there – he looked fresh although he has been dead for a long time. It was… creepy. We had a little free time in the square, then hopped on the busses and got some lunch on the way to the Colesium. We had salad, bruschetta – which was amazing – and pasta, followed by some delicious fruit salad for dessert. Before we got back on the bus, we snuck over to get some gelato!! It was so cool to go and be able to see and walk around the coliseum.
Day 4:
This morning, we had to get up early again, this time to check out of out hotel to begin our journey to Naples. We stopped at Casserta and got to walk through the palace there. We had a tour aid that you have an earpiece hooked up to a walkie-talkie sort of device that the guide talked into so that you can hear him if he gets a head and so there aren’t multiple tours yelling at their groups. It was super uncomfortable and still hard to hear, so I didn’t get a whole lot out of what he was saying. It was very beautiful though! After the tour, we went back to old Napoli to get some lunch with the tour group. We had mozzarella and tomatoes, pizza margarita, and wine – which for once was included in the meal. It was okay, but the pizza in Rome was much better! The service took forever there as well, we were the last table to get served.. at least 35-40 minutes AFTER the first table to get served.. it was hard because I was soooo hungry. After lunch, we were given free time in one of the main squares by our ship. We were on a mission to find an ATM (since we could use the Euro in Greece) and stamps. We couldn’t find them, so Alyssa and I gave up to go sit by the water for a bit. We stayed down there and people watched with out feet in the water. We only had an hour, so we started back up the hill and got some refreshing gelato, for the last time, on the way back up. I don’t know if you were keeping track, but I had gelato 8 times and 14 different flavors (because I repeated 2 flavors). Gelato wasn’t as good as it was in Rome. Just as we were about to leave, Stefania told us where to find stamps, so we went up there to get some, and we told the guy that we needed to send the postcards to the US. He gave us .60-euro stamps, which was not enough, we later found out. Stefania told us we needed a 1-euro stamp, so she let us give her to postcards and money to cover the rest of the stamps and sent them out for us. How sweet! We got back to the pier at 5:30, had to go through security at the pier, and then had to go through the ship security. It took a little more than an hour and a half to get on the ship because they were letting independent travelers go in front of our large group, and needless to say, we were all getting pretty mad.; especially because they were having a BBQ on the 7th deck. We missed the actual BBQ, but they did keep some food warm for us, although it was not as good as it is when its fresh from the grill.
I LOVED Italy and cannot wait to go back and explore all the things I didn’t get to see in the places I was, and also to go explore the rest of the country!! ☺
Sunday, August 3, 2008
I'm still alive!
Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know that I am still having a blast! I have had limited time to catch up on typing up my blogs, but have no fear they are coming! Be on the lookout sometime soon!!
In the meantime - email me at kmvalentini@semesteratsea.net! I wanna hear from ALL of you! :)
In the meantime - email me at kmvalentini@semesteratsea.net! I wanna hear from ALL of you! :)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Belgium - the first land to make me gain weight.
Belgium!
7/13/08
We docked in Antwerp, Belgium last night, 8 hours before scheduled because of passing through the Kiel Canal.. It was pretty cool. I went out on the deck to watch and take pictures! I am having a hard time, though, because I am supposed to go to Amsterdam with some friends, but I feel like it would be too expensive. So, I finally decided not to go, still had to pay for the hostel, but felt like I needed to be in Belgium. I finally went to sleep and we had to wake up early for breakfast and preport. We got cleared and Aimee and I went out exploring. No one from the town was really awake at the time because it was like 9 am. It is a cute little town with many beautiful buildings and side streets. We walked around for about 3 ½ hours and got some Belgian chocolates. They were sooooo goood. We ate lunch on the ship and met Marissa and Heather to go out and explore more. We went to get a waffle with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Amazing! So exciting. We sat there for a while and then walked around more and got some fries. Holy crap, they give you A LOT. They were good. They are served with mayonnaise on it, but I got them without. After some more walking and shopping, we headed to the castle that was right by the ship. We headed back to the ship to rest and whatnot. I decided to get some veggies, so I ate and then did 3 miles in 21 minutes on the elliptical and then another mile on the treadmill! Go me! When I came back to my room, I called Marissa and Aimee and figured that they left without me, so I called Marie. I went out with Marie, Stacey, Paul, Christine, Melissa, Norah, and Erica. We had fun. We went to a little restaurant/outside café and I got one glass of cherry flavored beer called Kriek. It was soo good. I don’t like beer, but it was a sweeter taste and a rosy color. We talked to some local Belgians about life and what chocolate was the best, and they suggested to get it from the grocery store. That is the best. After that, we headed to an Irish Pub where I got a glass of hard cider. That was pretty good as well! I managed to only spend 20 Euro or $30 today! Yay! Anyway, tomorrow I am going to Brussels –the capital of Belgium, with Aimee and meeting Marissa there so that should be exciting.
7/14
Aimee and I, after breakfast, walked Paul to the train station to meet up with his boyfriend from Paris, David (Da – veeed). He was really nice, but spoke little English. We got some coffee and went back to the boat to get ready for Brussels. We headed back to the train station and took the 10 am train to Brussels to meet Marissa. We decided we were going to meet in this one park and that required us to get off at the Brussels-Noord station. Well, we walked around for about an hour and a half and got nowhere.. we got a hold of Marissa and decided to meet at the grand place (pla-ce). We got back on the train – maybe the metro – and headed to the grand place. Around 1 we finally found Marissa and decided we needed foood. We looked for a sandwich that had chicken, fries and mayonnaise on it, it was apparently legendary. We finally found it and it sucked. After that, we decided to walk around and got some chocolate and decided to look for mannequin pis. It was soo hard to find, we walked around for a while asking people. It was funny because Aimee kept making gestures of what the statue looked like to get people to understand. They laughed, we laughed, it was all good. We got some waffles with chocolate along the way and finally found the statue. It was about as big as my foot – sooooo small, almost not worth it. We waited in the grand place for it to light up, but it didn’t happen, so we decided to try to find train station – it took at least an hour even though we were close cause we couldn’t find it. We basically walked all over the city. Finally we found it, got on, sat in 1st class by accident and got yelled at cause we were supposed to be in 2nd. Then we got scared we missed our stop, so we asked the guy by us and he said we didn’t so we were okay. We finally got back to boat after being gone for 10 and a half hours, and I was hungry and upset, so I got a protein bar from ship and then worked out, and went to bed.
7/16/08
This morning, we slept in because we were tied. Aimee, Marissa, and I decided to walk around and go to the museums. We tried to go to the diamond museum, but it was closed, so we decided to get waffles and ice cream instead. It was so good, again. We walked around until we got to the fashion museum. It was pretty neat in there! They had a collection of some fashions that was only in there for a bit, but it was neat to see how it was set up. We decided to go back and take a nap, but I didn’t end up napping, I went to work out instead. We ate dinner on the boat and then Amber, Tanya and I went out with Heather, Raphael, Lindsey, and Alaina. While we were sitting at this little bar, we saw Aimee, Paul, and Marissa so they sat down with us. We stayed out for a little bit and then decided to go to bed!!!
7/17/08
Woke up and Aimee and I went to zoo with Iain Campbell on an FDP for class. It was sweet. We got to the snake house and hold a snake then we went to the reptile house and saw so many cool lizards and turtles. We then went to the aquarium and got a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium and it was pretty sweet to see the tanks from above. After, Aimee and I broke off and went to see the SEALS! We also saw camels, monkeys, chimps, lions, tigers, jaguars, and elephants! It was soo cool to see some of the animals.
After the zoo, we got to go to the diamond museum! It was pretty sweet to see the kind of history of the diamond and how they are formed and whatnot. Antwerp is so famous for their diamonds!! We weren’t allowed to take pictures, which sucked, but it was still neat.
After, we hit up Panos, which is the subway of Belgium. It is sandwiches on a baguette with whatever meat, hard boiled egg, tomato, lettuce, carrots and onions. It was SOOO good. After that, we hit up a waffle stand to get one last waffle in before leaving!! It was amazing and so sad to know I wont be having another one again, or at least for a while!!
We then got some post cards, hit up the post office and sent them out! Yay!
Finally, we hit up the chocolate stores!! YUMMO! I got like $20 of chocolates – yay truffles! SOO FREAKIN GOOD. I ate like 3 pieces of it when I Got back.
We came back to the ship and I conked out for like an hour and a half then went to dinner. Then we had our lifeboat drill which sucked but went faster than the first. Now I have to go study for my circus midterm. Yippee.
7/13/08
We docked in Antwerp, Belgium last night, 8 hours before scheduled because of passing through the Kiel Canal.. It was pretty cool. I went out on the deck to watch and take pictures! I am having a hard time, though, because I am supposed to go to Amsterdam with some friends, but I feel like it would be too expensive. So, I finally decided not to go, still had to pay for the hostel, but felt like I needed to be in Belgium. I finally went to sleep and we had to wake up early for breakfast and preport. We got cleared and Aimee and I went out exploring. No one from the town was really awake at the time because it was like 9 am. It is a cute little town with many beautiful buildings and side streets. We walked around for about 3 ½ hours and got some Belgian chocolates. They were sooooo goood. We ate lunch on the ship and met Marissa and Heather to go out and explore more. We went to get a waffle with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Amazing! So exciting. We sat there for a while and then walked around more and got some fries. Holy crap, they give you A LOT. They were good. They are served with mayonnaise on it, but I got them without. After some more walking and shopping, we headed to the castle that was right by the ship. We headed back to the ship to rest and whatnot. I decided to get some veggies, so I ate and then did 3 miles in 21 minutes on the elliptical and then another mile on the treadmill! Go me! When I came back to my room, I called Marissa and Aimee and figured that they left without me, so I called Marie. I went out with Marie, Stacey, Paul, Christine, Melissa, Norah, and Erica. We had fun. We went to a little restaurant/outside café and I got one glass of cherry flavored beer called Kriek. It was soo good. I don’t like beer, but it was a sweeter taste and a rosy color. We talked to some local Belgians about life and what chocolate was the best, and they suggested to get it from the grocery store. That is the best. After that, we headed to an Irish Pub where I got a glass of hard cider. That was pretty good as well! I managed to only spend 20 Euro or $30 today! Yay! Anyway, tomorrow I am going to Brussels –the capital of Belgium, with Aimee and meeting Marissa there so that should be exciting.
7/14
Aimee and I, after breakfast, walked Paul to the train station to meet up with his boyfriend from Paris, David (Da – veeed). He was really nice, but spoke little English. We got some coffee and went back to the boat to get ready for Brussels. We headed back to the train station and took the 10 am train to Brussels to meet Marissa. We decided we were going to meet in this one park and that required us to get off at the Brussels-Noord station. Well, we walked around for about an hour and a half and got nowhere.. we got a hold of Marissa and decided to meet at the grand place (pla-ce). We got back on the train – maybe the metro – and headed to the grand place. Around 1 we finally found Marissa and decided we needed foood. We looked for a sandwich that had chicken, fries and mayonnaise on it, it was apparently legendary. We finally found it and it sucked. After that, we decided to walk around and got some chocolate and decided to look for mannequin pis. It was soo hard to find, we walked around for a while asking people. It was funny because Aimee kept making gestures of what the statue looked like to get people to understand. They laughed, we laughed, it was all good. We got some waffles with chocolate along the way and finally found the statue. It was about as big as my foot – sooooo small, almost not worth it. We waited in the grand place for it to light up, but it didn’t happen, so we decided to try to find train station – it took at least an hour even though we were close cause we couldn’t find it. We basically walked all over the city. Finally we found it, got on, sat in 1st class by accident and got yelled at cause we were supposed to be in 2nd. Then we got scared we missed our stop, so we asked the guy by us and he said we didn’t so we were okay. We finally got back to boat after being gone for 10 and a half hours, and I was hungry and upset, so I got a protein bar from ship and then worked out, and went to bed.
7/16/08
This morning, we slept in because we were tied. Aimee, Marissa, and I decided to walk around and go to the museums. We tried to go to the diamond museum, but it was closed, so we decided to get waffles and ice cream instead. It was so good, again. We walked around until we got to the fashion museum. It was pretty neat in there! They had a collection of some fashions that was only in there for a bit, but it was neat to see how it was set up. We decided to go back and take a nap, but I didn’t end up napping, I went to work out instead. We ate dinner on the boat and then Amber, Tanya and I went out with Heather, Raphael, Lindsey, and Alaina. While we were sitting at this little bar, we saw Aimee, Paul, and Marissa so they sat down with us. We stayed out for a little bit and then decided to go to bed!!!
7/17/08
Woke up and Aimee and I went to zoo with Iain Campbell on an FDP for class. It was sweet. We got to the snake house and hold a snake then we went to the reptile house and saw so many cool lizards and turtles. We then went to the aquarium and got a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium and it was pretty sweet to see the tanks from above. After, Aimee and I broke off and went to see the SEALS! We also saw camels, monkeys, chimps, lions, tigers, jaguars, and elephants! It was soo cool to see some of the animals.
After the zoo, we got to go to the diamond museum! It was pretty sweet to see the kind of history of the diamond and how they are formed and whatnot. Antwerp is so famous for their diamonds!! We weren’t allowed to take pictures, which sucked, but it was still neat.
After, we hit up Panos, which is the subway of Belgium. It is sandwiches on a baguette with whatever meat, hard boiled egg, tomato, lettuce, carrots and onions. It was SOOO good. After that, we hit up a waffle stand to get one last waffle in before leaving!! It was amazing and so sad to know I wont be having another one again, or at least for a while!!
We then got some post cards, hit up the post office and sent them out! Yay!
Finally, we hit up the chocolate stores!! YUMMO! I got like $20 of chocolates – yay truffles! SOO FREAKIN GOOD. I ate like 3 pieces of it when I Got back.
We came back to the ship and I conked out for like an hour and a half then went to dinner. Then we had our lifeboat drill which sucked but went faster than the first. Now I have to go study for my circus midterm. Yippee.
Denmark!!
DENMARK!!!
Day 1:
First of all, the night before docking was hell. We were to be docking in Korsor. Korsor is a tiny town that does not have a whole lot to offer, so most people’s plans included going to Copenhagen, as was ours. Well, we were supposed to have a hostel since Copenhagen is an hour from Korsor. By the time we booked, they were pretty much all filled. There were 9 of us all together. So we went through many hassles to get somewhere to stay and came up empty handed. I had bought a “Let’s Go: Europe on a Budget” book before I left, so decided to give it one more shot. I found a hostel in the bottom of a hotel just outside the heart of the city. I emailed them and they had a room available for the 9 of us. It would be a private room, which was nice. It cost us 300 Danish Kr or $60 for the 2 nights which was a good price. So, we took it. So in the morning, we ate breakfast and lunch on board the ship. Finally around 12 we got off the boat and headed for the 45 minute walk to the train station with our luggage. It was a long walk. So after a long morning, we finally get to rainy old Denmark around 2. It took us about 45 minutes to find our way to the hostel, but we made it and all was good. I bought a lock to lock up my stuff while in the hostel, because I do not trust them at all. I locked up my stuff and my friends Lindsey, Marie, and I headed out on our own – 9 is a big group to travel with. We just decided to wander around and see whatever we saw since it was rainy outside. We made our way to the round tower that was(/still is?) used as an astronomy observatory. It was a windy path up, but we finally made it. It was a gorgeous view of the whole city. Well worth it! On our way down, we stopped at an art gallery that was being presented on the side. They were serving wine, hummus, and bread, so we got a glass of wine, some bread and some hummus as we looked at the art. It was a nice little stop. (My dad would be pleased to know, I enjoyed the hummus).
After the tower, we headed out for some dinner and along the way found a lot of musicians playing music on the street. It was the week of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival! We found a cute little sandwich shop and got a sandwich to go so we could watch some jazz bands play. We sat down at a little café place, but we had to buy something to drink to sit there, so we shared a mini bottle of wine. It was a very cute evening. We had some fresh gelato and I also got a crepe with Nutella! Yuuuum! After we walked around some more, we met up with some other SASers and headed to an amusement park called Tivoli Gardens. We mainly went for the night laser show, and it was spectacular. It cost $18 just to get in and at least $12 to ride one ride, so we didn’t ride anything, just looked around. It was so pretty there! After, we headed back to the hostel and went to bed! It was a looong day!
Day 2:
It was so hot and uncomfortable in the hostel, so, I did not get a good nights rest. Two of the girls and I woke up at 6:45 so we could eat breakfast at 7 and head out for the day So after breakfast, we got some free bikes from the city and rode all around town. We went to Christiana, which is a hippie community that has a separate government from Copenhagen, but it still is in Copenhagen. They are apparently allowed to smoke pot there, but luckily we went there early in the morning, so everyone who lived there was still sleeping off the night before and we didn’t run into any of the inhabitants. It was actually really pretty there! After Lindsey made us go to Christiana, I made the girls go to see the statue of the Little Mermaid. It was small, but quite cool to see! I took a few pictures with her! We walked around after returning the bikes, got a smoothie and a scone, did some window shopping and then headed to the botanical gardens (which was not as cool as I would have thunk). There were many street performers, it was pretty cool; there was a guy ‘juggling’ crystal balls (look up Moschen), a man pretending to be a statue, a circus performer, and a guy playing crystal glasses like on Miss Congeniality. That was pretty much it, it didn’t really sound like a lot, but we did a lot of people watching and city touring. It was a lot of fun!!
Day 3:
Marie had gone home on the train last night with Marissa because they had a trip today, so today was just Lindsay and I. We had to check out of the hostel by 10, so we woke up at 9, got breakfast, and checked out. We walked around the city for a while, looking for a Jazz Festival shirt for Lindsey and then I got a crepe for lunch. We headed back to the train around 12 and accidentally sat on the quiet car. Ooops! We were not allowed to talk at all. That was okay though because it gave me time to think about all the things we did and just have me time. When we got back to the ship, I did some laundry in the sink, had some alone time, and then met Heather and Emily for dinner. After dinner, we walked to the grocery store to get some snacks for the ship, but they did not accept our credit cards, so we got nothing. On our way back, we saw a little girl, no older than 9, on the sidewalk with 2 puppies on a leash and crying. We asked her what was wrong and if she needed help, but she didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Danish, so she just kind of stood there for a moment before walking away. It was the saddest thing to see a little kid crying and not being able to help. So after that, we just went back to the ship and hung out before hitting the sac.
Day 4:
Emily, Heather, Marissa, and I ate breakfast on the ship before going out on the town in Korsor to explore where we were docked. First, we headed to the library to get some free internet, which was pretty exciting to catch up on pictures and whatnot. Anyway, Korsor is a very small city, so there wasn’t a whole lot to do. We just went around and looked in shops and got some soft ice. We went to a few places before stumbling upon an ALDI’S!! It was really strange! It was set up exactly like ours at home, but I couldn’t get anything because they did not accept my credit card and I was out of Danish Kroner. We had to get back to the ship so that I could work on my paper for biology and also global studies, so we went back, ate dinner, and did homework. Boo!! That was the end to a fun time in Denmark!
It is a pretty cool place to go. I just wish I could have explored a little more, maybe in the future. They get around pretty much everywhere by biking, as its relatively flat. This is why they have the free bikes for anyone to ride. Well its not exactly free, you have to put in 20 cents of DKroner (which is $4) but you get it back when you return the bikes. I really enjoyed that and wish we had stuff like that in America, but I feel like that would never work.
July 12, 2008
So, we left Denmark yesterday, but today we were able to experience a little bit of Germany! Captain Jeremy brought us through The Kiel Canal. We started going through around 8:30 in the morning, so my lovely bio professor - Iain Campell (a Scottish professor from Pitt who doesn’t really like PSU at all) let us out of class early so that we could watch our approach to the canal. It was really quite spectacular to see!
Some facts about the Kiel Canal:
• We saved 286 Nautical Miles by going through it as opposed to going around Denmark to get to Belgium
• We are about the largest ship that is allowed to pass through!
• It took 11 hours total to pass through
• It cost 15000 Euro to go through
• It was dug by hand and during WWI was expanded to let German warships through.
• Nationalized in 1930 by Hitler, not enemy or Jewish ships were allowed through
• Connects the Baltic and North Seas
Tonight, I also got to meet the ‘uncle’ of my sea family. Tom finally came on board in Denmark and will be sailing with us until Italy. He is very nice and so is the rest of my family!!
Day 1:
First of all, the night before docking was hell. We were to be docking in Korsor. Korsor is a tiny town that does not have a whole lot to offer, so most people’s plans included going to Copenhagen, as was ours. Well, we were supposed to have a hostel since Copenhagen is an hour from Korsor. By the time we booked, they were pretty much all filled. There were 9 of us all together. So we went through many hassles to get somewhere to stay and came up empty handed. I had bought a “Let’s Go: Europe on a Budget” book before I left, so decided to give it one more shot. I found a hostel in the bottom of a hotel just outside the heart of the city. I emailed them and they had a room available for the 9 of us. It would be a private room, which was nice. It cost us 300 Danish Kr or $60 for the 2 nights which was a good price. So, we took it. So in the morning, we ate breakfast and lunch on board the ship. Finally around 12 we got off the boat and headed for the 45 minute walk to the train station with our luggage. It was a long walk. So after a long morning, we finally get to rainy old Denmark around 2. It took us about 45 minutes to find our way to the hostel, but we made it and all was good. I bought a lock to lock up my stuff while in the hostel, because I do not trust them at all. I locked up my stuff and my friends Lindsey, Marie, and I headed out on our own – 9 is a big group to travel with. We just decided to wander around and see whatever we saw since it was rainy outside. We made our way to the round tower that was(/still is?) used as an astronomy observatory. It was a windy path up, but we finally made it. It was a gorgeous view of the whole city. Well worth it! On our way down, we stopped at an art gallery that was being presented on the side. They were serving wine, hummus, and bread, so we got a glass of wine, some bread and some hummus as we looked at the art. It was a nice little stop. (My dad would be pleased to know, I enjoyed the hummus).
After the tower, we headed out for some dinner and along the way found a lot of musicians playing music on the street. It was the week of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival! We found a cute little sandwich shop and got a sandwich to go so we could watch some jazz bands play. We sat down at a little café place, but we had to buy something to drink to sit there, so we shared a mini bottle of wine. It was a very cute evening. We had some fresh gelato and I also got a crepe with Nutella! Yuuuum! After we walked around some more, we met up with some other SASers and headed to an amusement park called Tivoli Gardens. We mainly went for the night laser show, and it was spectacular. It cost $18 just to get in and at least $12 to ride one ride, so we didn’t ride anything, just looked around. It was so pretty there! After, we headed back to the hostel and went to bed! It was a looong day!
Day 2:
It was so hot and uncomfortable in the hostel, so, I did not get a good nights rest. Two of the girls and I woke up at 6:45 so we could eat breakfast at 7 and head out for the day So after breakfast, we got some free bikes from the city and rode all around town. We went to Christiana, which is a hippie community that has a separate government from Copenhagen, but it still is in Copenhagen. They are apparently allowed to smoke pot there, but luckily we went there early in the morning, so everyone who lived there was still sleeping off the night before and we didn’t run into any of the inhabitants. It was actually really pretty there! After Lindsey made us go to Christiana, I made the girls go to see the statue of the Little Mermaid. It was small, but quite cool to see! I took a few pictures with her! We walked around after returning the bikes, got a smoothie and a scone, did some window shopping and then headed to the botanical gardens (which was not as cool as I would have thunk). There were many street performers, it was pretty cool; there was a guy ‘juggling’ crystal balls (look up Moschen), a man pretending to be a statue, a circus performer, and a guy playing crystal glasses like on Miss Congeniality. That was pretty much it, it didn’t really sound like a lot, but we did a lot of people watching and city touring. It was a lot of fun!!
Day 3:
Marie had gone home on the train last night with Marissa because they had a trip today, so today was just Lindsay and I. We had to check out of the hostel by 10, so we woke up at 9, got breakfast, and checked out. We walked around the city for a while, looking for a Jazz Festival shirt for Lindsey and then I got a crepe for lunch. We headed back to the train around 12 and accidentally sat on the quiet car. Ooops! We were not allowed to talk at all. That was okay though because it gave me time to think about all the things we did and just have me time. When we got back to the ship, I did some laundry in the sink, had some alone time, and then met Heather and Emily for dinner. After dinner, we walked to the grocery store to get some snacks for the ship, but they did not accept our credit cards, so we got nothing. On our way back, we saw a little girl, no older than 9, on the sidewalk with 2 puppies on a leash and crying. We asked her what was wrong and if she needed help, but she didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Danish, so she just kind of stood there for a moment before walking away. It was the saddest thing to see a little kid crying and not being able to help. So after that, we just went back to the ship and hung out before hitting the sac.
Day 4:
Emily, Heather, Marissa, and I ate breakfast on the ship before going out on the town in Korsor to explore where we were docked. First, we headed to the library to get some free internet, which was pretty exciting to catch up on pictures and whatnot. Anyway, Korsor is a very small city, so there wasn’t a whole lot to do. We just went around and looked in shops and got some soft ice. We went to a few places before stumbling upon an ALDI’S!! It was really strange! It was set up exactly like ours at home, but I couldn’t get anything because they did not accept my credit card and I was out of Danish Kroner. We had to get back to the ship so that I could work on my paper for biology and also global studies, so we went back, ate dinner, and did homework. Boo!! That was the end to a fun time in Denmark!
It is a pretty cool place to go. I just wish I could have explored a little more, maybe in the future. They get around pretty much everywhere by biking, as its relatively flat. This is why they have the free bikes for anyone to ride. Well its not exactly free, you have to put in 20 cents of DKroner (which is $4) but you get it back when you return the bikes. I really enjoyed that and wish we had stuff like that in America, but I feel like that would never work.
July 12, 2008
So, we left Denmark yesterday, but today we were able to experience a little bit of Germany! Captain Jeremy brought us through The Kiel Canal. We started going through around 8:30 in the morning, so my lovely bio professor - Iain Campell (a Scottish professor from Pitt who doesn’t really like PSU at all) let us out of class early so that we could watch our approach to the canal. It was really quite spectacular to see!
Some facts about the Kiel Canal:
• We saved 286 Nautical Miles by going through it as opposed to going around Denmark to get to Belgium
• We are about the largest ship that is allowed to pass through!
• It took 11 hours total to pass through
• It cost 15000 Euro to go through
• It was dug by hand and during WWI was expanded to let German warships through.
• Nationalized in 1930 by Hitler, not enemy or Jewish ships were allowed through
• Connects the Baltic and North Seas
Tonight, I also got to meet the ‘uncle’ of my sea family. Tom finally came on board in Denmark and will be sailing with us until Italy. He is very nice and so is the rest of my family!!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Roosyia!
Hey everyone! Sorry this is a little bit late, but better late than never right?
Anyway, Russia was great, definitely not what I expected. My roommate and I woke up at 5:30 to watch us pull into port. It wasn’t too exciting. It was very industrial. We had to get our passports before they would let us off the boat. This was because we had to go through emigration every time we wanted to get on and off the boat. Also, the police have the right to stop you at any time and ask for your passport to make sure you are there legally. It was scary carrying them around everywhere because pick pocketing is so prevalent. Luckily, it didn’t happen to me there. We got off the ship, but just to get to an ATM. We all had trips to do in the early afternoon so there wasn’t enough time to go anywhere.
My first trip of Russia was a home visit. I was nervous about this trip, but it turned out to be a really really good trip. The couple that we visited did not speak English. Their names were Oleg and Helena. Oleg was in his early 70s and Helena was in her late 50s. They were very nice and made us tea and we had many many different kinds of Russian cookies. It was interesting to hear all their stories, one in particular was kind of crazy. Oleg was on a ship that was bringing missiles for the Cuban Missile Crisis.
After the home visit, we rushed back and I took a shower to get ready for the RUSSIAN BALLET!! It was soo cool, we saw Swan Lake. We didn’t get to to the big theater, but the theater that we went to was nice. We had kinda crappy seats, it was a box seat up high and in the back and was a little hard to see from. I had fun though. It was not really what I expected. When I think of the Russian ballet, I think of dedication that rivals Julliard dancing. It was a little off at times and not quite on. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. After the ballet, my friend Marissa and I had to hurry and get to sleep for our 4 am wake up call for Moscow the next morning!They provided a small breakfast for us in the lobby while we were waiting to get to the airport. We left around 8 and got there a little before 9:30. I slept most of the way because I was dead tired. When we got to Moscow, we loaded the bus and headed to the Kremlin. This is the central government located in Moscow. It as pretty cool, it was mostly a museum inside, at least the building we went in. There were a lot of old garments and dresses and thrones. We quickly were getting bored because it was around 11 or 12 and we had not eaten in a while and we were very hungry. After the Kremlin, we drove past Saint Basil’s Cathedral but they wouldn’t let us out to look for a few minutes because there were 90 of us. I was a little mad because it is such a huge landmark for Moscow. So around 2 or 3, they FINALLY took us to lunch. It was at a pretty neat Russian restaurant that looked like a paradise. When we walked in, there was a weird ham and potato salad waiting for us on the table. I tried it, but it was not very good. It was smothered in some kind of weird creamy sauce. The next portion of lunch was soup. I got really excited in anticipation for the soup, until I realize what it was. Borscht. Ew. I did try it, staying true to trying new foods in each port, and I didn’t really like it. It was not terrible, but it was not enjoyable. For the main course, we had something that I previously thought was a German dish – beef stroganoff. Apparently it is a Russian dish, and thank God it was good. After eating lunch, we headed out to the Red Square which was named after all the red brick that it took to construct the buildings and the road. We were so excited to see that St. Basil’s was located just behind the square!! Marissa and I took like a billion pictures here! I took a sweet jumping picture in front of it which some of you have had the pleasure of seeing. It was so cool to see in person. After, we went to the airport and got on a teeny tiny airplane with no room, which was a huge contrast to the very spatious and comfortable plane we took to Russia. We got back to the boat around 1 am – just shy of missing the bridge. The bridges are low to the water in Russia and at 1:30 every night, the bridges go up to allow boats to pass through. If you get stuck on the wrong side, you are basically stuck until 6ish in the morning!!
Day 3 in Russia was pretty filled as well. In the morning, I had the ‘Russian Cuisine’ class. It was not really what I had in mind. I was thinking that we would walk into a place and it would be more like a home-ec set up to learn how to make food. Instead, we walked into a restaurant and all 70 of us sat down. There was a table for 10 people to learn how to make our dinner. So only 10 could go up at a time. Basically all we did, to make Pelmeny (which was in fact really good) was get a small piece of dough, roll it out, stuff it with meat and seal it up. It wasn’t much of a cooking lesson as much as follow the leader. It was really neat to make it though. Obviously after, we got to eat it! After the cooking lesson, my friend and I went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was a really neat place to eat, there were ponds with coy fish and turtles and a bird in a cage. The only thing that sucked was the fact that they did not speak English and we did not speak Russiam. We were able to communicate a little bit, enough to get our food and pay. It was SOO good! After lunch, we headed back to the ship to get ready for our white nights tour of St. Petersburg. Again, it was not what I was expecting, but it was great. There were so many of us that they had to split us up into 2 different groups. One went on the canal tour first (aka my group) while it was only 6pm. It wasn’t much of a white night as it was a white day. Then we headed to some famous Russian composure’s house – I cannot remember his name! Ooops! After the tour of his very hot, non air conditioned house, we went to the bottom floor and a young Russian opera singer put on a concert for us. It was so good; it sent chills up my spine. After the tour, a group of us went out for drinks and desert. I got warm chocolate cake and an Irish coffee. The Irish coffee was terrible. It was very strong, and I was not expecting there to be a lot of alcohol in it. The cake was soo good though. They make it fresh when you order it. We stayed until 1:30 and went outside to watch the bridges go up. It was very pretty! I took pictures, of course!
Day 4 aka the 4th of July was pretty cool. I went to the Hermitage with my friend Melissa and some other SAS kids. We only got to spend about 45 minutes inside because Melissa had to be back for a trip. That was not enough time in there. What the Hermitage is is the old Winter palace for the royal family. It has been turned into a museum with so many art pieces that if you spend M-F there taking 1 minute to look at each piece of art, it would take you 9 years to get through. I ate lunch on the ship and after went to St. Isaac’s Cathedral with my friend Jackie. That was beautiful. All the artwork on the walls and ceiling was made out of tiling. On the way over to the Cathedral, we had to have seen like 8 weddings going on. These Russians are crazy with their weddings. After the cathedral, we came back to the boat and hung out on the deck and enjoyed the warm weather.
On the last day of Russia, I went back to the Hermitage with some other friends. We spent like 2 hours there that time. Before heading back to the ship, we hit up a little outdoor souvenir market where I bought some Russian nesting dolls. We went back to the ship early because we were having a 4th of July BBQ on the deck. (So maybe it wasn’t the 4th in Russia anymore, but it was still the 4th in Hawaii!!) It was a lot of fun, there was live music, good food and ice cream!
Overall thoughts:
I had a busy 5 days in Russia and really did love it. It sucked not being able to drink the water because of bacteria; everything we drank had to be bottled. Russia was a lot cheaper than Norway. There were 25 Rubles to $1. Russians drive ultra crazy. I don’t even know how to explain it, but I felt like we were going to be in an accident every 2 seconds. But I never saw one. The weather was very nice, a little hot at times. It was weird being there in such a huge city. It was almost like NYC, but with midget buildings. The buildings had to be shorter than the Hermitage. It sucked having to carry around the passport, but luckily there was nothing scary that happened to me there. One last thing – mullets were everywhere. They were taking over. It was quite scary, haha!! I did have one shot of Russian vodka. You cannot go to Russia and not taste it. It was okay, not my favorite thing in the world, or even close to being my favorite thing in the world.
I will try to post Denmark’s blog before I get to Belgium, but no promises. If not, I get free Internet in the hostel I will be at in Amsterdam. I will be visiting Amsterdam for a night while I am in Belgium! I am looking forward to seeing Anne Frank’s house and whatnot in Amsterdam and eating chocolate and waffles in Belgium. I do not really like the taste of beer, but apparently Belgium has some pretty good Belgian brewed beers, so I may just taste one for the sake of trying something of the culture.
Shoot me some emails! I am still using kmvalentini@semesteratsea.net! Let me know what you think of my blogs, keep me updated with information in the states, with your lives! Miss you!
xoxo Kate
Monday, June 30, 2008
Come sail away with me!! :)
Norway was so great! We docked in Bergen, Norway on Tuesday, the 24th. The first day, I didn’t really have any plans besides getting to the Aquarium for my biology class. I have to write a paper on it. The aquarium was pretty cool, but it was 150 Kroner. In case you are not fluent in exchange rates, there are 5 Kroner to 1 USD. Basically, it means that everything was REALLY expensive. So going back to the aquarium – or Akvariet, in Norwegian – it being 150 Kroner, that was $30. Ouch! But I did get to see penguins, SEALS!!, and a bunch of really cool fish like Dory, Nemo, and Marlin (for all you kids that like Finding Nemo!). After that, my friend Emily and I went to the fish market (where I tried Moose & Reindeer jerky). After looking through the fish market, which also had trinkets and hats and shirts..) we went to lunch at the Harbor Café. We each got a hamburger and a coke light (which is their diet coke) and the check was 414 kroner together. That was about $40 each. Luckily, they don’t really believe in tipping. This is good because they also do not really believe in costumer service. It took them FOREVER to wait on us and for us to get the check. That is normal in Norwegian culture.
After eating, we just kind of walked around for a bit and met up with some more friends for dinner which was 150 Kroner, or $30. I REALLY wanted coffee, but they really do not believe in taking out coffee from cafes, so I went to 7 elevens and little shops to try to get coffee, but the machines were too difficult, so I just gave up. It was alright because I didn’t need to be caffeinated, I had to get up early on Wednesday! I went back to the ship around 9 and we stopped at a little shop – called Joker (VERY common) like our Sheetz or a Wawa (for all you Virginians). I got this AMAZING cone of frozen yogurt dipped in a chocolate powder. It was SOO good. I got back to the ship and had to get ready for the next day for my 3 day trip to the Fjords and Glaciers. (A fjord is a valley that was carved out from glaciers moving through many thousands of years ago.)
I got up around 6 on Wednesday & we left the port around 8. We were traveling on a bus to go up north to see the Briksdal Glacier and quite a few fjords. We had an Italian tour guide staying with us for the whole 3 days, Emiliano. He was a pretty fun guy! We drove along and saw many beautiful waterfalls and lakes on the way to Geiranger, which was our first overnight point of the trip. We stopped along the way to get lunch, stopped at a HUGE waterfall, took a 20 minute standing room only ferry across a fjord, went up on top of a HUGE mountain – where it SNOWED!, and ate dinner at the hotel. It took us a total of 10 hours to get to Geiranger from Bergen! Looong bus ride.
The first hotel was pretty nice It was called Hotel Union and was right up the hill from the town of Geiranger, which was home of 400 people. We really didn’t do a whole lot in the town because it was so small, but the hotel had a little pub down stairs and a live band. It was soo strange because they were playing American music. Music from the 80s, mostly. There was 5 of us girls and we all got a long island iced tea. It was pretty good.
Thursday, we had to be up for breakfast and out of the hotel by 9 to catch yet another ferry. This one was an hour and was a little more cozy than the other ferry. There was 2 observing decks and an inside lounge with a little café on it. We got to see a waterfall that is pretty famous in Norway. It is called the 7 sisters waterfall. There are 7 waterfalls that all run beside each other. When we went past, there was a rainbow going through them, it was so cool! After the ferry ride, we got back on the bus to head to lunch & to hike to the Bridksdal Glacier. It took about 45 minutes to hike up to the foot of the glacier. It was a very pretty and scenic hike. You could see the glacier from most of the trail and there were SOO many waterfalls running from the glacier on the way up. It was a pretty warm day, but it was very windy and a little chilly by the glacier. There was a runoff pool of water at the bottom of the glacier and many many rocks left behind when the glacier was retreating.
We were only allowed to get so close, probably for good reason – there was some loose ice ‘rocks’ that were falling when we got there. Buuuut, being the adventurous little Americans that our group was, we went past the ropes and went up and touched the glacier. It was AMAZING. It was one of the most beautiful places I had ever been in my entire life. It was another 45 minutes to walk back down and then we headed to the hotel. This hotel was so pretty. It was called the Hotel Alexandra. My roommate had not showen up for the trip at all, so I had this amazing room all to myself. It was small, but bigger than the first hotel room. I had a balcony that overlooked a lake and beautiful snow-capped mountains. We had a buffet dinner that was pretty much amazing. (Any food we get off the boat is GREAT!) They had a little dance club on the 1st floor of the hotel, so almost our whole group went down there to dance after dinner. It was so much fun!
On Friday, we had to go to the glacier museum. On the way to the museum, we stopped at another smaller glacier right off the side of the road. We only had 50 minutes at the museum and we spent it on a little climate exhibit and a 20-minute documentary showing the tops of glaciers. We had we had to hop another 20 minute standing room only ferry and rode to a stave church dating from 1150 AD. That was pretty interesting to see. It was getting renovated on the outside because the wood tiles on the roof are rotting. It was a very small church that used to be a Christian church for people around the town. There were windows in the back so that lepers could be a part of the mass without being in with the people. There was also another window in the back for pregnant or women who had a baby within 4 months. They were thought to be unclean and were not allowed in the church with the people. I thought that was strange.
After the church, we drove through Voss and stopped at the waterfall of youth. It was simply amazing. It was very big and had many many pieces of the water flowing all different directions. It made me feel so insignificant, like so many of the things in Norway did. The waterfall was the last stop on my wonderful Norway journey. After that, we had to get back onto the ship so that we did not receive dock time. For every 15 minutes you are late, you get 1 hour of dock time that you are required to spend sitting by the pursers desk at the next port. HOPEFULLY that never happens to me.
The roads in Norway are completely unbelievable. You would think that they were one way. It was pretty scary going up very very winding mountain roads when another bus was coming along. The bus driver would SLAM on his brakes and one bus would have to pull to the side so the other could get through. There were like no guard rails either. So sometimes you would look out the window, look down, and see very scary views of the steep mountain. It was pretty intense. Everytime we would get into a situation when we would have to get past a bus, the tour Emiliano would play the James bond theme song. HAHA!
The weather in Norway is pretty much 50% chance of rain all the time. The first day we got there, It rained in the afternoon, but by late afternoon it stopped raining and didn’t really rain again until Thursday afternoon. We pretty much lucked out with the weather. I ran into an older lady from England who said that her and her hubby were there for a 10 day vacation and it rained the WHOLE time.
So overall, I wasn’t a huge fan of Bergen just because it was mostly a huge tourist area. A LOT of cruise ships come into Bergen, so that’s whey it is so touristy. It was cute though. It wasn’t really what I was expecting for Norway, but my fjords and glacier trip was definitely what I was expecting of Norway, the huge mountains and beautiful water. Oh and pretty much EVERYONE spoke English, which was really nice.
So, tomorrow we dock in Russia. I am a little nervous for that. Apparently people are all about stealing American passports and selling them for a lot of money on the black market. So today, I bought a money belt in the school store because we are REQUIRED to carry around out passports.
My itinerary for Russia is visitng a Russian home, the Russian Ballet!!, White Nights (which is a cruise down one of the rivers and a concert of some sort under a sun that never sets), a Russian cuisine class with a master chef, and a day trip to Moscow! So, aside from being nervous, I am really excited. After all, how many people can say, “I have been to Russia!!”?
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