New Pics

New Pictures are up on Flickr from the last three weekends... will blog later

Munich and Maastricht

Well what a few weekends it has been. Last weekend was our trip to Munich (which was significantly different than Berlin). After taking a bright an early bus (6am) we got into Munich and almost went one city to far... yea hard to do but I blame my friend. There were two bus stops in Munich, one the airport, and one the "city" which was as far from the city as possible. So after n0ot getting off at the airport, we went to the next one, expecting it to be the city and it was still the suburb so, we stayed on. Right before they left for the next stop, they said, where are you going again? We answered Munich, and they were like ohhh this is the last stop (after the bus driver said it wasn't but basically it was an english-german issue. We took the metro all the way in (it was the last stop on the line), we got to our hostel and we found out why it was ranked number 1 in Munich. We all walked around, explored some markets, had some food, and then got ready to go out. After going down to the hostel bar to have a drink before going out, we walked in an there were 200 people in the Hostel Bar? yea that doesn't happen, but it did. Apparently our hostel (named Wombats) is a major place where young people who speak english go and have a drink or two and mingel. So we were going to go clubbing but we never left the hostel bar because it was an amazing time.... We met people from everywhere including a German high school class who was at the hostel. They were all about 19, and they had one person who looked just slightly older and I asked her what she was doing with them and she said she was their teacher. They then preceeded to take a tequilla shot as a class with their teacher.......... yea that happens in the states all the time... not.

We went on a walking tour the next morning which ended up being almost 3 hours... Then it was BMW time... we went to the BMW factory and saw the whole production tour which was awesome.... but the best part was at the end, we asked if we could test drive a car and they said yea it was 30 euros... and oh how tragic, the Autobahn happens to be 100 feet from the factory.... sooooooooooo a friend an I took a sports coop for a ride on the Autobahn... which was to say the least, fun.

We then all went back to the hostel, went out to a beer hall for dinner (the famous beer halls and gardens) and then had the same experience back at the hostel bar... yea still confuses me but we enjoyed it

Then there was class... and well yea class is class.

Then this weekend, I flew from Prague to Brussels and took a train to Maastricht to visit Lauren and experience CARNAVAL.... which was an experience.. it didn't officially start until sunday but people were in full out costumes by thursday.... they have an entire week off of school for Carnaval (and yes the grocery store is closed for 5 days.... yea its a big deal) so basically it was Halloween on steroids. people of all ages were decked out head to toe day after day. there was one big square where everyone was and that was an experience..... i can still hear the distinctive carnival music... oh good times... pictures will be up on FB and flickr eventually

Now its back to work, I have 20 pages to write by Weds.... yea sounds fun... not (especially since some is for Richmond which I currently do not attend)

Trips Trips Trips $

Ok so this week has been mostly devoted to planning, booking, and paying for trips over Europe... and what a week it has been.

The trips are as follows (and weeks without trips are indicated)
Munich
Maastricht
Amsterdam
Switzerland (Interlocken to ski)
Prague (Mom and Sis coming)
Greece for 9 days
Vienna?
Italy for Easter Weekend
Prague/Barcelona

And that takes me all the way until April 19th.... So yea.......... LOVE that

Anyway, that is what I have been doing (well and going to classes)

The Past Week and Berlin

So what a week/weekend it has been. So to finish up Berlin, we had an amazing time, got to see some great sights (photos are going up on FB and Flickr now) and had a much more relaxing train ride back then we had there. It was actaully quite nice taking the train back through the German countryside during the daylight. We got to see a lot including 3 windfarms, countryside, mountains, lakes, and small towns. There were an enormous amount of open fields when we went through and we were all thinking how terrible that must have been to fight in. Another intestering aspect was how there are almost no historical artifacts or museums about the Nazi. Everything is based on the victims. For instance, Hitlers bunker was destroyed, and now there is a parking space directly above where Hitler committed suicide. The second in commands formal office is now a Chinese Restraunt?

Since being here, we are all amazed how WWII and communism really changed this whole continent. Everything is somehow related to it and we have never seen a society as alter and influenced by its past history. The US has history but nothing that really altered society as much as WWII (maybe other than 9/11). On our way to school today, we finally figured out why there is what looks like a large closet and metal grate right before the platform to the subway. Its a nuclear bomb door that was built in during the cold war. I guess I know where we are going if Russia bombs Czech over the Starwars Radar....

So after having only 13 hours of sleep over the entire weekend, I got back into Prague around 6 and passed out from 7 until 9 the next morning.... Felt amazing. Monday, had a few classes in Marketing and American Lit.... Lit actaully isn't as terrible as I thought it would be because its basically impossible to be wrong in the class... My MOA (Richmond OB) professor is the MAN. He took us out to a bar last night before we went out and bought us a few rounds of drinks at the Beer Factory. We are going to his Flat tonight for free food, drink, and a movie so thats awesome.

NYU threw us a welcome dinner at the second nicest hotel/restraunt in Prague on tuesday night (behind the hotel where Ambassadors stay). Everything was paid for, had an amazing spread, all the kids and professors were there, and they paid for 3 drinks. Have to love that....

Last night after having drinks with my professor, we went to the Club and came back at a reasonable hour thank god. Af the club, we met two other entire American programs that were studying in Prague. One was CIE (or maybe CAE) and the program that Richmond goes to.... Sooooooo it was a lot of fun because everyone spoke english and then it is a very nice club (but the drinks are sooooo expensive... I mean a beer is 2.50 US....... relative I guess :) ) Life here is extremely tiring....

The richmond kids arrived in Prague two days ago and I went out to dinner with them the first night they were here... They just found an apartment and it just happens to be about 5 blocks from me (or 1 metro stop). Sooooooooo thats great.

This weekend, we are going to the Pilsner Urquell Factory (Pragues version of Budweiser) and then a church that was made entirely out of bones..... so that will be good. I also just booked tickets to go to Brussels/Masarich for their version of Marti Gra (Corey's GF is studying there).

So all is well and I will update again when I can.

I don't have time to write but I thought u might like this pic... it is from the first bar of the Pub Crawl... great pic of the entire group that went to Berlin

Berlin

So I have a little more time to explain Berlin now as no one is up zet (its 1050). So about half of our group took a 340am train to Berlin and the other half took a 6am... the 340 was a much better idea. We all went to the bar out by sOsagni which wass extremelllly cool. t was in an old factory so all the tables and lights etc were made out of parts from the old factorz... very original. We took the train and after and incident (dont even ask), we all made it to germany and got off at the wrongg stop.... yep.. and almost didnt get back on the train but we did so we finallz made it to berlins main stop....

after about an hour nin the train station trying to figure out where our hostel was we made it. it is extremlyyyy nice and is only costing 17 euros a night (we hate the euro=)... soo expensive compared to our currencyyy
all 30 of us went and got a private walking tour of berlin yesterdaz so taht was great... the guy was amaying... then we all went to bed and took a nap and then woke up and went to a pub crawl and had an amazing timeeee.....must go though will explain more later

Last few days

Hello everyone... haven't updated this in a few days and I now have some to do that...

So first off, classes have started and I finally feel like I actually live in the city. When we weren't doing anything productive during the first week, it really felt like we were on vacation but that has changed now. I am taking four classes, and three of them pretty much have all the same kids (Stern classes). The stern classes seem really good and the advertising class is extremely intersting. My OB professor is very cool and knows the low down on everything so hes good help. My lit class on the other hand, well shoot me... Its going to be terrible. I had it last night and just sighhhhh... haha Lit is just not my thing. She was so enthusiastic about the Czech history etc and that is just another subject which im not good at either haha. So I really need to figure out my phones alarm cause I have mis-set it like three times and been late already so thats not good. Oh and Mom, you will be glad I am not taking Czech because the professor has brought beer for the kids every class so far. They really are on a different level with beer here... its crazy. The professors will talk about beer at least once during every class...

So we have been doing some more exploring and restraunt hopping... We have seen a lot of the monuments and touristy sections of prague so we are getting around. The area that the school is in is just gorgeous and in probably the most expensive two blocks of prague.... The buildings are extremeeeeelllyyyy nice with great furnature, couches, great hang out areas, etc. Dad, every classroom has a 3 2 1 in it for playing music etc. So you get the point, its nice. I saw the Astronomical clock today... wow that is a piece of work especially considering it was made in the 13th century. On the hour, there are little doors that open and things pop out of them... quite nice but there are ALWAYS tourists there (god tourists are terrible :) ) haha.

So last night we went to dinner at a Pizzeria (they are huge on Italian food here) and as always it was fantastic. Everyone went out last night, found a realllyyyyyyyy cool bar and then we went to the club. At each table, there was four taps, you just clicked your button, pulled any of the taps, and it measured how much you drank so everyone can pay individually. Apparently that was a chain, so on the wall was a screen showing how much each table has drank and also who drank the most in what restraunt in a few differnt countries. We didn't even make it onto that restraunts top 15...

This morning, I was late because my alarm wasn't set to on... so ran out the door, without keys, went to the metor, and went the wrong direction....... yeppp so then i was even later haha so that was bad.... then trying to get into my room was interesting as I had to get the guard to open it etc. Then my phone was out of minutesss and I tried to refill it but that didn't work because it said my number wasn't valid.... great... but I just went to the store and got it all set now so I am a person again :)

Tonight we are going to go out until our train tonight at 315 to BERLIN....NYU basically took over 2 complete hostels there so thats going to be amusing. We are working on more trips and I am working on a ski trip to Austria. One of the major problems we are finding is that Prague really doesn't have cheap flights.... only two discount airlines fly to prague and they don't go to many places...... also when we find good fares, the taxes are generally 3-4 times the actaul fare................... sooo yea

As for spring break, we are working on a 10 day Medertteranean cruise going to Spain, italy, greece, canary islands, egypt and one other country.......... soooooooo that will be fun

All is good from Prague and will blog from/about Berlin.....