Wooo

Hey guys, sorry it has been awhile. Just getting settled back into my Colorado lifestyle which has been quite interesting so far. I think the last time I wrote I hadn’t really started talking about the fact that I was probably moving out of Germany, and quickly. Well, I did.

I really loved my family in Germany. Honestly, I had the best experience possible while I was there. But sometimes I just felt like I was walking on eggshells at the house while Alexandra was there with me. Sometimes I think she resented me solely for the fact that I wasn’t really doing a whole lot towards the end. But who can blame me? I was on a budget, trying to save for my last big adventure in Prague with Christina. I had next to no money left over…And planning on leaving. Needless to say, with all the new terrible baggage requirements I was a little stressed out to be traveling with 2 huge bags and a cello. I really hope one day we can look back and laugh about the awful awful airline requirements of ’08. Honestly I don’t see how the travel industry can survive with all of these new regulations. Anyway, so I’m frantically trying to save what little money I have left and looking at kayak.com for a cheap flight out of Munich airport. Munich is in the top three most expensive European cities right after Paris and London. And the airport isn’t much different. It isn’t really serviced by any discount airlines…I always flew with Lufthansa whenever I traveled because they have some great 99 Euro deals to big cities. But wow…trying to get a cheap flight from Munich is like trying to find vegetarian food in Spain. It just doesn’t happen. Couple that with flying to Denver (which for some reason seems to be really expensive to fly to directly because it isn’t New York, Chicago, Boston, or San Francisco...) and I was losing my sanity day by day. The cheapest flight I could find was over $2000! I decided to be creative and search from other European airports…I didn’t really see a lot. But finally found a flight from Dublin to Denver for only $600. I almost wept. Especially when I found out that the pricing was pretty much standard through even the Christmas season. I hope god is smiling down on Delta airlines right now for sparing me a heart attack. Seriously compare 600 to 2000 or more. Even at Christmas! Wow…so if you are flying to Europe from Denver, check flying into Dublin first. You can always find a cheap inter-European flight…which I found a decent flight with Aer Lingus.

Well the only concern I had now were the baggage requirements. Thank god the guy at the Aer Lingus counter spared me a big fee when he found out I was continuing on to the US for my bags. He could have charged the shit out of me…He surely didn’t act very German. Aer Lingus was also really lenient with my cello. They only charged me 30 Euro for it! Delta was close to 200 Euro! While the guy checking me in surely wasn’t the typical rule-obsessed German, his kollegin (work colleague) on the other Aer Lingus counter sure was. I reached across the desk for a baggage tag because one of my bags didn’t have one. The woman FREAKED OUT. And swiped away the box of baggage tags from me and started shrieking in German about how I had to pay for it or something. I (in a rather bitchier moment) pointed across the way to a full box of baggage tags for another airline and offered to take one of those whilst staring her down. I honestly couldn’t believe she would freak out like that! Who the hell cares if I take ONE baggage tag on the airline I am traveling with?! It was funny…just left a bad taste in my mouth about some Germans. But I did walk away laughing…

We’ll get back to my trip back home in a second. First I want to do a quick update about Praha (Prague).

Christina came directly into Holzkirchen from Munich after a ridiculous sounding day of trains. I think she had been on a train since 5 AM the previous day or something crazy like that. So we decided to just hang out at the house that night. The Puhlmanns were gone, which was a good thing, because I wanted to make sure Christina had ample time to unwind at a house instead of a hostel. We opened a bottle of my new favorite white wine in German its called Gewurz or something…really sweet but super tasty and talked a little bit about Christina’s travels thus far. Sounded like she had a great time especially in southern Italy and Greece, two places I haven’t yet seen, and am super envious that she got to see! We decided to drive the next day to either Verona or Prague and settled on Prague as Christina had been in Verona that same day at the train station.

We ended up leaving a little bit too late, and the autobahn was jammed all the way to Regensburg, but after switching autobahns at Regensburg the way into Prague was pretty clear. We struggled at gas stations to figure out the currency…Which was pretty funny. And overall just had a good time with plenty of laughs. And gummy bears and red bull for the car ride. Well as soon as we entered the city Clotilda, (the name Sara gave to my navigation system that has a female voice) stopped working entirely. So luckily the word for ‘Centre’ is roughly the same in Czech as it is auf Deutsch (in German) so we made our way blindly somewhere into the city center with no idea where the hostel was. We found a clearly communist-era train station (complete with barbed-wire) and found directions to the hostel. We drove a little farther into the city, and parked the car right near the hostel. We checked in and asked for a good place to park the car…came back outside, and BAM. The car was gone. I saw my sugarfree red bull can lying OUTSIDE in the gutter. Sure that someone had gotten INTO the car and stolen it Eastern Europe style while throwing out the can I almost had a stroke. Luckily Christina had just used the can for cigarettes and had thrown it herself outside into the gutter. Phew. Well…that begged the question of where the car was. We went to another hostel and asked the receptionist the number for the police. She luckily had her car impounded just a week before, and told us exactly where to go. Maybe a 10 minute walk which was also lucky. Of course I was a stressball at this point…How was I to pay for this crap?? How much would they even charge? 200 dollars? 300? Christina, being an angel, calmed me down. ‘Let’s just get a beer before we walk over, and relax.’ Turned out to be a great idea. We went to a cute little rooftop bar and got a beer. Felt great, and totally relaxed me again. Alcoholics? Maybe…haha. We ended up passing a grocery store and got another beer…Oops. But it did the trick. We found the impound lot and picked up the car from two weird Czech guys who didn’t speak very good German at all but spoke worse English. (German turned out to be VERY useful in the less-touristy zones of Prague might I add.)

After getting the car, Christina and I (both hypoglycemic, although Christina to a much greater extent) were both starving and ready to pass out. We also both had to use the bathroom like no one in the vast expanse of time has ever had to use it. So we are now desperately searching for a restaurant in Prague with some decent food and a good bathroom. We finally find one with a huge sign displaying “RESTAURANT” starting at us across the river. We make our way across the bridge, ready to explode, had to stop at an ATM first, and then finally get into the restaurant. We did our thing, got some more Pilsner Urquells, and got a delicious dinner. I had a great pasta, and Christina had her first experience with Euro fish. And by that I mean they bring you the whole fish. Head, skin, and all…for you to manually dissect. Well after our rather expensive dinner we decided to get really drunk! We looked for several bars…texted Alena for a gay bar recommendation (we didn’t end up going but it was some place called Termix)…found a huge array of whacko bars one of which was this awesomely fun African bar where we were the only white people, and then just some weird dives. At the end of this expedition which consisted only of beer (only Urquell for that matter) and one tiny flask of marijuana vodka (revolting, but we had to) we ended up at some strange casino bar…both wasted…haha. Somehow we found our way back to the hostel and crashed. After waking Christina up which was not easy, we had a nasty breakfast at the hostel, and went on a day of sightseeing. Prague was gorgeous and absolutely to die for! We had great weather, although a little on the hot side. It was a great day even though I got a terrible case of the afternoon sleepies. My favorite part was walking through the gardens at the foot of the citadel and cathedral of Prague. They are perched up high on a hill and overlook the entire city. It was fantasic. After a day of sightseeing (I got some coffee…actually like 3 cups) we left back for Germany around 4 PM…

I left Germany a few days later! It was really sad…I will never forget saying aufwiedersehen to my awesome Deutsche Familie. Our dear neighbor Lies was also outside to say goodbye, and I will miss her a lot too. After a tearful goodbye, Matthias and Robin drove me to the airport. The travel day was looonnnggg. I had a flight to Dublin in which I somehow met up with two of our wonderful new Irish friends Barry and Eoin. So I got to hang out with them in the airport for a bit before the short flight. I landed in Dublin, with a 12 hour layover…hoping dearly that I would be able to LEAVE the airport and check my bags in for my flight at 9 AM to JFK airport in New York. I wanted a night out in Dublin! Unfortunately there was nowhere to check my bags, and the airline wouldn’t take them until 3 hours prior to my flight. Sheisse! So I literally had to lug around my bags and cello…trying to find a place to sleep on a starbucks chair…and gave up. I was freezing, there were crazy French hobos running around….I had to whip out my French to tell this guy to “Va t’en!” (go away) from these two girls when he started YELLING at them in French out of the blue. He was psycho.Well 9 AM finally came around, I got on the plane and was FINALLY sitting next to someone thin. A beautiful Italian-looking girl. And we had the 2 seater row instead of the 4 in the middle. I was ready to pop 5 benadryl and pass out! I was unsuccessfully loading my bags in the overhead bin when I hear “Sean!”. Turns out it’s another Irish friend from Munich, Shane, who is quite literally sitting in the row next to me. How weird! So I gave Shane some of the benadryl and he fell asleep the whole flight which was really funny. The girl I was sitting next to was named Sandra and was absolutely the coolest friend to have on the plane. She’s from Rome but has lived in Dublin for 5 years, and we had the best time together on our 10 hour flight. Said goodbye to Sandra and Shane, and had to wait another 7 hours at JFK. I got some pizza since I was in New York for the first time, and just tried to relax at the airport. I finally rolled into Denver at 10 PM and was finally home! Yay! My mom didn’t recognize me!

Now I’m back in Arvada, trying to make 10 grand before school starts so I’m working a lot. But I need to keep reminding myself that going to medical school in Sweden will be damn expensive so I really need to get my shit together! School starts back up on January 12th and I’m sort of looking forward to it.

Hej Hej/Hej då
från Arvada, Sean

Pictures from Sverige & Norge (Sweden and Norway for you unscandinavian fools) ;)

Stockholm Harbor my last night! Rock it
Whitney and I chilling (haha no pun intended) at the Ice Bar
Whit looking excited in Oslo Fjord. We have been best friends since 5th grade, people!
Cute summer homes for Norwegians in Oslo Fjord
Me outside Hermans....that oh-so delicious vegetarian buffet.
Beautfiul Gamla Stan
City Hall of Stockholm with a rainbow. :)

Mycket Bra, skräckinjagande, som inger djup vördnad, fantastisk = So many ways to say 'awesome' på Svensk!

Hej Hej!

Say that like a Swede and you will sound like the cutest thing ever...I love the Swedish greeting. Sounds just like 'hey' but they put a little spin on it...it sounds so friendly and warm. Well anyway, where should I start? I hung out with Steffi, Teagan, Katie, and Vash the night before I left and was staying with Jess in Munich since my flight was so early. We found our way to our favorite spot on the Isar after Steffi, Teag, and I had unsuccessfully mingled with the Swedish stammtisch. When I say unsuccessful I mean, I said HI and asked them for a clarification on a phrase. Then I felt awkward and ran back to Steffi and Teag. I mean, they were nice enough, but it was defintiely awkward. Plus they weren't all Swedes. So then we make our way to the Isar and by this time it is pouring outside. And of course our sheltered spot under the bridge is fenced off! Bummer...but there seems to be another part of the bridge with a pedestrian tunnel open. We decide to sit under there and spread out the blanket. Our neighbors were all a bunch of hobos. Quite funny really...Especially when they were offering us pain medication. Oh no...haha. Well Jess finally calls and isn't feeling well, so I met her, and Jess and I just made it back to her place. I woke up really early to catch my flight! 5!

Well I landed in Sweden and it was raining! Oh no! Not what I was hoping for. The bus ride from the airport took about 40 minutes but we got into Stockholm, and I acquainted myself with the map, trying to hide in a corner. My goal was to look as Swedish as possible the whole trip. (Plus I'm always scared to be seen as a tourist) But mostly I didn't want people thinking I was American! Well, I didn't get American at all...which is good. But a few people did think I was °gasp° German! Oh no! Not what I wanted at all and Whitney made sure to make fun of me for that! But happily, the majority was Swedish...Yay! My immediate impresson of Stockholm was...fucking rad. It's a cool city. Gorgeous in fact - because Sweden wasn't involved in WWII the Medieval city center, Gamla Stan, is one of the best preserved in the whole of Europe. And the rest of the city is also just great. There were apparently a lot of old buildings demolished in the 50's but you can't really tell...In short, the architecture is great. And the city is situated on an archipeligo, so there are thousands of islands and plenty of water. Sounds like my kind of place, right?

Well after dragging my suitcase through town (literally dragging...I will never use that suitcase again) because I decided not to take the metro in order to see the city, I was rather wet but had found my hostel. It was actually pretty cosy. I would reccomend it to anyone. Backpackers Inn in Stockholm...not bad. Well, I changed and hit the streets again finding my way to Gamla Stan which was just a huge touristy maze. I kind of fled Gamla Stan for the opposite side of that island, Södermalm. There I found myself walking on cobbeled streets with beautiful homes and alleys. Before I knew it, I had climbed up a considerable distance and was facing the city from a high ledge. It was gorgeous...I just sat up on that ledge for awhile and watched the boats and the city. After detaching myself from that moment I went through some brewery called München weirdly enough, and made my way to Gamla Stan for a coffee. I ended up making a wonderful friend at the coffee shop. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever met...And I still can't believe I didn't get her name! But I ended up meeting her there twice more and we had some great conversations. We'll just call her Anika since I don't know her real name. Anyway, she is working right now but wants to study fashion at one of 3 fashion schools in Stockholm. Just the sweetest girl I've ever met...and we compared cultures for awhile (seems the Swedes have a very different conception of American culture than most people I've met here in Europe which was really interesting) and she is just great. She also helped me learn some Svenska, and told me I did a good job!

After coffee I walked back through town to the metro (yes I finally took the metro) and went back to the hostel to get ready for going out. I prepared a rum and coke from my broughtalong rum since alcohol is so expensive in Sweden, and walked back into town with it. I stopped for awhile and watched the fireworks on the harbor...they must have been for the Olympics because the day I arrived was the start date...I got a glass of a south african red wine at a restaurant place which was pretty nice. Met a great guy who works as a missionary for the Swedish church, but does medical work, worked in Africa in French speaking countries for a long time, and is married to a man who lives in Belgium and works for the EU. He was so great, such a sweet guy, and he told me my Swedish was excellent! That's always good to hear. I think we talked for about an hour, and then I made my way onward to a club reccomended by the great bartender.

In line for this strange club I met three Northern German guys who were strangely ushered to the front of the line...I think the lady at the door wanted non-Swedes in first! So they pulled me along with and pretended I was German as well. So we got in to the front of the line (I have a feeling being American would have worked for me as well because none of these guys were that great looking) and hung out for a bit in the club. But I was wanting to dance and these guys were more for hanging out on the sides...so I kind of split from them. I managed to find Henrik and Jacob (?) who thought I was 'out' in the Stockholm club scene a lot...So, no, I told them I wasn't, but we just ended up hanging out the whole night! We had fun...I was really drunk. I ended up not remembering some people we met except for one chick in the group who was from COLORADO. She must have been pretty drunk too because I just remember the two of us screaming in the hallway about how much we loved Colorado! It was absolutely hilarious...we then proceeded to tell everyone else how they should come visit Colorado, etc. Later I got grabbed by a really creepy old man that Jacob knew...who told Jacob he was 'getting fat' and was apparently really mean to him! Well guys, if Jacob is fat, then I am 100% obese...anyway. Well he starts trying to physically grab me and pull me over there, so I had to slap him away. Then he started yelling at me or something, it was really awkward and I just remember giving him a really dirty look. Something like, 'woman, puhleeasse' except for not so gay sounding (or I guess looking). But then Henrik, Jacob and I ran away to go somewhere else and dance a little bit more. Ended up leaving, Henrik helped me with the metro, and we said bye.

Next day I woke up early...and when I stood up I felt very lightheaded -unusual for me. I think it was because I hadn't eaten the night before. I just wasn't hungry...Well, I grabbed the snacks I had, and sat out in the hallway just munching on them for about 15 minutes before I could move again. It was weird...but I felt completely normal afterwards. Got ready, and packed up my stuff to go out and do some museums and all that stuff. I visited first the Vasa museum. It contains an extremely elaborate ship that was built and while sailing out of the dock for its maiden voyage, sank in Stockholm harbor. The ship was lost, and 333 years after it sank was pulled out of the harbor. Turns out it was incredibly well preserved...the wood detailing (which there is a lot of) was almost all still intact. The entire museum is cool, and is dominated by the ship (which is huge) and there are about 7 floors to visit each part of the ship. Really neat. After the ship I just walked around, visited my coffee buddy, and got some delicious lunch which I enjoyed while lying out on the harbor. After that I went to the bus station early to get Whitney. Except there was no Whitney! I waited there until about 10 o clock...and I realized during this waiting period from looking at my money exchange recipt that when the lady at the counter transferred my money she had typed in 200€ instead of the 400€ I had given her. I made a frantic call to the Swedish bank and they said they had 200€ turn up extra that day and I could pick it up when I came to the airport. I almost had a heart attack...but the lady I spoke with was so nice. I seriously almost died. It was so scary! But after waiting, and trying desperately to get ahold of Whit, I just went back to the hostel. Thank god she finally got there....looking like she had been through hell (which she had. Well, travel hell, which is honestly worse than regular hell, I promise). Some crazy plane changes...ryan air sucks by the way. And she finally made it to Stockholm...well the airport about 100 K away from Stockholm which is why you don't fly Ryan air...She finally found the bus to get into town, and just settled for a cab. Got out of the cab and found herself in the crazy muscle car show that was going on outside our door. Plus the hostel we were staying in was absolute crap, and we had only booked accidentally one bed. So we settle down, and prepare for maybe the worst night of sleep ever. Yuck, that place was awful. And the drunk Italians that came back at 4 AM did not make it more enjoyable. Plus I thought Whit had disapeered because she decided to sleep in an 'open' bed that belonged to the Italians...Oops.

Well Whit and I did some sightseeing after leaving that awful hostel...I thought I lost my bag with my passport and our train tickets...luckily Whit found it after staying with our bags at our locker at the train station while I went back to the hostel to search. (The two of us were honestly plagued with bad luck the whole trip! It really was still a great time though.) We got a great recomendation for a lunch place from a really nice guy we met at the city hall. After touring around a bit Whit and I went to a place where you can rent canoes. We went out on the harbor a little bit...It was interesting when the wake from a big boat would come to the canoe. Whit thought we were going to tip, but I felt ok. Plus I thought it would have been extremely funny if we had tipped. Whit disagreed with that! After a gorgeous, funny, but overall relaxing canoe trip we decided to walk around some more. We headed back into the city center to meet Henrik for some coffee at a fun little cafe he knew. It was really sweet of him to meet us - he's a great guy. He even bought the coffee for us...what a guy! After coffee Whit and I made our way to the train station to get our train to Oslo leaving at 22:30.

Wow...we did not have a sleeping compartment the 1st train ride which was a bummer because we were sitting next to these strange Chinese people who would not stop talking the whole train ride! They were being fairly quiet, but when they are sitting right next to you it's hard to sleep with 'ping chwanchurr ming lang chwaaaaaaaalaaalingggg' going on all the time. Well we got to Oslo really early in the morning. I also woke up for a gorgeous Norwegian sunrise somewhere on the way to Oslo. Norway was nice, but I do have to say there didn't seem to be a lot going on. I guess they are just really relaxed people...and granted it was a Monday. Well, Whitney and I saw the harbor (pretty nice) and then splurged on a boat cruise around Oslo Fjord because we read it is definitely the best thing to do in Oslo. We saw the city hall where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded (Oslo is the most peaceful city in the world apparently, and I could believe it after being there!) Then we went on the lunch cruise which took us around the Fjord, and we ate shrimp for lunch where you had to peel the shells off. It was really pretty...but the seagulls were annoying especially when the German family thought it would be funny to dump their shirmp overboard so the seagulls would fight over it. Not very cool to feed wildlife in my opinion...Call me a boyscout here if you want...Anyway, Whitney and I (being the two blondest people alive) missed our stop on the boat, so we had to walk to the museum part of the city which is quite a distance from the center. However I'm glad we saw some of the stuff we did...the city of Oslo is really quite gorgeous. I think I would love to raise a family there...But it started raining really hard, and we got soaked! We finally found our way to the museums just to realize they are really expensive, so we ended up getting lucky and going in one for just at the enterance and still seeing everything. Everything being a famous Viking boat that is right at the enterance of the museum, but it still worked for a quick picture. We stayed there for a little bit, and then I wanted to take a quick dip in the water which was not nearly as cold as I thought it would be. We then took the ferry across the water as opposed to walking which would have taken forever and got a really expensive (but really good) late lunch. Then we bummed around...window shopped. Oslo seemed to be a little more alive at this point in the day. The streets were crowded finally...I thought it was a ghost town at first! We kept ourselves busy till 830 when our train left. Thank god we had a sleeper car this time! It was definitely better than the chairs! I went into a complete coma from about 930 PM until the next morning when we arrived in Stockholm at 8. Somewhere along the way our train hit a moose as well...so we were delayed two hours. I thought it was terribly sad! I hope the moose is OK...they stopped for two hours, but they didn't say why. Whit says they were fixing the train - I hope they were fixing the moose!

This day in Stockholm was probably the best one we had. Whitney and I got our stuff out of the lockers, and went to the boat hostel where I was staying the next two nights. That hostel was also really nice. It's called Rygerfjord if you ever want to stay there. The location is better than backpacker's inn for sure. But then we walked up to that lunch place the guy had reccomended called Hermans. It was absolutely delicious and fabulous and wonderful. It was an outdoor restaurant perched up on a cliff overlooking the harbor and old town. It's a vegetarian buffet with the best bread I have ever had. Whit and I could not stop talking about how wonderful this place was! The only bad thing were the pigeons. They attacked our food when we went back for seconds on coffee...So we had to get some new food, which wasn't a huge problem either! Then we sat out in the sun for a bit, and just talked while we digested our food a little more. We then walked around the old town shopped, and 'osloed' which is something only Whitney will ever know! After shopping we made reservations at the Absolut Ice Bar for 930 which was a lot of fun. We got the last of the rum before the ice bar and went to the Stockholm culture festival which was full of great music. We listened to a sort of bluegrass/africian/samba/irish mixed band which was beyond cool. Then we found our way over to a Swedish hiphop group and they were really good as well. After listening to the music for a bit we went on over to the Ice Bar! You get some big parka coat things that come with gloves and the expensive cover comes with a drink thank god. The drinks come in ice glasses...and I'm definitely not crazy about vodka. Unfortunately for me I think the drink was almost pure vodka! Yuck! But the ice bar was cool...the only bad thing is that it was full of old people some of whom were pretentious Canadians. I've never met a Canadian I didn't like until then. After Ice bar, whit and I went out for a few beers at Torget, some sort of gay bar. It was really cool and they were playing old films on the wall. Whit had to leave, so we went back to town center, and dropped her off. We had passed a really fun-looking outdoor club that was situated on the front porch of this huge historical building. So you went up a flight of steps, and then the two dance floors were on your left or right side. It was OK...but I found out later it is the summer 'see and be seen' club of Stockholm. So it was a little pretentious which I didn't like, but the music was really good. However, I was surprised at how unruly the crowd was - honestly I have never been to a club where people are so crazy. Everyone was just dancing...they didn't care if they hit other people and the other people also didn't care if they got hit. People just plowed their way around. Really strange...but I guess this is also the reputation of this club. Funny that it is populated by the see and be seen then....You would think they would be more polite!

The next day I got up early and took a train to Uppsala which is a University town and houses the oldest University in Scandinavia and also has the biggest cathedral in Scandinavia. It was a really gorgeous town, but really dead. I think the students must be on a break right now, because there was literally no one there! But it was nice to go there and see for myself where I might end up if I decide to leave Colorado for med school. I had a great lunch (Swedes know how to cook, I tell you what) again, and that made the day really nice. I decided to just hang around in the sun and read a little until I left. I was tired of walking around and doing touring...I had already done that in Stockholm about a thousand times! Although I did see a fair amount of the city including a big fort on a hill, the cathedral, and parts of the school where I was able to pick up course listing book. Got back to Stockholm and went directly to the hostel. I did a nice run around the Södermalm island and found another funky little restaurant area I will have to try when I go back. Stockholm is a JOGGERS CITY. I loved it...there were so many people out running! Thank god, because I am sick to death of Bayern (Bavaria) where I am outnumbered by bikes 700:1. Itstarted raining, so I ran really fast back to the hostel where I ended up hanging out with Dan from the UK and his friend Brandon from Miami. Dan was really cool...Brandon was kind of strange. Typical American muscle head...the two of them seemed an unlikely combination of friends, but whatever works I guess. We hung out on top of the boat for awhile...Dan played us some accordion, and we also met this Japanese guy Hiroshi. We all decided to go get dinner, and then we ended up grabbing a beer and meeting Dan's Scottish DJ friend. We made our way to the club where he was performing, but I decided I was just going to get some rest since I had to be up at 5 AM the next day. I walked back with Hiroshi...and then met my bunk mate, a super cute/nice Dutch girl, and a French couple who was staying next to me. Everyone was really nice...it was good to meet some nice people before I left Stockholm. Anyway, overall good vacation...the only scary thing is that I could really see myself in Sweden. But I'm still not sure if I ever want to leave Colorado again! I just love it so much...Man, you really don't know what you have until you leave. I am so happy to have realized this lesson though - I will come back with a full awareness and appreciation for everything in my wonderful life and that is truly something to be treasured.

Hej då från München,
Sean

I almost got arrested!

So let's set the scene.

I'm on the train coming back from the airport as I had just got back from Sweden which was great by the way. At the airport, I only had 3 stamps instead of the required 6 on my stampticket. I decide to just get on anyway after stamping three because until 19 you can get by with three. I get to the transfer station and realize you can hardly see the stamp from the airport, so I just stamp it again. Hey! I'm in the clear to get to Holzkirchen...well, at least for a 19 year old...haha.

Well, we are literally one stop away from Holzkirchen when they check my ticket. No one EVER cares that I have 3 stamps...I think most of the ticket checkers realize that it is ridiculously expensive to travel by Sbahn train. Well this woman, this awful awful woman, decides she is on a powertrip...starts demanding for my ID when I tell her I'm 19.
'Uh...I don't have it...'
'But you are coming back from the airport!! Where is your passport??!' she yells.
'I left all my stuff in a locker!' - This of course is a lie...my passport, ID, everything is with me. I really don't want her to see my passport with my work visa stamped right in though because I've already pulled the 'I'm just visiting' card and also told her that, 'my friend that I am visiting told me to stamp it 3 times!' I pulled every trick to try and get away with it, but this wasn't gonna fly with this lady.

She calls the police.

THE POLICE.

AFTER I have told her I will just pay the goddamn 40€ fine so we can all move on with our lives.
But this woman is adamant. She wants me canned. For what reason I don't know...how many random American 'tourists' do you meet that can communicate with you in German? And not to toot my own horn, but I am an exceedingly polite, and nice person. Even to this woman. There was no reason to treat me as such. Plus this hag didn't speak a word of English so I don't know what she would have done otherwise...But it is, 'against the law not to have an ID on you all the time'...and so she gives me a paper to fill out with all the details...I fill out the paper (and stupidly) decide to lie about my birthdate further. And of course at this point I can't NOT produce my ID anymore, so I decide to miraculously find it. Wow! I also hid my passport in a book I got from Uppsala University...I still didn't want them to know I was living here...I figured they might have harsher punishments.

I think she spent about 5 minutes looking at my drivers liscence...you know it. The one where I am 16 and look like a chipmunk. It is, of course, expired. I have to renew it in person at the DMV when I get back, but as I turned 21 abroad I haven't done so yet. She freaks out about that...I calmly try to explain to her how I had turned 21 in Europe...(Sweden to be exact...Yes, I was pretending to have been living in Sweden).

I think she actually called the police again...she kept ducking away so I wouldn't hear her...So I would make it very clear I was listening to her phone conversation. Because I have a right to know what is going on, right? I could not believe this woman. Absolutely could not believe what a N°°° she was. And I wouldn't use that word lightly, but she is not giving a good name for her fellow Germans I tell you what.

We get off the train, and are waiting for the cops...She dramatically smokes two cigarettes like I had totally ruined her day. Like little well-meaning Sean was the worst, most difficult person she had ever met. I actually talked a little bit to her colleague. He was pretty nice, but clearly didn't say much around this woman because she was in charge. I had a feeling he wouldn't have given me the ticket if he had been with someone else.

Cops came...I think they thought she was a little ridiculous from what I caught. But they also questioned me. They were pretty nice, but told me what I did was 'scheiße'...shitty. Haha. I mean, it wasn't a big deal. I paid Nazi her fine, and walked off.

All in all, it's really quite funny. I don't think I'll lie ever again...I was kind of digging myself deeper and deeper and in a foreign language it was a little more difficult than usual! But whatever. Now I've got a great story, and I figured I would pay the S bahn 40€ at some point in my German life.

I'll send an update about my Sweden trip later. Maybe today...
Ciao ciao

More recent events...like my 21st birthday!

Pictures: Bad one of Kathi and I on my birthday at the Spielbank (casino)
Next one is also my birthday...At the Mamut Hochzeitgarten in Kufstein Austria

Just read a little bit of my blog from highschool and 1st year of Uni. Haha...that was rather embarrasing. It seriously sounded like the diary of a 12 year old girl. Goodness gracious...I think we can safely say that I am over that now!

Things here have been nice (mostly because of the weather...awesome thunderstorms at night, but sunny, warm days)...but I'm keeping a very low profile until I go to Sverige in 8 days because it is so expensive. I spent a really lovely weekend with Sara in Regensburg. Hung out with Molly as well and I even made some new friends. A Scottish girl Kate, and an Irish girl Bebhinn. Both really cool. Sara and I hung out, and had a great conversation with everyone back at Sara's dorm about all things sexual. It was hysterical. Sara made us spaghetti which was really sweet, and we both wanted pinot noir so we bought a bottle earlier that day. It was a German (we were really surprised about that) pinot and was the color of a watered down red! It actually tasted OK, but the color was definitely a little weird. Later that night, we went to a party being held at a coffee shop (that was a little strange, but cool nevertheless) as it was Mark's going away shindig. It had been awhile since I had experienced hard alcohol, but with €1 shots that's what we were doing...and it was tequila. Quick question. Why do people like brown tequila more than clear? Or is that a Euro thing? I can do both just fine, but I think I would prefer clear for sure...it was interesting though because they served the brown with an orange slice and cinnamon sugar. Clear came with the standard lime. Hmm...The next day we woke up early, got breakfast with Molly at one of Regensburg's 1000 cute cafes, and then started packing up Sara's room. We made some pasta and cookies for Ben's BBQ later, and hung out with Thekla for awhile. Ben's BBQ was interesting...Grant was there, and the 4 Germans and the 4 english speakers just kind of did their own thing. I didn't feel much like talking to Ben's friends though because they thought everything I said was funny...and after a while I couldn't tell if they were laughing at my German or just at me being myself! Guess I am a hoot and a half to these Germans...It was a really good time though, and I ate far too much. Kate and Bebhinn even showed up to say hi which was nice. Said bye to Sara the next morning which was sad, but sounds like she will be back in Germany in no time. But Sara is truly a gem of a person. Just someone you can talk to, she's got a gorgeous voice as she is an opera singer, and she makes me food and let's me stay at her place whenever. I love Sara - such a good friend. I hope our paths cross sooner in Europe than in Colorado which sounds very likely. I would love to do another ausflug ('short trip' - I'm helping you learn Deutsch!) sometime this winter with Sara if she stays. Maybe southern Italy...Her family is from Sicily and I still really want to go to Jerusalem. I think she's been to Egypt though which means if she's got the stamp in her passport they won't let her in to Isreal. I guess I'll just have to actually talk that through with Sara!

Today I just hung out in the sun all day...That was it. I'm going to go for a run here in a little bit, but it's still pretty hot outside. And I just ate a lot. Never a good thing to do before running. Hopefully I'll get to meet up with Jess and Greg soon, but probably not until Thursday night or something. Thursday night I'm planning on staying in Munich, and dropping by the Schwedish Stammtisch (a stammtisch is a meet-up with beer) to hang out with some Swedes before I hang out with more Swedes the next day. But I leave super early on Friday...well, 9 o'clock. That's early enough, right?

Anyway...Where are we in the realm of updating about Euro adventures? I guess after Madrid...which would then be my birthday! I was a little bummed about spending my 21st here in Germany instead of in the states, but ended up having an awesome time anyway. On my birthday we first made our way to Austria to do a ropes course in the forest near Kuhlstein I think. It was a surprise for me, and was really perfect. I was surprised that it was difficult in some spots. It looks really easy, and granted we were doing the hard spots, but still. It was great because everyone was there! Evi (my favorite person ever) her boyfriend Wolfgang, Sybilla, Kathi, Ralph, and of course the Puhlmanns. Only Corinna and Haiko were missing! We then went back to Hartpenning and had some dinner and wine. Then Kathi, Ralph, and I got ready to go to the casino in Bad Wiesse which is about 15 minutes away on beautiful lake Tegernsee. What a fun night...I can't believe how different the casino environment here is than say, Las Vegas. It's very quiet in the slot machine room, and even quieter in the room with the card tables. We tried our hands at slots...I don't think I won a thing and quickly lost interest after something called 'Bavarian Jackpot' ate €20 in one go. We played some automatic roulette before donning our blazers and going upstairs to the game room. They gave us 3 champagne glasses for my birthday! Then I got another martini, and we browsed the tables. Everyone looked so serious and scary that I was hesitant to play blackjack. We decided to just do some roulette (which was really crowded) and we ended up making some money! It was great...I spoke in German the whole time which was cool because as an English speaker I hardly ever get away with that anywhere now. Well Kathi and I played well and made a profit of maybe €15. I was very nervous to play anything big after losing so much money at the slots...we think Ralph secretly gambled and lost some money because he was angry all of a sudden and wouldn't talk to us! Quite funny really...anyway, they gave me some champagne and a wallet in a to-go bag for my big 21st. (You have to be 21 to gamble here as well). What a nice time. Also on the running to do list: take Kathi out, and send something nice to Sara.

I was thinking of American politics today. Not sure I like Obama and I'm not ready for another GWB AKA McCain. I just wrote my dad an email...we'll see what he says. I'm still stuck on how much I liked Hillary. She really stuck it out, and NOT because she was trying to be a pain in the ass like everyone thought. Because she PROMISED that she would stay there for her voters until it was 100% clear she was done. How often do we see politicans making and keeping their promises these days? Honestly...We all could learn something from her. I thought about not voting, but realized that would be stupid. I might as well vote for Obama right? Despite my doubts about him, I am excited that we very well may have an African American as president. It would say so much about our future and our past too. I just think it would be so cool for America to be represented by an ethnic minority...a group so many people have not given credit to where it is due for years and years. Well that's enough political ranting...I should try to 'sober up' for running by going to the bathroom and trying to digest all my food I just ate.

Update: My dad of course wrote me the longest email in recored history about the election, but apparently he doesn't really like McCain either! Crazy as he is pretty die-hard republican. I just assumed that all republicans liked McCain, but I guess I'm wrong!

Ciao ciao! Von Monaco di Baveria!
Sean

Prince William visits Madrid - Bueno!

So the next (and last for now until I go to Sweden/Norway) blog entry of my non-German adventures would be Madrid!Madrid was awesome because I just hung out with Andres and relaxed...There was no pressure to see a lot of touristy stuff which after Paris was a VERY welcome thing. I came home the day after Paris, did some laundry, watched movies, and then got ready to go to Madrid. I only had a day between trips so I wasn't about to get all crazy. I bought a bottle of wineschorle (wine with sparkling water which is not so classy, I know...), started some laundry, and watched some movies. I also ate a lot of pizza for dinner! It was really nice and relaxing to have the house to myself and just chill. Anway, Marid. I got off the plane, was excited to see Andres, and we took the subway pretty much right to his door. I am going to miss subways/train systems in Colorado when I go back. It makes things SO much easier! Imagine if Denver actually got serious about connecting the suburbs with a good train system? And if Denver itself had a good subway system?! It would make things so much easier and definitely convince people to drive less...Plus drunk driving accidents would go down. I don't understand why we don't have something like that. ANYWAY...Madrid. God, I'm distracted today. Maybe it's because I just looked at my GPA. Yikes. Well last semester just wasn't happening for me...looking forward to getting back and bringing that out of the shitter.Anyway...Madrid. I'm serious this time! After dropping off my stuff at Andres' house, we made our way towards the center of town and did a little sightseeing. It was cool, and we went to the Royal Palace which is really impressive. We did a little catching up, and told some funny stories. The two of us got lunch right by Plaza Mayor (the big tourist area) at a Belgian cafe. We ate mussels and had the BEST beer ever. I think it was a wheat beer, but it had some sort of 'fruit infusion' or something and I can easily say one of the best I have ever had. Viva Belgium. After that we went on over to see Andres' other Venezuelan friends living in Madrid: Dagmar, Marilyn, and Ismenia. These three girls are so sweet - I can't even believe it! Anyway, the girls and Andres made me feel right at home in Madrid just hours after I had arrived! It was great...and there was such a relaxed feel to the whole vacation. We ended up chilling at the girl's apartment for awhile, and then went to the grocery store to buy some alcohol and snacks for the 'Fiesta del San Isidro' which was taking place that day. I ended up arriving on a really great day because we went to the parque del Retiro for the festivities and caught the coolest fireworks show I've ever seen! But we had a great time before the fireworks just hanging out in the park and playing drinking games in Spanish/English. Andres also had another Venezuelan guy, Aaron, staying over while he was in Madrid so he also met up with us. Anyway, we were just sitting in the park, having a great time when some cops busted up this crazy drumming event going on behind us. We decided to just stay put, hoping the cops wouldn't come over. Well of course they did, and everyone was jabbering in Spanish so I couldn't understand. I decided to turn around and look at the cop for a second (he was standing directly behind me so he couldn't see my face). Well I turn around just for about a second, and then face forward again. I notice the Spanish jabber had turned up a notch since I had done so, and the cop sounded really excited. Andres told me to 'turn around again' which I did, however very confused as to why. So I turn around and look at the cop who said, 'Ooooohhh!' I found out later the cop thought I was Prince William! Get that! It was hilarious. After the loss of my celeb status, we were told to move to the other side of the parque because apparently where we had been sitting was going to the be the site of the fireworks. So we moved to the other side of the park and were hanging out for awhile until the fireworks show started. It was so cool - set to classical music, with a lightshow, and the fireworks were so elaborate and perfectly in time with el musica! Bueno! Andres' friend Kate (we joked later about her being Kate Middleton...AKA Prince Will's girlfriend) also showed up (she is the coolest girl ever) from San Francisco and we had a great time with her too. We were all a little inebriated at this point, and after the show started to head back into town to a really cool house party of Andres' coworker that had showed up. We had some wine at the party which was a really nice time. An Italian couple wanted to practice their English with me, and it was really fun to be surrounded by so much Spanish. God, why did I learn German?! We spent a good amount of time at the house party, but then Kate wanted to go out and I ended up going with. No one else came because it was Thursday and they had to turn in early. First we followed Ismenia to some weird bar in the middle of nowhere. There was also no one IN the bar except for two weird guys Ismenia knew. Kate and I decided to peace and go to a more lively place. We went to some bizarre club/bar close to Kate's house in Sol. We did a little bit of dancing, but mostly laughing at the strange dancing competition going on. Kate also amassed a male Latin fan club after dancing with a guy that worked at the bar! She was on fire! We ended up talking to this hot Irish girl dressed in a playboy bunny outfit for a really long time! She was rad...And she gave me a free tequila funnel shot thing! It was absolutely hilarious, and after all this I think Kate and I should actually date in real life. What a cool chica. After deciding to go somewhere else, and asking the Irish girl for suggestions we found our way to a salsa club with our new frineds! Casey (an awesome aussie chick) and her two weird American friends that were really antisocial. Casey was awesome though, and the 5 of us went to a salsa club where I realized I cannot dance salsa especially when I am drunk. Casey and Kate made it really fun though, and guess who showed up? Our little Irish bunny who was really, really good at Salsa dancing. Anyway, I think it was about 5 or 6 in the morning and Kate and I decided to head out. I ended up just crashing at her house because it was a little far to get to Andres' and very confusing.

I woke up quite late the next day! Probably around 1030 or 11 if I remember correctly and left Kate's house with the walking tour guide that Andres gave me. Did a little (actually not so little) walking tour of Madrid in my clothes that I had been wearing the day before...It was really great actually! I saw a lot of wonderful architecture, and I ended up doing both walking tours that were listed in the book which brought me all over the city. It was nice to do the touristy thing by myself for once especially because I like to walk fast. And that way I was able to see everything at my own pace and without complaints from anyone else! Just some nice alone time. Andres got off work and I met him at the house, (after getting really lost by the subway exit which let me out on a crazy street I didn't expect), took a quick shower, changed, and we went to go eat some tapas. I can't believe how hungry I was...I hadn't eaten anything since lunch the day before and some chips at the park. Surprisingly I wasn't really hungry until we got to the restaurant around 4PM, but let me tell you it was so good to finally eat. The tapas were really awesome...my favorite was this one called 'Tortilla Espana' that Andres recomended. We also got some REAL dulce de leche for dessert which is absolutely the yummiest thing ever made. We did a little more sightseeing together and visited some supposedly really haunted building. It was a government building so we couldn't actually go inside which was dissapointing. I think we spent that night just relaxing at the apartment, ate some gross snails with Aaron, played guitar hero, and watched that new musical Across the Universe.



Next day involved a trip with Marilyn and Aaron to the two 'leaning towers of Madrid' which are just office buildings that are tilted really far to the sides. Apparently if they were tilted even one degree further they would collapse! But as they stand, they are very sturdy. Andres, Marilyn, and I went to a Mexican restaurant where they had ONE vegetarian thing on the menu (haha) which ended up having mushrooms. The food ended up being really good but expensive. The coronas in Spain are called 'Coronitas' which just means little Corona but we don't know why because they are exactly the same size as the US Coronas. We made our way back to the house after seeing a cool library in a different ethnic district of Madrid, Lavapies, (can't remember exactly what the make-up of the people there was, but I think more south americans lived in that neighborhood than Spaniards or something.) Andres and I went back and got ready to go out later that evening. We joined the girls and went to a mueseum party at the Musee del Traje (museum of clothes/fashion). It was free to get in and the event was to sponsor the museum which is threatened with closure. It was really unique, and there were a lot of cool exhibits and some really wild clothes. Most of the exhibits featured clothes from the past of Spain and I was surprised at how much I learned. We left the museum and took a cab over to a club where some of the girls and Andres' friend worked. We all got a free round of Mojitos (um, delicious!) and danced the night away. I got a lot of Latin dancing lessons, and I would honestly say that thanks to Andres, Dagmar, Marilyn, and Ismenia, I am now a way better dancer! Yay! Andres, Ismenia, and I left to go back home but on the way stopped at some shady food place which had all their lights turned off. I guess they weren't supposed to be open at that time, so they were serving everyone in the dark. It was really amusing and it was full of hungry people, so I guess its an underground thing.

The next day I met Kate for lunch (Andres was feeling ill so he stayed home) and we went to a place called 'Maoz' which is 100% vegetarian and was the closest I have been to Chipotle in a longgg time. Absolutely lovely. We did some walking and met up with Andres and Kate's friend Amanda at a funky coffee shop full of board/card games. We played a little bit with some of Amanda's friends that were there, and had a coffee. At one point I went downstairs and had to ask a girl which restroom was for the guys...She pointed me in the right way thankfully and I wish I knew what the word was on the door! We broke apart after, but Amanda, Kate, and I, went to a flea market which had a bunch of stuff from local artists. Then they had a flamenco show, so I went back to hang out with Andres (who hadn't felt well all day!) and we watched some movies and went to bed early since he had work the next day. The next day I woke up, and got on the subway to the airport and went back to München. We also saw the Real Madrid plane - Real Madrid has the most funding of any football team in the world, so it was kind of a big deal that our plane was parked next to them! Thanks to Andres for letting me stay for the time I was in Madrid. I had such a great time, and can't wait to see you for Oktoberfest!

de gnällde över Jane när hon var ute och handlade mat - på engelska: they were having a bitch about Jane when she was out buying groceries

Ok, so onto the next part of my adventures...if you are actually reading this, it might be a better idea to start at the beginning of this section? Right now, before I start talking about present things, I'm just writing down what happened during all of my cool little trips.

So now it is May! Which is my favorite month because the weather is usually awesome, right? Well not in München, Germany it's not! Well it was OK...just not ideal. Not like good old Bouldah Colorada. The kids had a spring break, so I took two trips in May. The first was back to Paris to actually enjoy it, and the next was to Madrid, Spain to see Andres and soak up the Spanish vida.

So Paris...About a billion funny stories. I get on the plane and sit next to this guy named Ivar from Norway. We ended up talking for a long time, and turned out that he was on the exact flight back that I was taking. Well, we got on the train into town together just to be sure we were doing it right because the RER trains that aren't part of the metro in Paris are quite confusing. Turns out we were sitting next to this delightful American woman who has lived in Paris for 10 years. She was phenomenal...Told us how she left after a divorce and had always wanted to live in Paris. So she did it! She said she lived in a beautiful apartment, loved her job, and was really happy. It was a great positive note to start out on, and she was really helpful and guided us about what to do. Ivar asked about the gay quarter of Paris, Marais, and gave me a wink. Instantly my alarmbells went off...of course this guy wasn't just being nice! It was quite funny though, he is one of the most relaxed people I've ever met, and really a nice guy despite the ocassional hit-on. Anyway, our friend explained about the gay area, and Ivar said, 'Oh, well maybe I will head that way tonight and get a drink' and gave me another wink. Luckily, I got off the train before her and Ivar because I was staying way north in Paris...A location I thought would be doable by foot to the center, but it turns out walking even through the center of Paris requires a lot of work to get from one end to the other. However, I actually really liked where my hostel was because it gave me a different feel of the city than I think most people see. There were a lot of Africans living in my area, and it was so cool to get an african vibe in the middle of Paris. Something I didn't expect at all. Anyway, I got off at my stop Jaures (I think that name will forever be imbedded in my skull) and found my way to the 'Peace and Love Hostel'. This hostel was a hoot and a half...I decided to stay at a fun hostel which was described as, 'always a party' and, 'if you want to sleep, don't stay here!' because before I found out Sara would be in Paris the same dates as I was, I was going to go alone and wanted the opportunity to make friends. Anyway, met some really nice German girls right off the bat who were staying right next door, but I was drenched in sweat after lugging my bag through the hot metro, and then emerging into the humid heat of Paris, followed by going up the funky stairs in the hostel. I took a quick shower (the shower was awkwardly in the middle of the room next to the bunk bed for three) just to feel refreshed as I didn't have shampoo, or body wash as I had forgotten them! I asked the German girls what they were doing, and they said they hard partied the night before and were going to get some sleep. So I set out alone! I did, in fact, go to Marais...I didn't want to go to some random club where I would be a creepy guy alone. Better to do it at a gay club, because you know you can always make friends or at the least meet some interesting people! After walking through the Marais area a bit (which was really really nice) I found myself on 'La Rue des Mauvais Garcons', (bad-boy street for you non-frenchies.) I laughed and took a picture. Did a little more walking (It was already 11 or so at night) and walked into a club that looked busy and not-pretentious. Well that was definitely interesting...I got a corona because I hadn't really seen them around in Europe, and just talked to a few people. One guy from South Africa who slapped my butt as I walked by was fairly interesting...and so were his 5 girlfriends! I also met this guy from Miami who was really nuts and his Swedish friend (Just proves I can find a Swede anywhere!) who offered to take me to, get this, Disney World in Paris. It was a nice gesture, but I was number one, far too busy my first time in Paris to see of all things Disney World and also I never liked Disney stuff to begin with! The one thing I benefited from from all this was learning the Swedish word for bitch, 'klagan' sounds like chlogan (with a hard 'C')...As my bad luck would have it I didn't talk to any French people. I honestly don't think there were any there! After 1 more beer I decided to peace. Since my stop was so far I had to take the metro, which is pretty well designed. So I go to the nearest station at Ille de la Cite I think...And accidentally got on the wrong train! The duration of the trip did feel somewhat longer than the usual amount between stations, and I quickly got out and switched ot the other side of the track. The time for the next train started blinking; something I figured could not be a good sign. And shortly after that, two metro workers came out and told me 'eez finished! Au revoir!' Oops...So I get out of the station, and find out that I am, in fact, in the middle of Parisian nowhere. It was also one of those confusing huge traffic circle streets with about 30 side streets branching off of it, which makes it really hard to find the correct street. I walked up what I thought was the right street for about a mile or a mile and a half...It was of course up a huge hill and I was wearing my dress shoes. Eventually see three cute girls standing on the corner waiting for a taxi...I decided to work up the courage and dig out the good old Francais. Of course when I asked them, I completely forgot what I had planned. (To my defense I can totally say it in French, I was just so nervous!) What came out was a weird German/French mixture with a dash of a few English words...I got some weird looks at first. Then they laughed a little, probably because I felt so embarrased, and was further tripping over my words, which of course made me laugh too. One of the girls asked, 'Bist du Deutsch?'...Are you German? And then the other ones just started asking me in English what was up. These girls saved my life. All three of them were stunningly gorgeous (turns out the blonde was from Frankfurt) and they studied law at the Sorbonne! They told me they were taking a taxi in the direction of Jaures and they would just let me out...when I asked them simply the directions (because I didn't want to pay for a taxi) they insisted I come with. We finally got a taxi after a really nice chat, and they took me home! Their only request, (and read carefully here!) was that I tell the world how nice French girls are. Heck, I was ready to tell the world how nice ALL French people are! Seriously, I want to send out a good vibe to those three girls, without whom, I would have probably faced a 2 hour walk with a lot of 'lost time'. I wish I had their contact info so I could send them each something nice. They plopped me out right at Jaures, which I guess was actually right on their way. What luck, right?
I was going to go right to bed, but Julia and Fransiska were right outside the hostel at the door with a friend of theirs, Arthur from Chartres. I returned the Paris book I had borrowed earlier from Franziska, which was really helpful. We decided to go chill by the little river that was outside the hostel and had a nice conversation (in German!) and laughed about Arthur's excessive use of 'Na toll...'. After hanging out in the hallway for a bit, and deciding that the hostel 'party' was definitely not for us, we went upstairs and went to bed!

The next day I arranged to meet Sara at 10 at a metro stop that had an outdoor market. It was so cool walking out of the hostel door and facing Paris in sunlight. I was suddenly hit with light, warmth, noise, and it is something I will never forget. Sorry to sound schmoozy and romantic but there really is something special about that city! While I waited (I was now back in the Latin quarter where I had driven with Ralph previously) I sat on a stoop in the sun and people-watched. Sara and I got really confused trying to find each other, and probably tried for a little under an hour to meet! Finally we found each other in a cute side street. It was a nice place to say hello and get a hug. :) Luckily after that, we didn't have troubles staying together! We met Sara's dad and stepmom Chris, (one of the most interesting women I've ever met) bought a bottle of wine from a nice dealer for later, and got a little something to eat at a cafe we spent 20 minutes deciding on. I was surprised my 'table French' was adequate enough to know what all the food was on the menu, and deal with the waitress. Heck, I even threw in my 'Sean charm'...something I didn't know I could do in French! Turns out I wasn't as bad as I thought from the previous night...I think I was just really nervous. Our first stop was the Parthenon...which we were all too cheap to go in since it was about €7 if I remember correctly. Sara and I broke off from Richard and Chris and looked for a famous cafe Sara had read about. I forget who, but some famous authors used to frequent it and I believe it was called 'The Shakespeare'. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it even though the street was about 2 feet long...Weird. We made our way to Ille-de-la Cite and saw (the outside) of Notre Dame. After a walk around the gardens outside we walked towards Sainte Chapelle because I wanted to see the stained glass windows. However, one look at the line (for what I thought would be a fairly unknown gem in Paris) in the sweltering heat was enough to convince us to take a break on the islands very top point facing the Louvre. After a seriously bad blonde moment from me at the gate, we sat down at the point of the island next to a cute couple that were drinking champagne and smoking weed. We chilled there for a half hour or so, and attempted to wave at all the tourist boats. I took off my shoes because they were starting to tear what would become a gaping hole in one of my heels. I decided that since we were in Paris it would be a good idea to look nice and wear my dress shoes. We did so much walking that day, and I was wearing jeans. You all know how often I wear shorts...I was dying. Absolutely dying. And the rampant dehydration that would follow us all through France was only just beginning! Bring a waterbottle to Paris! Just do it. Anyway, after this Sara and I purchased a 'boat taxi' ticket so we could right the boat up and down the Seine whenever we pleased! Turned out to be a bad idea because that boat was hot as hell. Yes, even worse than outside! And it was a really slow boat too....We took it to the Eiffel tower stop (after some fun with Sara's scarf to try and distract us from the heat) and got out to have a look. We went to the tower and decided to just come back the next day to go up. We went back to the hostel, I took a quick and extraordinarily refreshing shower coupled with my expensive soap and shampoo I had bought at a pharmacy, and found Sara at the bar (which functions as the front desk) looking angry. They wouldn't let Sara upstairs into my room, and it turns out that when she tried to take a quick cat nap in the empty bar they woke her up by klinging the bell! Not very friendly but whatever...we walked to the park close to the hostel, opened the wine, and ate some Pain au chocolat that we bought. Some cute (but annoying) children were playing soccer nearby, and it was a great people watching point. We made our way to Sara's apartment they were staying at, got some dinner that was pretty tasty (nothing vegetarian on the menu, but they made something for me), and then did a little night sightseeing. Then we arranged to meet up the next day!

No shower this morning since I didn't want to scare or wake up my two female roomates from Michigan so I had some pretty funky hair. Sara and I met (at the Eiffel tower I think!) fairly early (for us) and got in line to go up. This time we didn't have anything with us as they had threatened to throw away our wine last time which had been residing in Sara's purse. A quick ascent with the stairs...which I think is the only way you can get up if you aren't disabled. It was strangely confusing on who could use the elevator system, but I didn't care. The tower was a fairly typical 'charge you a lot of money to get to the top of a monument' experience which I assure you, if you are interested, can find ALL over Europe. We actually didn't even go to the top...it was crowded, hot again, and the line to take the elevator from the 2nd platform (you have to take an elevator to the very top) was huge. Plus you had to pay an additonal amount to get up there. I was ready to wait for Sara, but turns out she was cool with just going down too. We made our way to the Louvre and met up with Chris and Richard after a quick lunch at a nice cafe where I had a yummy salad nicoise. A attempt to get me in free (posing as a 17 year old sans school ID) failed, but we were onward anyway! Of all the tourist traps in Paris, I actually really enjoyed the Louvre. I mean, it has a fabulous art collection, and let me just boast here. Sara and I saw almost everything which they say is impossible unless you devote two days to the Louvre. We even took our time at all the things we really wanted to see. We just missed a few things on one wing in my desperation to see the Vermeer pieces. But really, we had a nice time. And I didn't feel too 'whirlwinded' by it. I think (and I'm sure Sara would agree) we have both seen A LOT of museums in Europe so far, and are both fairly museumed-out at the moment! Apres le Louvre we went to Montmartre district which is something we both wanted to see. We took THE FUNICULATOR instead of the stairs just for sheer principle! And we both got bracelets by guys from Senegal that just run over to you, grab your wrist, and start doing it. Sara did good at getting hers for free...however, I felt bad, and paid the guy. They were really nice, and I guess pretty damn good at their jobs! Anyway, we saw Sacre Coeur which was hosting some sort of Catholic BBQ looking thing. Everyone was gathered out on the lawn in front of us. We went back down, found a grocery store got some, wait for it....WATER (thank god, I honestly chugged a liter on the spot) and another bottle of wine. Got some dinner at an Indian restaurant (courtesy of Sara....I was freaking about money and was ready to sit a meal out in chere Paris 'expensive Paris') Chris and I wanted to see the Moulin Rouge since we were so close, so we walked over there and came back to everyone. We split off again, and Sara and I decided to go enjoy the Vin a-cote-de la Seine. We found a nice spot close to Notre Dame and had a nice bottle of wine while admiring a big black dog that was hanging out with us for awhile. Right after the dog left us a group of some very drunk people started exclaming in French and pointing at us...I explained we were Americans, and they got excited and came over to talk. They were crazy. And drunkkk. Two French guys, a French woman (who left shortly after), and a Russian woman. They were all in their 40's or so, but invited Sara and I out. I couldn't resist the chance to finally meet some French people so we went with them for some Sangria at a strange bar, while passing Cafe Procope the oldest restaurant in Paris. We had some sangria with them (my first time, it was really good!), learned about the importance of true love (of course because they were REALLY French and really drunk!) and then it was too late to catch the metro so I stayed with Sara.

The next day we were on our merry way to Versailles. I ran back to the hostel to change and get my stuff...two more girls would have been my roomates had I been there, but luckily I wasn't. It looked like one of them had puked all over the sink, and my towel (which had been hanging out) had not surprisingly disapeered. Went back to Sara, and we made our way to Versailles! As I said earlier the RER trains are awfully confusing...there were other tourists also lost in this strange station we got off at when we realized we boarded the wrong train. Finally got on the right one and went to Versailles. The palace was nice, but largely uneventful, and full full full to the brim of tourists! It was nuts. The gardens were really cool, and I could spend days exploring them, but we were again dehydrated, and hot. We found a cool fountain, and then got some sandwiches for lunch. We walked in the direction of the Hamlet of Marie Antoinette (the peasant village she had created so she could play 'farmer' on the grounds of Versailles) because I really wanted to see it. They charged more to get into the Hamlet grounds, so we decided to skip it. But I saw that we could follow the perimiter wall and we ended up seeing some of the buildings anyway without paying. And we saw some French countryside which was gorgeous. We made our way back to the palace gardens, and decided that we were the real Dauphin et Dauphine (Prince and Princess) of France. Sorry to surprise you all like this, but it's true. We got on the train to Paris (after I got an ice cream cone!) and I got my stuff from Sara's apartment. Said goodbye to Mademoiselle Sara, andmade my merry way to the airport with one last walk through belle Paris. I was a little sad to leave! Met Ivar on the plane, who kept ordering us beers. Haha. We got off in München on the wrong Sbahn stop because we were talking and not paying attention, oops. And he missed his connecting train and had to wait an extra 45 minutes. I didn't miss mine though, so I was on my way back home! Oh crazy, crazy Ivar. He really is quite the character and made for a fascinating way to bring in, and leave Paris.

København

Picture of Salzburg Old Town unfortunately on a cloudy day...
The Mozart 'baby'...funniest thing I have ever seen
Copenhagen - Nyhavn district
Copenhagen - Little Mermaid Statue

Sorry some of this is a little repeated from the previous blog entry, but it cut off a lot of what I had to say about Salzburg, and almost all of my Copenhagen trip. Thank god the computer was already acting funny, so I copied what I wrote before I posted it.

I visited Salzburg, Austria in March with Sara and Thekla. I met them in München and we drove down (about an hour and a half) to Salzburg. We were there for St. Patricks day actually, so out of necessity we had a Guiness in an Irish pub there. What a hysterically funny trip that was. We had the best time together. Have you ever heard of a funiculator? Well, we sure hadn't and it turns out it's not a sexual term but rather an interesting tram-device that goes up a mountain. So of course, after making about a thousand jokes about 'funiculating' we actually rode the thing up to the Hohensalzburg, an intimidating fortress which looks over the beautiful city of Salzburg, and also the entire valley and mountains nearby. It's really quite the impressive view, and we enjoyed a beer in the biergarten at the top. We 'de-funiculated' down the slope and went walking down the charming alleys of Salzburg. Enjoyed a coffee (what Sara and I require to live) at a nice cafe with a funny waitress. We then walked to the Mozart birth house museum which was possibly the funniest thing that has ever happened to me. We walked into the room Mozart was born in, which is dramatically lit with a blue neon light suspended over a crib in the center of the room. In the crib is the creepiest baby/man thing which I just can't explain. Look at my facebook pictures if you really want to see it. Regardless, it was the funniest thing I've ever seen....the blue light, the dramatic music, and the 'baby' had us doubled over with laughter. The rest of the museum was also very strange. Thank god the house Mozart lived in as an adult was a little nicer. We visited the Augustiner brewery and had some beers before turning in. And let's just throw in that I absolutely love Stark 'strong' beer that the monks brew for Lent. It's so good, but I guess twice the calories, and twice the alcohol since the monks only drink this beer during their fast. I think the last thing we visited before departing was the grave of Leopold Mozart (Wolfgang Mozart's father). It was set in a quiet, beautiful graveyard away from the main drag of Salzburg. Sara, Thekla, and I laid a small flower on the grave as well. Anway, Salzburg was really an awesome little ausflug (short trip) and they don't monitor the parking lot at the hostel which is easy to get to and close to the center of town, so everytime I have been back I park there for free! Free parking is hard to find in Europe! After Salzburg we decided to visit Innsbruck after debating heavily about actually going to Verona. We decided however, that if we were to go to Verona it would require more time so we saved some cash and just drove to Innsbruck. Bummer that it was a cloudy day because Innsbruck is in a really deep valley with huge mountains on either side. We drove up to try to find the Innsbruck funiculator, almost ran out of gas, coasted back down the mountain, I started freaking out because there wasn't a gas station in sight, but finally (thanks to Sara's repeated gas station prayers to Gladys the goddess of parking spaces, 'Gladys Gladys in all your grace, please find me a parking space!') we found one. After a fill up we parked in a garage and searched for the official Innsbruck funiculator which brought us to the top of the mountain on the North side of the city. After penetrating the cloud cover on the gondola it was snowing (wild!) we got out at the top, looked around, and had some fun in the snow. I tried to reach the summit of a nearby mountain of which the summit cross was barely visible, but due to deep snow, I couldn't make it...but I was really close. I was also a little worried of slipping on ice and falling down the side of the cliff...After we returned to the non-snowy world, we walked around a little bit, searched for the famous 'golden roof' which we couldn't find for the longest time because it was tiny. Innsbruck was kind of lame...so we didn't have much more to do, and decided to make the merry drive back home with a small stop in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for fries and coffee.

It was also in March that Sara, Molly, and I made a very random, last-minute trip to Copenhagen, Denmark! It was a really cool trip. And I got my first taste of Scandinavian culture/life which I am fascinated by. I'm really interested in getting down to my roots, which as most of you know, I don't actually know due to the whole adoption thing. But I've settled on Scandinavian for sure, so I'm really enjoying living close by and can't wait to get to Sweden and Norway! More to come on all that later. Copenhagen was a really cool/funky city. There is still a semi-thriving Hippie quarter, a lot of cool architecture, and it's right on the water which is nice. An added plus is the obession with the royal family...always a conversation piece. We went the first day directly to the hostel, and then to the beach. The weather was absolutely freezing with ice cold winds, but thankfully, sun. The beach was even windier, and I had to put my feet in the water no matter how cold it was (because how often am I by the ocean???). Needless to say, it was freeeeezing but worth it for a few ridiculous pictures. This was the day we met our friend Stephen (also from SHIP) who was living in Copenhagen for a study abroad program. After the beach Stephen took us to a store where we bought some stuff for lunch, Sara and I bought a bottle of wine for later, and then we made some lunch back at his apartment. It was probably one of the hungriest moments of my life! I still remember how hungry I was before we ate some spaghetti and bread. We tried that night to meet up with Stephen and go out to a club or two, but we failed to find him (he didn't have a cell phone) and so we decided to just go back to the hostel and get some sleep. Good thing, because I didn't sleep at all the next night! The next day we walked around the city, and went on a boat trip that travelled around some of the canals and into the harbor. Despite Molly getting hit on by a creepy drunk Danish guy it was enjoyable. Our tour guide was really cute, and she did a good job on the tour. She spoke German, Danish, English, and she offered Spanish for these people on the tour. I'm pretty sure she can also speak Italian...crazy. We saw the little mermaid statue of course, passed by Hans Christian Andersen's house, and after the boat trip went to the royal palce of Copenhagen. After the palace tour which was short but nice, we found a really nice sandwich shop that was owned by a great French couple. We had some really delicious gourmet sandwiches and coffee for lunch and an interesting conversation about Vegetarianism/Pescetarianism passed between Sara and I. :) After lunch, we were all ready to go for the rest of the tour which brought us into the center of the city to see some of the squares and cute streets and the Tivloi park which I believe is quite famous. Then we took a short trip to Roskilde which was the former capital city of Denmark. We intended to visit the Viking Ship Museum there, but we must have just missed it closing at 5. However, there was a park outside with a lot of boats that we were able to visit, so that was good to see. Roskilde was situated on a really beautiful fijord, and it was just a really realxing, peaceful setting with nice neighborhoods, and a cool old town. Writing about it now makes me want to go back so badly! We walked up to the cathedral where the Danish kings and queens are buried with a Slovakian and a Canadian friend we met at the Viking boats or I guess I should say IN the viking boats because they were actually climbing up inside of them...haha. We went out for a coffee afterwards, and they left early to go attend to some magic mushrooms they were growing in their apartment. They were really quite funny. We left Roskilde and took the train back to Copenhagen. We ate dinner (I for once in my life actually wasn't hungry so I decided to save some cash by not eating) at a really nice cafe/restaurant in the hippie district. Sara and Molly both really enjoyed their food...which was good, because it was so expensive! But it was a really great atmosphere, and they had the most beautiful picture on the wall of a woman surrounded by glass bottles. I wish I would have taken a picture of it, I was just that intrigued by it. Sara and Molly decided to turn in, but I wanted to go out because it was Saturday night. So I set off alone towards the center of town looking quite windtosseled and not very good I must admit! The streets of Copenhagen are quite different by night. Where I was walking was one huge wild party; music blared from open apartment windows on both sides of the narrow streets and there were clubs and bars everywhere. Plenty of people walking around and having a good time. It was a nice way to get in the party mood! I found my way to a bar we had passed earlier called, 'Central Hjornet' or something like that. It was absolutely full to the brim of old guys...I was thinking about leaving, but didn't really have anywhere else to go, and figured I would set a beer limit (3 Carlsbergs) if it was boring and go home. Well, it wasn't boring, as most bars filled with old guys tend to be when you are 20...And when everyone found out I was American and not in fact, Swedish it was rather funny. Well a creepy old guy who told me that 'He could keep me warm' since I had expressed that I was cold also started following me around. I decided to save my life, and fled to a table of two younger guys by the door...asked them if they spoke German or English, and just ended up talking to them after asking for help. We didn't stay there that long, and they invited me out with them! It was so nice of Emil and Kristoffer to not only save me from the creepy Swedish guy from Malmö, but to actually take me out? So awesome. I was really glad I ran into them at this point...we went to about 4 bars after that one including one that was modelled after a jail cell. It was really funny...Anyway, just had a great time with them that night, and just want to say thanks again. The next day we did the museum thing...incredible I surived because I only had about an hours worth of sleep, but I was surprisingly energetic after a shower and thouroughly enjoyed everything we saw. After visiting the primary art gallery in Copenhagen we left and walked back to the center of the city. Found a nice castle/garden area, and we also went to the Round Tower which I think is the oldest astronomy tower in Europe and apparently Tycho Brahe was active there. We went back to the hostel, to pick up our stuff, but also got a slurpee from 7-11 as a nice little finishing touch!

Next is April! What happened in April? I honestly don't know...Let's check facebook photos to see...Aha! See, what did I say about the bad memory? Well in April, Corinna and Haiko took me to a hockey game in Bad Tölz with Robin and Emily when they heard I liked hockey. That was really great, and what an energetic crowd! I was surpised to see such crazy Germans...But it was a nice bloody match, and I love those! It was played by the Tölzer Löwen (Tölz Lions) and they won against Baden Wurtenberg by quite a lot. It rocked! Haiko also took me to the FC Bayern soccer games twice, and I really really need to think of something to do with him and Corinna now because they have shown me a great time already!

I also drove to Paris with Ralph as part of a business trip for Matthias because I thought I might not visit since I felt I had learned everything there is to know about it from 4 years of Francais. It actually turned into quite the ordeal. We left at 5:30AM on a Friday or Saturday and returned exactly at 5:30 AM the next day. The French countryside was really pretty...we drove through Reims and saw the cathedral but other than that the drive there was largely very uneventful. An interesting French woman at the gas station who told me my 'cafe noir' should be ordered as a 'cafe americain' oops. Poor Ralph asked if she spoke German or Spanish and was answered with a very firm 'Non.' Quite funny! But back to the coffee ordering, I've heard the same thing in Munich...people expect you to know if they serve their coffee with an espresso machine (thus creating an americano - espresso and water) or if they have a brewed coffee, like in the states, which is then a 'Schwarzer Kaffe' or a normal black coffee. Funny how snobby some people can be about it (because I know that they know exactly what I mean!) But usually I have only met the most polite and friendly of Europeans...I just want to tell the people that describe them as rude to get some social skills and manners. It's not very difficult! Anyway, sorry for the sidetracked coffee story...There were some pretty villages on the German side of the drive but that was about it. It took about 10 hours to get there, and we kind of skirted around the edge on the north side of Paris. We saw the Sacre Coeur from the other side and drove by the football stadium. We went to a suburb called Genvilliers (I think that's how it's spelled...) and dropped off the camera equipment for Matthias after a struggle with the fasteners (Ralph and I together are really interesting becuase we are really similar...kind of airheads to be honest! Especially when it comes to technical things. Tres Blonde!) After that I wanted to go into the city and grab dinner, because again, I wasn't sure I would ever see Paris again. Ralph wasn't so keen on the idea. Luckily the Portugese film guy asked what we were going to do in the city, and when Ralph told him we were leaving his eyes got really big and he said, 'but you must see Paris while you are here! It's the most beautiful city in the world! C'est Paris!' I think it helped convince Ralph, so he reluctantly agreed to try and grab dinner somewhere. Ralph was still driving, and made it quite interesting because he wasn't really listening to the navigation system. The traffic was terrible...But somehow we made it to the center of town, and pretty much saw all of the big monuments! It was crazy. It took us about 2 hours to drive from one end of town to the other. It wasn't helped by the fact that the Olympic torch protest was being staged on a neighboring street in the Latin quarter as we drove through. Funny though, because we were driving really close to the apartment that Sara would be staying in with her family later when we visited Paris. I recognized the church near her apartment as one Ralph and I had passed by when I went back to Paris instantly. We finally found a parking garage, so we went down into it, but the car wouldn't fit...So we just decided to bail from the city and head back to München. We finally made our way to the other side of Paris (and we literally saw everything on our little road trip) just in time to hit the countryside for some beautiful scenery and a beautiful sunset over the hills. Nothing happened on that last miserable 10 hours with the exception that the car almost collided with a wild boar that was going across the highway. I cannot even describe to you how awful it was to have been in the car for 24 straight hours! AHH...I was going crazy and was in the worst mood when we finally arrived in München at, what time? Exactly 5:30. Still had to drive back to Holzkirchen, so that last little bit in the car was torture. Needless to say, (I think I've already spoiled the secret) but after seeing Paris just from the car window I fell in love. I couldn't believe Paris hadn't been next on my travel list after seeing it! It was quite funny because I couldn't stop talking about France for about an hour after we left Paris. I was in love.

The only other thing that happened in April was going to the Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival) in Munich with my Czech friends, Alena, Eli, and Jacob. We met up with some more friends of theirs in town at the beer tent. I really love all of my Czech/Slovakian friends. They are just great. I was pretty faded after finishing my 3rd of so Maß of beer (those are those huge liter-sized beers you think of when you see Oktoberfest stuff) and went into my 'drunk evasion mode' where I for some reason decide I am too drunk to be seen in public, and try to leave! So I tried to escape everyone by the SBahn claiming 'Ich bin zu besorfen!' (I'm too drunk!) but they made me stay on till the next bar. Good thing, because we had a great time, and after a coffee I was feeling great. I still need to visit Alena...she left a few months ago to go back home. And what a great person, she is definitely the best friend I made here. I think I already gushed about her previously? Sorry if I did it again, but she's just that great. Let's keep a running list here, shall we? So 1st I must do something cool with Corinna, Haiko, Kathi, and Ralph and 2nd I have to visit Alena in Tabor. Great.

I think I'll just start a new blog entry for the month of May because there was a lot that happened! And I think I will also actually proofread this time, I don't think I did that with the other one.

Ciao ciao from Monaco di Baveria,
Sean