YaSU

YaSu from Athens!

I have arrived to my long awaited destination of Athens! Of course we could not get to Athens without some mishaps on the way (not being able to find my bus pass- or our apartments in Greece- then I couldn't open the door)

There is a story there- opening doors in Europe:

I have noticed, as has Cait and Kirsten, that the doors in Europe are fashioned in a much different way than they are in the U.S.

For example: in Paris it took us 10 minutes to figure out that the door to get into our apartment was indeed a push, not a pull ( we were very close to getting the police to help us in)

Now in Athens I- along with my two hall mates (Chris and Max) had trouble with our apartment doors. After we all climbed up the slick marble staircase to our apartments, it took us a good 15 minutes to unlock out doors! You turn the keys both clockwise for four clicks on the dead bolt and another four clicks on the door lock until it finally opens. My roommate Megan (who arrived at a different time that we did) spent a good 30 minutes at our door (she later confessed) until a neighbor of ours came out into the hallway to help her and as a good bye she kissed her on the cheeks and forehead. Oh and the neighbor also thinks that Megan is pronounced "Michael."

Anyways enough with doors- lets talk about my windows of my apartment! I live with four other girls in a spacious apartment that is a 2 minute walk from my college. I am in a double with Megan that contains two desks, beds, a large closet and our very own balcony!

Tonight we had our SJU apartment neighbors over for dinner. We made spaghetti (it's cheap) with garlic bread and some red wine. I also had bought some sardines (everyone refused to eat them but I did!) along with this greek desert that tasted like applesauce...

All in all it has been a very good couple days in Athens- tomorrow we will be doing some city exploring and we have an orientation dinner.

Till then Avrio!

Photos of London

Our first day in London- I had to do a photo in the phone booth with St. Steven's Tower (Big Ben is the Bell of the tower) in the back ground

on the London streets

our first night at the amazing pizza restaurant with our Canadian waitress- also they had student beer specials, 3.20 Euro Messin Beer!

photo of our table

First look at the Tower Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral

At Oneil's the second night

Westminister Abbey

Shakespears Globe Theatre

Millenium Bridge

The London Eye

On our boat cruise of the Thames- our look out at the Tower Bridge

It says "St. Thomas Tower" than below it reads "Traiters Gate" (that is for you Tom haha)

Where we spent a majority of our time- the metro"Tube"

By the London Dungeon- reading the information

Celebrating our last night in London at Oneil's Pub in China town of London with the other SJU boys

A quick update

So I have been traveling for the past six days from London to Paris now to Barcelona! I have learned the ins and outs of the metro, how to ask for directions when you are lost (which happens a lot, suprising right?), where to get cheap wine, how make a meal out of anything- for example one night in Paris we had bread with butter, some hummus like spread, a head of lettace, and some carrots.

I have had a lot of amazing experiences and I have learned so much- in London I was able to go on a tour walking to the Buckingham palace, St. James park, and Westminister Abbey. Our tour guide was a whitty old man who would shout out questions at us during the tour, expecting us to know the answer such as- "What was the Queen Elizabeth of Scotland's first language?!" (It was French by the way) The tour proved to be highly informative and thoughouly enjoyable- something I will never forget!

In London we saw everything that we could see from the Tower of London, to the Chuch of Saint Peter, Tate Modern museum, Platform 9 3/4, National Portrait Gallery, the night life of Picadilly Circus... and so much more that I will have to list it all later! The one site that sticks out the most for me would have to be going to O'neil's pub in the China town of London and listening to a live band with people of all different cultures and languages coming together to enjoy the good sounds!

In Paris we were able to see all of the museums that we could within two days such as the Louve- Orsay- National Museum of Armories, Notre Dame Archeological Crypt, Musem of the Arc de Triumph along with the main sites of Paris such as the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Craer, Notre Dame, Luxemburg gardens, walk down the Champs Elisee, the Opera of Paris, Hotel de Invalides, the Tomb of Napolean, the Pantheon, and so much more! We also had the opportunity to sit in a traditional street side restaurant, order some fish eggs and just people watch.

One of our nights in Paris we purchased a bottle of wine and some cigarrette looking cookies and just sat in from of the Eiffel Tower and watched it shimmer into the night- (until we were kicked off the grass!). Funny thing is, we found out later that night, is that at that same time there were other CSB/SJU students at the Eiffel Tower as well!
In the wee hours of the morning of our last day in Paris we had to first catch the metro to then catch our bus to get to the airport for our flight at 8:15am. Not only was it raining for our walk to the metro but we also went to the station to catch the RER (which is a special train not at all metro stations) about 10 blocks away instead of the one right down our street when in hindsight we could have just went to our metro.

Then we weren't sure what train we should catch  (since none of us could read french) and since it was at the opening of the metro there was no one at the info desk so Caitlin pushed what she thought was the intercom for help- except it was the ALARM!

So at 5:20am in the morning we were the only three people down in the metro station, flustered from not sure as to where to go with an alarm going off through out the station! We finally purchased our tickets hoping they were the right ones and went down to meet the train.

Now to add to our stress the train didn't come till 6:05am and we needed to be at the airport by 6:15am. We went back in forth as to should we get a taxi- should we stay and hope we get there?

All in all we made it to the airport by 6:50am and made it to our flight with much time to spare! It was a memorable experience that I hope I will never have to go through again!

Lesson learned:
Always expect something to go wrong (you just have to) but have a second option in place.

Till then,  Au revoir!

Hola

Hola from Barcelona!

I am sitting right now in the common area of my hostel with sleep in my eyes and a very content stomach (my hostel provides an amazing breakfast). It is Sunday morning and I am dressed for church to go to the Gothic Cathedral mass in the Catalan language.

So far in Barcelona we have had some grand adventrures- hiking to the '92 Olympic Stadium, walking the beautiful beaches, viewing the Sangria Familia along with other works of the inspiring Antonio Gaudi, and going to a hole in the wall restaurant ordering the famous dish of Spain the Paella- which is a big sauce pan of rice, vegetables, a secret sauce, with shrimp, calamari, and mussels. Cait, Kirsten, Brandon (another traveler), and I ordered one to share and we all loved it and ate every single bite!

Today we are going to enjoy our last day at the beach with a bottle of Sangria and some fresh fruit- I am soo excited! We have been walking everywhere and doing so much that we have decided we need some good relaxation before we start school tomorrow (!)

Well I hope that I have given you all a taste of what I have experience so far but I will leave you with one final story ( I hope I don't scare you mom)

We rode the metro last night to go to the "Magic Fountain Show" (sounds kinda lame but it was quite amazing!) On our way back to our neighborhood (the Gothic Center) of Barcelona we witnessed two pick pocketers- one succeeding in stealing a man's money and the other one narrowly excaping when caught in his attempt. It definately made us all nervous for the rest of the night but not enought to enoy it!

Again I hope you all are having a wonderful time in America and that I hear about all of your adventures soon enough!

Adios

The blogging beginning

The count down is nearing the single digits with only 11 days to go. I still have a mess in my room- luggage, my passport, notebooks, and clothes strewn all over the floor. My sister  has meticuloulsy gone through my packed wardrobe asking, "your bringing this?" or "why don't you bring this?" My mother, on the other hand, takes a different approach in quizzing my preparation with her first and last words of each day, "have you made your itinerary for your travels yet?" While my father remains a silent statue, offering only an understanding glance my way. My dog, at her ripe old age of 12 years or 84 dog years, is slowly fading away and I am a little nervous that when I return, she won't be there... On the bright side I have been constanty sifting through all of the travel books, blogs, websites for traveling tips and suggestions and I believe that I will be ready, just give me my week to prepare! Well, this blog is a part of my assignment for my study abroad program so I hope that I can accurately relay all of my experiences in Megan's Storie d'europa