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

The Adventures of S. S. Forrester

I need to write. Writing is expression, writing is art, and writing is healthy. But most of all, I need to start writing because my memory is absolute crap! And I've realized lately how much I have changed; how much the past years of my life have affected me. I can't believe how many beautiful and ugly things I have seen in the past two years, and how much growing up I have had to do. So in a nutshell, I would really like to be able to have a way to look back on these experiences. This also seems like a great way for my friends and family to be able to check in on me every so often since I am still away from home, and tend not to talk about all the crazy stuff that's been happening in my life unless directly asked.

So I begin!

For this first entry, I think I would just like to recap my experiences in Europe. München (Munich) is awesome - but it took me a long time to appreciate it. Something that I think is really cool because it has been a constant new discovery and kept me on my toes. I also love the Bavarian culture, and I'm so grateful to have lived in the heart of bavaria. When I'm around true Bavarians I am always laughing...there is always some strange new word to learn in the Bavarian dialect, or some crazy tradition to participate in. My neighbors have been really great and have supported me the entire (and sometimes rocky!) time I have been learning Deutsch (German). What a crazy language...and for those of you who I haven't talked to, the Bavarian dialect is really quite different from standard 'Hochdeutsch'. Most northern Germans have a hard time or cannot understand Bavarians. However, I'm getting tired of living in the country, and cosmopolitan München is just a 30 minute train (or car...but gas is so expensive!) ride away but it's just not doing it for me. I want to live in München and be closer to my friends, be closer to all of the crazy events, and just experience a more city-centered lifestyle! However, I'm still learning things from staying here...important things too, but it can be frustrating.

Well now that you have an idea of where I am now, I'm trying to think of a way to frame my Europe recap. Maybe just a month by month deal? Let's try that.

January: I arrived on the 1st which seemed rather metaphorical....brand new start. It was after a teary goodbye at Old Chicago with all of the yard house kids. It was really sweet...Mike didn't charge me a thing which was cool too...I should have had more than two beers! I met with Rissa, Heidi, and Sarah the day of my departure at Yard House and we had a nice lunch (courtesy of Yard Bucks). Then I said goodbye, and drove my poor car one last time back home. Poor Betsy (my car) was totaled just 2 weeks earlier by a plow truck on the way to Adam's house with Kayla. By this time, she was definitely limping on the roads too! Anyway - After a very very long plane trip with a layover in Frankfurt, and sitting next to a very large, very smelly man, I landed in München nervous as could be. Matthias picked me up with the kids, Robin and Emily, from the airport and we drove back to the house. They made me a really nice 'Herzlichen Wilkommen Sean' sign, which I would really like to take back with me, but it's rather large and is made of wood. I think the kids were impressed by my cello case which is the blue/green of a 1950's fridge. We came to the house, (I was so impressed with Holzkirchen and the little German charm to the buildings as we drove through) and it was snowing, the christmas tree was out...just very cozy. I felt comfortable right away. All I can really remember from the first week was Jet Lag. I was tired by 6PM every night! Really annoying...but we went to Tegernsee which is a really beautiful lake nearby close to some mountains. We went sledding German style (which I guess is more of a tobaggan) on one of the mountains there. It was really great...however, I broke my sled! Oh no! Of course, my family is great and they didn't care. The kids still joke with me about it though...It was a great way to break the ice with the kids, and get to know each other. As far as language went, I could barely speak or understand anything. Really amazing how far I have come! I also met Kathi and Ralph who were really nice. 'Welcome in Germany!' We set of a few fireworks one of the nights, and I also got to drive the smart car around a bit, which I loved.

February: Was getting a lot more settled in, and getting used to everything. I visited Bad Tölz, a really nice town about 10 minutes away, and started to be a little more independant. Fasching is a big holiday here which you typically celebrate in costume. It's almost like Halloween but spread out a lot longer. We took our first ski trip with Conrad, and his girlfriend. Not very far away is Söll ski resort in Österreich (Austria). We went there, and had a good time. I'm sure it was very amusing for everyone seeing me try to get my snowboarding legs back. It was just a small trip, but nice practice for our actual vacation to Italy. We went to a town in northern Italy called San Cassiano for 5 days (it was a lot of skiing...). We stayed at a great hotel called 'Luch d'a P'cei' or something similar to that. Our village was located in the former area of Germany so everyone in this part of Italy can still speak good German. It was fun to hear Italian everywhere...such a fun language. There is also a strange mixed dialect in this area which was interesting to hear. We had a delicious breakfast at the hotel every morning, followed by skiing. Then we would break for lunch at a ski hut, and ski some more until we would come home for showers. Then at night we would walk into the village and get some dinner. All of this was in the fabulous Dolomite mountains. The ski resort we were at is actually the largest single resort in the world and is made up of 10 individual resorts that are all connected. Our resort was 'alta badia' but the entire resort is called 'Super Dolimiti'. Really awesome place.

March: I believe it was in March that I made my first visit to Molly in Regensburg and became more acquainted with München as well. I began hanging out with Alena who became a really great friend of mine from Prague. I was lucky to be friends with such a cool girl...and also lucky because we could only communicate in German. It helped so much, and was awesome practice...it really was because of her that I got my 'german legs'. Regensburg is an extremely gorgeous city that was made rich through the salt trade. My dorm in college was called SHIP 'Smith Hall International Program' and I had a friend that was studying in this town, so I decided to come visit. Turns out there were 3 SHIP kids studying in Regensburg and on my first visit I met up with them all and Molly gave me a really nice tour of the city. We went out that night, and I caught my train back at 12...I also met Sara, someone I would end up becoming really good friends with and would travel with a lot. The first visit to Regensburg was really nice, and opened my eyes to a lot of cool things, and I met some really great people. I think I ended up going to Regensburg to visit probably about 5 times. As a matter of fact, I'll be going this weekend to see Sara and Molly one last time before they leave. Really looking forward to it, as it is always really great. (I think I've said 'Regensburg is really great' about 18 times already...haha, sorry!) I visited Schloss Herrenchiemsee on Lake Chiemsee with Matthias, Robi, and Emi. It was really gorgeous and is modelled after Versailles. The flyer said that Herrenchiemsee is actually 'more ornate' than Versailles. I couldn't believe it until I actually visited Versailles (probably the world's biggest tourist freak-zone of all time).

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.

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.

April: