Barcelonaaa

Ciao! I am currently in Roma, and loving every second of it.. :) But I will blog about that in a couple days since it's not over yet! So Barcelona was a fun city.. 2 and a half days was definitely enough there though, especially the time of year it was.. I can see how people can spend a week there but its because of the beaches. We got to go to the beach but it was still too cold to be in a bathing suit and too cold to go in the water! (even though some people swam, and some people were naked!) So I got there Friday night after a long day of traveling from Sweden, but I met up with my friends and also met some kids staying in our hostel room from Boston College, so they knew a couple people I knew who go there. All of us went out on the town that night which was fun and easy since employees of the hostel took us out. They are all young and the hostel was really nice and hip and a fun place to be. Barcelona is known for its night life and it was definitely a blast! Couldn't do it all the time like they do though..

Saturday we got up and went on a 2 hour boat tour around Barcelona harbor and around the coast. We saw the beach and beautiful mountains! When I was flying into Barcelona I was shocked at the amount of mountains there were.. I never thought of Spain to have mountains, mainly just beaches! But it was an amazing mix of both which I loved. The tour was very relaxing and it was nice to be near the ocean again! Then we went to the beach and sat there for a couple hours, soaking up the sun. We were constantly bombarded by locals trying to sell us stuff. For those of you who have been to Mexico, you know what I mean.. However this was still different. People in Mexico atleast leave you alone if you look like you're sleeping.. NOT IN BARCELONA! and they also aren't selling jewerly or hats or cigars.. They are selling beer, "smokes", or women selling messages.. And there is one every (no lie we timed them) 45 seconds. One of the most annoying things I have ever experienced!! We found a nice Irish Pub to eat in (I know I know, we can't stay away) and actually ate lunch there both Sat and Sun we loved it so much! As I was sitting down to eat, all of a sudden I heard someone say my name! It was 2 girls sitting next to us who go to Saint Rose with me and who are studying in Florence! I was SHOCKED to say the least.. because just that afternoon I was telling my friends I was surpised nobody has run into someone they know yet randomly in one of these big cities! We talked for a little while and I am actually going to meet up with them when I go to Florence in these next couple days.. The rest of Saturday we just walked around and didn't do much. We had heard about this water and light show they do on Fri and Sat nights at this huge fountain, so we took the subway there to catch the 830 show. We saw the end of the 8 oclock show but for some reason they never played one at 830!! So virtually we went down there for nothing, but we still got to see a different part of the city and it was beautiful at night.

Sunday we didn't really have anything planned since there is not many sites to see in Barcelona, but I had to go to an art museum from my modern art class so I got up early and went to the Joan Miro museum. I am writing my semester paper for art on him and I got some good notes and saw some of his best works. The museum was on top of a huge hill so the view from the top was incredible.. Mountains, beach, housetops, blue sky! (Again I don't have pictures yet because I'm on a public computer again but I will put all the albums up when I get home (ha when I say home I mean Salzburg) and post the link) so we went to the beach again on Sunday for a couple hours and like I said didnt really have anything planned so we just walked a lot and went on the famous street las ramblas (sp?) where all the shops are and stuff.. There was many souviener shops and street preformers, therefore many tourists. I found a Dunkin Donuts on this street! I got an iced coffee and it was amazing :) We were leaving for the airport Sunday night to take an early flight out Monday morning to Rome, so we got our stuff at the hostel, said goodbye to the friends we had met, and headed to the airport. We were so burnt from the sun and tired from walking! We slept (or tried to sleep) there that night, with many other people who had an early flight. Needless to say we were so tired when we finally go to Rome but it was so worth it because Rome is amazing! I want to keep writing about it becuse Ive been here for 2 days already but I'll save it for next time!! And I'm missing you guys so so much! I didn't realize traveling could be this stressful and tiring.. I'm walking around every day in Rome seeing families together and it makes me wish my family could be here with me!! Hopefully someday we will be able to! Tomorrow afternoon it's off to Florence! Meeting 3 others from our group from Salzburg there and I can't wait to see them I've missed them so much already.. 5 weeks til I'm back in the good old US of A! Hope all is well, take care.

Sweden and Denmark

Greetings from Barcelona! Got here last night after 5 days in Sweden! Monday we went to a dinner party at Daniel's friends house which was really fun. I got to meet and talk to a lot of people who were so nice and they all spoke english since I was around to make me feel welcomed.. Their parties are much different than ours in the states that's for sure! Tuesday we travled to 2 cities, Lund and Malmo. Lund is a small mainly student city which basically shuts down during the summer because the population decreases so much without the students there. Daniel had studied there before he came to the states to study. Then we went to Malmo that same day which is one of Swedens bigger cities. We realized there was a profssional soccer game going on that night so we got tickets and went. It was the 100 year anniversary of this team being created so they gave us all these huge blue and white flags to wave and the fans were just crazy! Everyone was singing and chanting and the team ended up winning 3-0 so everyone was very happy.

Wednesday we went to Copenhagen, Denmark since it is so close to where he lives in Sweden. We took the ferry over which reminded me of how people take the ferry from the cape to the islands.. Copenhagen was awesome! it was bigger than I thought and very beautiful. We walked around the whole city and went to Nyhvn which is a famuos street on the harbor which has all these beautiful buildings all painted different colors. Then we went to see the palace where the King and Queen lives and we got a little surprise when we got there.. there was a parade going on with the Danish army in their big furry hats (think of the guards in London) they marched and played some cool music, we watched them for a while. Then we went and saw the famous statue of the little mermaid which is something Copenhagen is famous for. It was beautiful and we took a lot of pictures. Later we went to this Ice Bar which is all made of ice! Its owned by Absolute vodka and you pay money to get in and you get these huge jackets and gloves to keep you warm because the walls, charis, bar, and glasses are all made of ice.. it was quite the experience! we couldnt stay long obviously we were freezing!

Thursday we just stayed around Helsingborg, where Daniel lives and us and one of his friends went to the beach and this lighthouse.. it was so beautiful! I dont have any pictures right now because im using a piblic computer in my hostel so i cant post pictures until I get back to Salzburg next week.. But yeah then we made tacos that night and went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D.. which was awesome, I highly recommend it! So Friday morning I flew out of Copenhagen to Barcelona, which is where I am now! I just got back from a boat tour and laying on the beach for a couple hours! Will post more about Barcelona when I get to Italy.. leaving early Monday morning for Rome! Love and miss you all so much.. sorry about the pictures!!

Amsterdam

Hello all, I got to Sweden yesterday after 3 days in Amsterdam. 3 days was definitely more than enough, and we did all the tourist attractions. Thursday night we took the overnight train and arrived Friday morning around 10. We went to the Van Gough musuem which was packed with people. I had to go for my Art class but the boys joined me and actually really enjoyed it. The building as really cool, it was 4 floors of all Van Gough, even though some of his most famous paintings were not there. We spent a lot of time there and then just walked around the city and got realy lost because every street looked the same! Even with the map it was hard to find our way arond, since there are over 200 bridges over many canals and the buildings all look basically the same. But it got us to know the city, so we knew how to get around the next couple days.

Saturday we woke up early and went to see Anne Frank's house. We had to get there early because we heard if you go in the middle of the day the line takes hours to get through. We got there around 10am and only waited for about 20 minutes, but if we had gotten there any later we would have been in line forever, it wrapped the whole way around the corner and down the street. The house was where her and her family hid while the Nazis were taking all the Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camps. 8 people lived in this tiny tiny space, and they couldnt open any windows or talk to loud. They lived like this for 2 years, and we found out and taken to the camps a couple months before the war was over. Anne was killed a month before her camp was liberated. Her father was the only one to survive and he's the one who found the diary and published it because it was her dream to publish a book when she got older. It was really sad seeing videos of her father and child hood friends talking about her and that whole time during the war. they had quotes on all the walls from her diary pertaining to different rooms in the house. I read the diary play when I was in 8th grade but never the actual book so thats on my to do list in May when I get home.. for only being 14 she was an amazing writer.

After Anne Frank's house we went on a canal boat ride, since again they have so many. There are actually more canals in Amsterdam than in Venice, which I did not know until I was reading up on it before I went. The canal ride was cool because it tied in History and the beauty of the city. We had tours planned for us by the school every trip we went on so it was nice we planned our own tour to get to know the city on our own. It would have been perfect if it was a sunnier out because it would go from sun to rain all day back and forth.. better than all rain I suppose! Saturday night we sat outside on a patio of a bar and just talked and watched the night life around us. It was definitely the biggest and most touristy city I had been to yet, and it was even a little scary at times, which is why I'm glad I had 3 boys with me!

Sunday 2 of my friends left for Paris so me and my friend that was left just walked around the city because it was such a nice day out. We walked for about 3 hours just taking random turns and streets, it was cool to be able to just wander and not have tours and things to do. Sunday afternoon I got myself to the Amsterdam airport by a train and took only an hour flight to Copenhagen. Got into Copenhagen around 7 and met Daniel, my friend I'm staying with that I met at college my freshman year while he was studying abroad. We couldn't stay and see Copenhagen because it was dark and too late, but we are going there on Wednesday for the day so I can see it. His house was only about an hour away from the aiport. So that's where I am now! We are going out tonight to his friends house for a dinner party because today they have their last test of college because they are graduating soon. Hopefully will update before I get to Barcelona or while I'm there.. This trip just keeps going by faster and faster... by the time this 2 week break and travel period is over I only have a month left in Europe.. Crazy! Love you all!












the red light district
pretty

the wooden shoe's Holland is famous for

Anne Frank's house

moveable bookcase where the family hid

swans everywhere!

I AMsterdam

Munich and Neuschwanstein Castle

It's been another great week! Tuesday instead of having my History class in the morning, my professor invited us to a lecture at this prestigious school held in the palace where some of the Sound of Music was filmed. There was a college from Miami who came to Salzburg for a week and listened to these lectures by many famous and prestigious professors and scholars, then at the end of the week had to do some kind of presentation. The lecture we heard was by Dr. Martin Luther King's granddaughter and she spoke about social entrepreneurship, which was interesting but since I am not in the business field is was a little out of touch for me. But many of the kids in my class are majoring in business or marketing so they got a lot out of it. We got to meet her and had some great discussions with her. She is in the McDonalds business and could tell you anything you'd ever want to know about McDonalds! We had coffee with the 100 students from Miami and their professors and they were all so impressed by us students from Salzburg College that they invited us back that night for a dinner in the palace. Of course we accepted! So 5 of us went back for dinner and interacted with the students and again had a great time. After that they invited us to this dance they put together, and it was all Salsa dancing! So I learned how to salsa a bit and we stayed for about an hour and even the guys had a great time! After that the 5 of us went to another Irish Pub called Shamrocks and sat around and had a beer and talked about the day we had and all the cool people we got to meet.

The rest of the week was a bit stressful with midterms and papers and such, but we got through it and on Friday we all left for Munich for a trip the school put together. Everyone had different museums they had to go to for certain classes, like I had to go to 2 art museums for my art class, but the marketing and PR classes had to go to this really cool BMW museum. (I wish I could have gone to that instead of art, but oh well) The first art museum was kind of boring, all the art seems to start blending together for me now since we've been required to go to so many museums on the same sort of topics. The second museum however was more modern, pop art and it had some cool exhibits I'll put some picture up of. Like one work looked like a medicine cabinet and inside it had 26,000 pills of all different kinds. They were all lined up strategically in order and the purpose behind it was that the artist was trying to show people that we are in such a "medication driven" society and we think these medications will help us prolong our life, yet if we took too many of them it could kill us. There were other cool works like a short film that we watched that made absolutely NO sense at the time, but now thinking about it it had some really deep meanings that make you think. After the museums I walked around Munich a bit, and went to some different parts of the city that I did not get to see last time I was there.

Friday night me, Katherine, Kim and Trevor took the train to a town called Fussen, which is where the famous Neuschwanstein castle is, which is the castle that they modeled the Cinderella Castle in Disney after. It was built by King Ludwig who was supposedly insane and spent all the towns people's money on multiple castles, some in which he never even got in live in because he died before they were finished being built. There were even some rumors that he was gay because he never took a wife and some of the designs and painting he had around his castles were very provocative. We stayed in a hostel Friday night and went to the castle Saturday morning, which it was a very good thing we went in the morning because there weren't as many tourists there as when we were leaving in the afternoon. We had to hike up the mountain about 45 minutes and it was definitely the most "touristy" place I have been to so far. We met many Americans and people from all over the world. There were a lot of Asian groups, all with their SARS masks on, which was absolutely ridiculous since they were in a place in the world were the air is probably the freshest, on the top of a MOUNTAIN in the ALPs! But hey, it was funny to see. We took a half hour tour of a part of the inside of the castle but we couldn't take any pictures and we didn't get to see too much, so we were a bit disappointed. But it was cool to say we've been there and we got a great day out in the fresh air and we had fun with our friends so the experience was definitely worth it!!! We came back to Salzburg last night, and I got a great night sleep and now I'm trying to get all my homework for this week AND the week after the break done so I don't have to do much HW while I'm traveling, or the night I get home. I leave on Thursday March 18th for Amsterdam, and come home from Venice April 5th, so I will be spending Easter in Venice with some of my friends! I love Easter at home and I will greatly miss spending it at Aunt T and Uncle Jeff's house with my family!! But I'll be there in spirit and I'll be thinking about you all!! I won't have much internet access during these 2 weeks but I will try to update at least once or twice so I don't have a 10 page post when I get home from it, because I'm sure I'll be seeing and doing so much!!! Hope all is well at home and I miss everyone so so much, and it made me sad to miss the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Albany with everyone!! But I'm almost at the half way point in my adventure and I'll be home before I even know it, it’s crazy!! Love and miss you, hope all is well at home..


Me, Trevor, Katherine at the castle
A different castle on the mountain

model of the castle
some scenery
hehe

me putting my foot in "the devil's footprint" in Munich
close up pills
pills further away.. there were more to the right

Another week has gone by! Didn't do much this week, its midterm time so everyone is stressing out and all we have been doing pretty much is studying and writing papers. My friend Katherine and I took a study break to try out a cofffee shop in town, because there are so many and we haven't been to one yet! We went to this place called the Afro Cafe.. it reminded me of the 70's.. all the bright colors and patterns, but it also had a spanish feel to it with flowers and other cool designs. There were a lot of people in there on a Thursday afternoon, meeting friends or getting a bite to eat. We are going to start trying out more coffee shops around the city since its the culture here to meet your friends and chat and have a coffee. It's also nice to have Katherine who is very much like me personality wise and I click with her well and we always have great conversations and have fun together.



Friday Kristen and I had a quiet night in, just watching movies and catching up on some sleep. Saturday we woke up to a SNOW STORM! which was very disouraging because it felt like Spring was right around the corner a couple days ago.. And since I was planning on going to a Salzburg Red Bulls Futbol match that afternoon I was not too happy about all the snow. I ended up going to the game which I'm glad I did! There weren't many people there but the crowd was still crazy. I can't imagine how that place is when it's packed.. It was freezing and we only made it half way through the second half because we could not feel our fingers and toes anymore!! We then met up with the group at O'Malley's, since it's been weeks since we've been there! It was a fun night and we met some kids studying abroad in Salzburg from southern Cali so it was cool to meet more Americans!


And today, Sunday, we slept in and had a family dinner with Sabine's brother and his girlfriend, and the whole family.. It reminded me of our Sunday dinner's at home :) We had roasted chicken and potatoes and Sabine made a delicious dessert with home made whipped cream! And today I'll be studying all day, I have my first mid-term tomorrow.. I have my whole 2 week break planned out.. I leave in 12 days I'm so excited! Here's where I'm going.. Amsterdam 2 1/2 days days, Copenhagen 1 day, Sweden 4 days, Barcelona 3 days, Rome 3 days, Florence 3 days (Maybe Pisa), Venice 2 days (Easter weekend) Then back to Salzburg on April 6th!! Going to be an amazing, but very tiring 2 weeks!! Love and Miss you all.. Only 2 months until I'm back in the Good ol' USA!!






They serve beer at McDonalds! and it's cheap!!
Alex, me, Trevor at the Red Bulls futbol game

Me and Katherine

Definitely not as big as Gillette Stadium where the Revs play!!

Mauthausen, Melk, Vienna

Well it's been a crazy week!! So much has happened and the trip to Vienna was so amazing this post might be long!! We left Friday at 8am, and stopped on the way to Vienna at the Mauthausen concentration/death camp. What a way to start off a trip.. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it, I always said I wanted to visit a concentration camp since WWII and the Holocaust is my concentration in History. I still don't know how I feel about it to be honest. It was awful and sad and eye opening and I really can't explain it in words. I think it's something everyone someday should see because if they did then something like this would never ever happen again. Before we even did the tour I had an awful feeling about being there and was emotional from the start. I'll say this much, it was the first bad day I've had since I've been here. So we took the tour and saw the camp and saw the memorials put up by various countries which all meant something different since there were so many countries affected by this horrible tragedy. We saw the rock quarry where the prisoners had to work and the so called, "stairs of death" which went all the way up the mountain and workers had to carry hundred pound rocks on the backs and you can imagine how weak they were, if one guy fell, they were all going down.. And it happened a lot. Then we saw where they lived, and where they ate (if you can call it eating) etc.. Then it was time for the gas chambers. I almost couldn’t go inside. It was awful and sad and the statistics our tour guide told us just made people cry on the spot. Again, I couldn't explain the emotions I had. I guess it’s because there were no emotions, I just felt numb and couldn't think of anything else but "how the hell did this happen? Why did people let this go on as long as it did".. And things like that.. I'll put up some pictures but I don't think you guys want to look at them just as much as I don't so I won't put up a lot. I could write a book about what I saw and learned that day but I'll spare you all the more gruesome details.


From Mauthausen it was on to Melk, a small town outside of Vienna that has a famous monastery and palace. It was cool but I honestly was in such a bad mood from Mauthausen I didn't really care much about what I saw/ didn't want to be there so I can't tell you much about it. It would have been boring even if I was in a good mood..


Then we reached Vienna Friday night and had a small tour of the city and we just played some cards in the hostel and went to bed early because we were so tired from waking up so early and we had an early day the next day. Saturday we had a THREE HOUR walking tour of the city. Sounds bad, which is what we thought, but it was actually a lot of fun!! It was the first sunny/warm day we had and it was beautiful and everyone was in good spirits and we learned a lot and learned our way around the city. We did a tour of the Habsburg burial grounds which is where most of the family of the famous Empire of Austria the Habsburgs are buried. The Empire actually just ended when WWI had started. We walked around the Nacht Market for lunch which is very famous and because it was a Saturday, it was packed!!! You could buy fresh fruit and veggies, some I had never seen or heard of before. You could get Chinese food on the go or sit down for a classy/expensive meal (which I did not do). Then we sat in a park and ate lunch and basked in the sun.. Saturday night some of us went to what is called the "Bermuda Triangle" which is a couple streets full of bars and clubs. We went to the most famous club in Vienna, which was right on the river. It was the typical European club.. Nothing I'm used to at home. It was fun but not my style so I won't be going to many more of those.


Sunday morning I woke up and went to church early to see the Vienna Boys Choir sing! We waited in line for about an hour and were supposed to have standing room because we did not buy tickets however not all the seats were taken so we got one! It was nice to go to mass and see the famous choir sing.. They were so so so soooo adorable and absolutely amazing! I have a picture but I will also try to upload a video I took. Sunday we had a free day so me and my friend Katherine checked out some cafes because Vienna is known for their coffee culture where people spend hours talking or reading books. Sunday night we went and saw the movie, Valentine’s Day, because we could get it in English in Vienna since it was a bigger city than Salzburg. It was nice to enjoy an American movie, kinda felt like I was home for those 2 hours which was nice :)

Monday we had more tours and museums to visit.. Some were interesting and some were boring but we made it through all the walking and boring lectures. We went to the Imperial Palace of the Habsburg Empire and boy was it IMPRESSIVE! The grounds were huge and we only saw about 1/5 of the palace, if that.. But was amazing. The gardens were huge, and were still beautiful even though it would have been much more beautiful in the spring and summer. Then a couple of us went to a local amusement park that was mostly closed since nobody goes on a Monday in March.. But we did one ride and got to see the Ferris wheel that Vienna is famous for so it was cool. By Monday night we were all dead from the walking and late nights and not getting good nights of sleep in the hostel beds.. But it was my friend Lynlee's birthday so we all went to dinner at a place called the 12 Apostles, and ironically enough we had 12 people with us! We ate then went back out to the Bermuda Triangle for some bars so we had another fun night.

Tuesday we had one tour. The MOST BORING tour of my entire life. The guide could barely speak English and it was at the National Bank, so you can only imagine. Wasted hour of my life most definitely.. Then we had a couple more hours of free time in Vienna and we were back to Salzburg! We were all very happy to get "home sweet home" We went to bed very early and started classes again today. We have so many papers/projects due because of this trip and before we go on our 2 week break in a couple weeks. We are going to stay in Salzburg this weekend since we have traveled every weekend since we got here almost! We haven't done the "touristy" things around here yet, like visiting the Fortress and the Salt Mines and stuff.. And we need to study for Midterms and rest up. I hope I remembered everything and I hope it wasn't too long!! Miss and Love you all.. Happy Birthday Casey! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you girls..

Trying to be the Spice Girls..
Katherine and me at the palace

Kristen, Elizabeth, me, Lynlee, Kim, Katherine

one of the world's biggest coins. worth 100,000 Euros

Lynlee being sang to for her birthday..

Robert, me, Kim, Katherine

Ferris wheel

Me overlooking the palace

Basking in the sun!

Some of the girls

At the cafe.. best coffee I've ever had!

Vienna Boys Choir

Basking again..

Nacht Market

St. Stephens Cathedrial

The group :)

Concentration camp

Again