PRG to CLE

I'm sitting here drinking my millionth coffee and reflecting on the eve of my departure. Seriously, WHERE did the time go? August 7th seems like some obscure dream I had last night, but somehow three seasons, seven countries and a ridiculous amount of fun has been squeezed into 4 and a half short months.

Yanni said it best:
"We wake up like it's Christmas, we eat like it's Thanksgiving, and we party like it's summer."

The best four months of my life, without a doubt. I am so incredibly fortunate to have seen some of the most beautiful places in the world. The thing that makes me even happier is that there are still about a zillion more to see. I've eaten the best dinners, lunches, desserts from amazing hole-in-the-wall restaurants. So many different types of cuisine too, from fresh Italian seafood to phad-Thai that was so good I wanted to cry. I beg Ohio to please expand their culinary tastes.

I've had so much access to the most amazing arts and culture as well. I've seen REAL Monet's and Warhol's, and even the overrated Mona Lisa!

The art exhibits I was able to see this semester are:

Decadence Now!-A controversial modern art exhibit that focuses on the "excesses" of society: pain, self, sex, and death. Definitely weird and cool at the same time.

Monet-Warhol- An exhibit that had (in my inexperienced opinion) some of the best modern artists in the world! Monet, Warhol, Magritte, Miro. Plus, it was awesome that I could see what I was learning about in my 20th Century art class in real life.

Mucha Museum- Alfons Mucha became one of my favorite artists after I went to this gallery. He is an absolutely amazing art nouveau Czech painter. So what if I spent $30 on a poster of Clair De Lune?

I went to a beautiful ballet at the national theater, which is basically moving art. On the other end of the spectrum, I went the see the number one DJ in the world, Tiesto. Though the man is a magician, the crowd was far from moving art, but listening to his remix of "Pursuit of Happiness" was life changing.

The Christmas tree lighting in Old Town Square was completely beautiful. An enormous, decorated tree surrounded by an adorable Christmas market? Yes, please!

Oh yea, the laughing. I don't know if you could have picked a more random group of individuals to share a building, but somehow the mix worked out perfectly and we have become a family. Countless jokes and some great family dinners in Prague OSM (and on boats and fancy restaurants) have made the semester even better. Chapeau, Karlovy, Rad-host with these kids...priceless.  Many more times in The Cottage ahead for us.

Prague has my heart. It really is the most beautiful city I've ever seen, with its castle, old architecture and cobble-stone streets. I will miss it severely.

Now its back to Cleveland to be with the people I love so much, and then to Ashland to have fun and graduate and eventually do big girl things. Of course, I'll be back to traveling as soon as possible.

"Stories yet to unfold, tales that must be retold."

Italia, In A Few Words

It's finals week(s) around here and I am completely sick of writing essays, so I am just going to use many random words to describe my 5 days in Italy. We stayed in Vernazza, Cinque Terre, but also visited the other villages, Monterosso Al Mare, Riomaggiore, Corniglia, and Manorola. We also made trips to Florence, Pisa, and Levanto.

I know this is a selfish way to document things and it will only make sense to the people who were on the trip, but hopefully you'll get the gist of it.

Italy was:

Beautiful

Sunshine

FOOD (the best food in the world)

Turquoise Water

Rugged Coasts

Wine

Waves

Tagame

Surfers

Renaissance Art

Shopping

Modern Art

Pesto 

Warm (people and weather)

Leaning Towers

Architecture

Leather

Cappuccino

Sunset

Beaches

Cannoli

Hiking

Luxury

Seafood

Laughter

Relaxation

Views, everywhere.

Pastries

The two best words would be Breathtaking and Delicious.

Go there.

Home, Second Home

Well...I suck.


I've been so bad about updating this thing regularly. Better late than never, I guess. Now, I must take the time to record my absolutely wonderful fall break in my motherland, Makedonija.


Prepare for the World's longest post.


I got on the my plane on October 22 and made the easy flight to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, in about 7 hours (including a 5 hour layover in Budapest). The happy/excited feeling I had when we were landing is indescribable, it really felt like I was going back to a home I was comfortable with and I couldn't wait to be with my family. Practically running off the plane, I made my way out of Alexander the Great Airport (cheeky name!) and saw Teta(Aunt) Gorde in the middle of everyone waiting for me. Imagine those cheesy movie scenes where reunited loved ones run towards each other and end up hugging and crying. That's exactly what happened. Tetin(Uncle) Zoran was also kind enough to pick me up and we all piled in the car and made our way through the beautiful mountains back to Ohrid. The four hour journey seemed to fly by because Teta and I were preoccupied with catching up on each others lives from the past 5 and a half years.

When we got to Ohrid, more tearful hellos and hugs ensued. Seeing Dedo (Grandpa) Dimitri and Baba(Grandma) Vesa was just amazing. Then, the feasting began! Everyone sat down for a big family meal that consisted of the world's biggest komat/zelneek and the best. If you haven't tried zelneek, it's something you must do in your lifetime and for best results, go to my Baba Vesa's. SO good, especially with the homemade yogurt that you drink with it. We spent the next couple hours laughing and finding out what everyone had been up to. It was awesome; it felt like I had never left. At about 10 pm I couldn't stay  awake any longer because those dang mid-terms kept me up for two days straight, so I passed out immediately in the cozy room Baba had set up for me and didn't wake up until noon the next day.

I woke up to a beautiful, sunny day and as I made my way to the kitchen, the smell of coffee and graf(a type of traditional Macedonian stew) simmering on the wood-burning stove. That made my morning even better. I spent the morning hanging out with Baba and Dedo, drinking my coffee with Baba, and eating tuloombi (yummy pastries). Around one, my cousin Naumche came and got me and took me around the spectacular sights of Ohrid. We spent the day walking around the lake, drinking coffee, and visiting the many churches that Ohrid has. The city prides itself on the the fact that it has 365 churches; one for everyday of the year. We hiked up to Sv. Kamil, which is an ancient little church that is built on one of coastal cliffs, so the views are breathtaking. After that, we went through the lovely old town and made our way back to Baba and Dedo's for our dinner of graf and homemade bread. Later on that night, I went out with Naumche and Aniti to the coolest small-scale club. The DJ that was playing at first was the best one I've heard in a long time. He looked really young though, so I asked Anitche how old he was and she said, "Sixteen, seriously." Crazy! After the teenage DJ was done, this really talented band started playing covers of popular Yugoslavian songs. All in all, a great night out that I didn't expect from this calm, lakeside city!

Sunday, Naumche and I went to a semi-pro football match, and let me tell you, I have never had more entertaining commentary of a sporting event . It was Ohrid against some other sorry team and the fans made it clear who was dominant, but in reality, they trash-talked their home team just as much as the opposing one. So many threats and profanities flying around, it was extremely difficult keeping a straight face when I was one of the three girls in the entire stadium. That night, we made the uphill trek to Plasnik, an archaeological site with ruins from the 12th century and Sv. Pantelion, a beautiful church that was built in the 1400's. We went to Samuel's Fortess, also called "The crown of Ohrid" and were accompanied by a darling little mutt who followed us around for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, I went to my mama's hometown, Bitola and stayed with my awesome cousins, Chechko (not dedo!) Lupche, Teta Zora, Ana, and Goce. Of course, I had an excellent meal waiting for me and we spent the night talking, relaxing and laughing. The next day Ana and I went out to the downtown area of the city. She showed me the countless cozy cafes and bars that  Bitola is known for. After a cappuccino or two, we went back to the house for some Bitola-style lasagna (it was good!) and then it was time for me to return to Ohrid. I saw my first snow of the season when we were driving back, it rested on the huge mountains and looked better than any Christmas card.

My last day in Ohrid was very bittersweet. I adored my family and was having the best time with them, but I did not want to say bye until who-knows-when. Following Macedonian procedure, my Baba and TetaKOMAT for me to devour and honey cake for dessert. The evening was spent reminiscing, planning trips to visit each other, and as usual, laughing until we cried. I got up early, like 8AM, the next morning and said goodbye to them. It was heartbreaking, especially saying goodbye to my amazing baba and dedo. We need to visit them ASAP.

I boarded the bus and commenced the 4 hour journey to Skopje, to spend my last day in Macedonia, with my cousins, Bojan and Milena. I know bus doesn't sound like the most ideal way to travel for four hours, but when you have the stunningly beautiful country of your heritage to ogle at, it goes by pretty fast. I arrived in Skopje before I knew it and set about searching for Milena. Thing thing is, I had never met them until that day and was only friends with Bojan on Facebook, and me being the smartie I am, did not think to ask what Milena looked like…opps. So, I figured to looked for someone tall and light-featured like Bojan right? Well, imagine my surprise when a petite, dark-haired girl came up and cautiously asked, "Bile?" Jackpot!! Turns out that Bojan and Milena were always meant to be my best friends, its just unfortunate that we had to wait 20 years and be separated by a big ocean when we finally met. In that one day, we probably had about 3,8787 inside jokes. They also introduced me to their awesome friends. We went out to eat, went to a couple different bars and ended up seeing yet another amazing Macedonian rock band. Picture Kings of Leon meets the Foo Fighters Macedonian-style. SO talented. We just stayed up the whole night and they and their wonderful father (who made me bomb palachinky) drove me to the airport. Hugs and kisses all around and then it was back to the PRG for me.

Might be one of the best breaks ever. I miss them all. Amen.

Carpe Noctem

Budapest, Hungary. One of the best weekends EVER! We got there last Friday via train and stepped out into a whole new world. Though we had just spent the last few months living in Europe, Budapest just seemed so much more Eastern than what we were used to, which only added to the fun. Everything was made to look old and the streets were a tad bit seedy, but that just added to this old city's character. Our hostel was called the Carpe Noctem Penthouse, a place I highly recommend staying if you're ever in the neighborhood. It's this amazing hostel run by a bunch of Australian/English dudes and everyone is chill and outgoing. Once we settled into our 10 bed dorm, we went out to explore the city, which was originally two different cities, Buda and Pest (pronounced peSHt).

We went across the Duna River and admired the beautiful cliffs covered in trees changing color, then went up to the Buda castle. Next, we went to St. Steven's Basilica which was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen, everything was marble and gold and the details were incredible. It was done in neo-gothic, neo-renaissance, and neo-baroque style, so it was a fairly new Catholic church. Then we went to a traditional Hungarian restaurant called Kiado where the food was absolutely amazing. I had pumpkin creme soup that was to die for and everything was really affordable because Hungary isn't on the Euro yet. Our hostel arranges pub crawls for the travelers every night and by the time we got back it was time to go. They were doing a jagerbomb train that consisted of 350 bombs; Yanni and Sturtz ended up doing ten each and having their named carved into one of the tables. It was also open mic night and coincidentally, almost all the guys there could play some kind of instrument. We had the best time rocking out and listen to these really talented people play great music and even some of their own songs. There was also a moment when we had a great, big group hug between the Praha '10 kids, while the lyrics went along the lines of "I'm so glad I didn't die before I met you." Amazing night.

The next day, we went out to the Turkish Baths that Hungary is famous for. Hungary is full of natural hot water springs and the Turks took advantage of this when they occupied the country and the spas stayed even after the Turks left. It was like a water park for grown ups and everything was the temperature of a hot tub. There were about five indoor pools and three enormous outdoor pools. One of the outdoor ones had a whirl pool and it definitely brought out our inner five year olds. There were also different saunas, including an aromatherapy one which was made the air smell like mint and a super hot one which tried to roast you. After that we tried to go eat at a Thai-Hungarian restaurant, but ending up walking out after waiting two hours to be served. That night, our hostel took us out yet again, but Kayla and I ended up getting lost and eating too much bad food. It was also freezing, and unfortunately the quickest way to get home was a cab. The guy circled the block about five times, all while we were saying "This is the opposite direction we're supposed to be going," and "Yea, this guy is definitely trying to rip us off." He finally dropped us off after he racked the bill up to $15 and it turns out that we were only a half mile away from our hostel from where we started. Never use a taxi if you can help it.

Sunday was our last day in Budapest, so we went on an excellent walking tour and got some history of the city. We came across some hippies playing the Hang, a steel drum-type instrument that sounds like what you would hear if you were walking into heaven. Our last meal consisted of the best falafel I've had in my life from this local restaurant called The Hummus Bar. It was stuffed with perfect falafel, fresh vegetables, and spices that kept you full for hours. I'm so sad that it is only in Hungary; I'm even considering asking them to mail me some regularly. After that we just hung out at the hostel, shared stories with travelers and went to bed because we woke up at 5 AM to see the Great Market (which ended up being exactly like the West Side Market in Cleveland) and catch our train home.

I Wanna Knowww If You'd Be My Girl...Oktoberfest!

Liter beers, food as big as my head, costumes, and huge arenas that they like to call "tents" is just part of the fun that ensues when you attend the largest festival in the world, Oktoberfest. What makes it even more exciting is that we were at THE original site in Munich, Germany.


We left last Thursday bright and early, taking a six hour train ride that allowed us to see the beautiful Czech and German country side while sipping some tasty cappuccino and making friends with the people in our compartment. Immediately after getting of the train, we see mini-kegs haphazardly piled on various garbage cans in the station...welcome to Germany. Our hostel was a ten minutes walk from there and although it was nice that we had four beds with actual mattresses, it was not nice that seven of us had to find a way to fit onto them. Seeing as we had limited time in Munich (We were leaving the next day at 5PM) we didn't waste anytime finding the festival. We walked about two minutes out of our hostel and were there.


I don't think anything could have prepared me for the joyful madness that is Oktoberfest. Imagine the biggest state fair you can, complete with rides, carnival food(but BETTER!), and games. Add in thousands upon thousands of people, most dressed as beer-maids(for the girls) and lederhosen(sooo many good-looking men in leather pants!), and most of them intoxicated. We walked into a couple beer tents hoping in vain that we would find a seat. My first reaction was to smile and laugh at the insanity that was inside. Ten thousand people singing and swinging their enormous beers around, having the time of their lives. Us girls were surveyed like pieces of meat as we tried to maneuver our way through the cramped aisles. After this happened through five tents, we gave up trying to find seats. Just as we were about to leave, we spotted a carousel serving beer to people without having to be seated. Everyone got their first Oktoberfest beer and though I wasn't feeling well, it would have been blasphemy to attend and not have one; it actually was pretty good! We met a nice German couple who told us that it was actually really quiet for Oktoberfest and i was in disbelief! I was coming down with a fever and sore throat after that and couldn't stay any longer, so I had to go back to the hostel at try to sleep my cold away. =(


The next morning, we woke up at 7 am to ensure that we got a spot at our choice tent, The Hofbrau House. We got there at 9 and there was still a decent sized line waiting to get in. The doors opened at ten and the fun began! We sat down at a table with some nice German lads and everyone else ordered their beer. Kayla and I also split a mushroom dumpling which was a complete waste of $20. Soon, the band was playing and the singing began! Ten thousand people chanting and singing songs from "West Virginia" to patriotic German songs. We stayed in there for hours and even though I was completely sober, I had the time of my life and plan on going back as often as I can!

Bustacrymes@gmail.com

We went to Vienna, Austria this past weekend. It had some of the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen and we had a blast! When we first arrived, we checked into our hostel and were immediately impressed with the fact that we had beds. I'm not joking. It was bliss laying on those things compared to the cots that we sleep on in our flat. We set out to scavenge for food and found a really great Austrian restaurant with excellent veggie chili. I also tried peach wine for the first time and it was to die for. Later, we walked down Vienna's very cosmopolitan shopping district to their capital buildings, which were very ornate and elegant. I did my research before we went out that night and Lonely Planet told me that Flex was the best place to dance in the city. Well, maybe it was to the locals, but it definitely wasn't what we were used to. It was grungy, dark and no one was dancing. When I almost fell on a guy in a wheelchair in the middle of the dance floor, we took that as our cue to leave.


The next day we got up and walked to a local brewery for lunch and I had the most unhealthy meal of my life; which consisted of spinach gnocchi baked with 34 pounds of cream and cheese. It was delicious nonetheless. Next, we came across a harvest festival by the Hofburg palace, with all the best food and drink from the region on display. We visited the city hall and St. Stephan's Cathedral as well. After that we stumbled upon a playground on our way to the Schönbrunn Palace, which may have been one of the best parts of the trip! An hour later, we made it to the actual palace and it was massive and wonderful, with more land than we could imagine. The palace had many acres of manicured gardens, a maze, a huge statue of Neptune, a huge Romanesque restaurant, plus much more. We attempted to visit a graveyard with 2.5 million people buried in it but by the time we got there, it was closed. By this point we were starving and it was getting close to ten o'clock, so we checked to see if the Austrian restaurant near our hostel was open. As we were looking at the menu, the sweetest-looking Austrian grandma came out to greet us. "Are you hungry?" she asked and we eagerly nodded our heads. "Okay, I feed you. Come in!" It was an amazing experience because she was so kind and sat down and talked to us about how she and her husband have had the restaurant for 24 years and they had thank you notes from people all over the world completely covering their walls. The lentil cream soup and the Vienna-friend mushrooms were delicious, but it was her adorable personality that made the experience memorable. After din-din, we went to the colorful benches in the Museums Quarter where all the youth in the city hung out. It was just our luck that homeless drug-addicts deigned to talk to us! An angry African had some choice words for Yanni because people in Africa spoke English and French, something completely in a Mid-West college kid's control. A Turk born in Macedonia gave great insight into my personality by how I write my name, "You are sometimes positive and sometimes negative," all while inching closer and closer into my personal bubble. The best one would have to be the drunk/high man who was trying to woo Kayla with his amazing pick-up lines ("Do you have wings?") and convincing her that they could make a long-distance relationship work. She politely informed him that she had a boyfriend, but he wouldn't her leave without giving her his email, Bustacrymes@gmail.com, and his Myspace URL. A true Casanova! We made a quick getaway and the rest of our night consisted of unsuccessfully trying to find a decent place to dance and our night ended with falafel and meeting the rest of our group in Mcdonalds.


Sunday, the bus took us back to Prague and I must say that it felt great to be back in a city that is so comfortable to me now. Home sweet home.

Back to School, Back to School

If you couldn't tell, I started school this past week. It went well as far as class is concerned and two of my courses ended up being cancelled! The first class I attended was 20th Century Art and my teacher is an intellectual, white-haired, working artist in Prague. He not only teaches art, but lives it, which makes class extremely interesting. Next, I went to Creative Writing, where the professor is a graduate of Brown and currently researching her next fiction novel. It will probably end up being my favorite class because she puts a lot of emphasis on creativity and making it accessible to readers, so all those random thoughts that I can't mass text from Katy and Rebecca's phone can just be put on paper! She also is recommending some great fiction authors to read. I came from my first Operations Management class a little bit ago. I know it will be very useful, but what's the deal with this homework crap? I was hoping that I would be able to focus more on the "abroad" part of this semester, rather than the "study," but I fear that wont be the case.

Found some great food spots recently! We used our trusty guidebooks to lead us to Beas Vegetarian Restaurant where we poured delicious Indian sauces over rice. I got a little taste of Whole Foods when I went to this Country Life vegan restaurant. I had vegan goulash and it was definitely tasty, plus they gave you free water, a luxury in Europe! Those restaurants were good, but Banditos Mexican Restaurant was one of the best places I've eaten here. I had veggie tacos and everything was fresh, spicy and came with the most amazing salsa in the world. So, the best Mexican food I have ever eaten was in the Czech Republic in a restaurant run by Americans?

Saturday, our group went to Pilsen, Czech Republic, which is considered the birthplace of beer. We climbed up 893,6473 flights of stairs to the top bell tower of the cathedral there, and the view of the city was spectacular. Then, we toured this huge tunnel network underneath the city which people used to store beer in the old days. At the end, we received a free beer, which was good, but I still could only finish half of it. =/

This weekend, we are going to Vienna, Austria! Tres excited!

The Threshold

I have been in Prague for a little over a week now and can't believe how lucky I am to call this city home for the next four months. Last week, our school arranged a tour so we could see some of the many major sights of Prague. We went to the Prague Castle, Monastery, Old Town Square, and Wenceslas Square just to name a few places. It is so historical and I just walked around in awe of how absolutely beautiful everything is. Prague definitely does not get enough credit out there in the world and I urge you to come take a look for yourself. It isn't called "Golden Prague" and "The Mother of Cities" for nothing! There is still tons to explore because the city is divided up into three sections, Old Town, New Town, and Jewish Quarter and there are about a million things to see in each section.

The food here is delicious and most everything is extremely affordable! Traditional Czech food is not vegetarian friendly though, with pork, beef, duck, gravy, and dumplings as the main staples. Also, I think they feel bad that we are missing out on all those calories so they just fry EVERYTHING on the vegetarian menu (cheese, potatoes, cauliflower, etc.) and try to sneak pepperoni on it. At our tour the other day, the vegetarian alternative to eating goulash was fried cheese, with a side of french fries and ranch. Don't get me wrong, it was really good, I would just prefer most of my dining experiences to come sans heart attack.

There is always something to do here, which is quite different from Brunswick and Ashland. The nightlife is incredible and we have only gone to a few places so far. Saturday, we went on a Pub Crawl that only set us back $25 and gave us free drinks and VIP admission to 5 clubs. We totally danced the night away and had the time of our lives. (Side Note: European boys take their dancing seriously and are very forward; very amusing and kinda awesome.) Everyone survived until the end, a rare occurrence from what our adorable tour guide told us, and the last club on the crawl was Karlovy Lanze, the biggest club in central Europe. This place was massive, equipped with 5 floors to dance on and each floor had a music theme to it, such as Black Music (their words, not mine), Oldies, Techno and so on. The bottom dance floor was made of lights that changed colors to the beat, so of course we chose that floor and techno it was! We survived the entire thing, finally got home at 4:30 am and went straight to bed.

I start my first day of school tomorrow! Prague literally means "Threshold" and how fitting that I begin my senior year here =D

Nealko=Tourist

Prague is beautiful!! I got here on Saturday; luckily with no problems. When I arrived, I stayed in the sweetest hotel room ever; imagine a fancy, modern, New York apartment in the middle of downtown Prague. After I spent a day recuperating from 20 hours of train, I went out to explore the city on Sunday. Let me tell you, it is absolutely beautiful and I have only seen a small part of it so far. Everything here looks ancient and antique-y and there is so much history behind it. So far, I have see the enormous National Museum and some cathedral that I'm not exactly sure of the name. We go on tours starting tomorrow, so there will be plentyyyy more sights to write about!

I moved into my apartment yesterday, which is located in a cute, quiet street a little outside the city. It was one other girl and me who moved in first so we got first pick on a room. Of course, we chose the best room in the house, with a balcony surrounded by grape leaves that has an excellent view of the city. As the day went on we met the rest of our roommates, all of whom are really cool and outgoing. We have a maid, sweet little Olga, that comes in everyday and states that we do not clean or wash a thing because she will do it all. She insists, so who am I to stop her?

Today, we went to the Vietnamese marketplace to find huge bowls of authentic veggie noodle soup and have a look at all the shops. The soup was well worth it and the cheap, imported, fake goods were amusing. If you ever need 50-packs of socks, that is the place to go.

For dinner, we attempted to find a place near our apartments and at first went into this seedy, old-man pub which had about two meals options. It felt like I was going to suffocate from all the smoke in there (there are no anti-smoking laws and pretty much everybody here smokes). My roommate, Kayla, decides which beer to order and points to it on the menu. It was called Nealko and to others just followed her and ordered the same. The bartender looked at us puzzled and tried to tell them that they didn't want it, but finally relented and brought back not three, but four beers for the five of us, even though me and one other girl didn't even order anything. Interesting way to make money, I guess. Well, they noticed that something didn't taste right and then we put together that "ne" means no in Czech and "alko" means alcohol, of course. SO, here are five blatantly American tourists, drinking non-alcoholic beer in a hard-core men's bar. We made a quick getaway soon after, but at the very least it was a learning experience.
Then, we found a really great place down the street with traditional Czech food and the nicest waiter in the world with very good prices. The cost of living is really cheap here, which is awesome, and my huge dinner with a side and soda only cost seven bucks!

Pain au Chocolat

I can't believe it is my last night in Chambery! I had a lot of fun, learned a great deal, and met some really cool people with amazing stories. School has definitely been challenging, but it has made me appreciate the French language so much more. The other day we did this awesome activity where we got together in groups of four and discussed our own cultures in comparison to the French. My group had a German, Chinois, Venezuelain, and me, the American/Macedonian. How interesting it was to hear how people lived in other countries and see how similar we are and the differences among us. Also, I realized how ignorant we Americans can be. Most people go through life knowing English and English only, without thinking twice about it, but all the international students I've meet speak English well and are learning French on top of it all. Crazy how much information the human brain can hold! SO, I really want to work on becoming fluent, which may mean (gasp!) more French classes down the road.

Can I just talk about the food? If I only moved to Europe for the food, it would be a worthwhile decision. Everything is fresh and its crazy eating things that aren't laden with preservatives! It has such a strong flavor and it will be interesting going back to American food in December. Some of the greats here were the praline brioche with REAL strawberry filling inside and the beignet with nutella inside, which I'm pretty sure should be illegal. My favorite by far though, is the numerous pains des chocolats I consumed during my time here. I should have taken a picture of these lovely things, but I maybe, probably ate them too fast. I'll just honor them with the name of this post.

Tomorrow, I begin my journey to Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC(not Spain haha). I start by taking a three hour train ride to Paris, then a five hour train ride to Kolen, Germany and finally, a ten hour overnight train to Prague! Let's hope that it goes a lot smoother than last time! I'm very excited to be in the big city that I've heard so many good things about. Wish me Luck!

Lyon

Yesterday, seven of us went to Lyon, the second biggest city in France. Our train dropped us off right in front of an enormous mall; which is veryyy dangerous for a group of girls. We had a look around inside and of course the stores and the things inside them were amazing, but I exerted a considerable amount of self control and only bought presents for a few people so far! What a loved about the mall was that there wasn't a huge food court, but patisseries and delis every couple of stores. Even the McDonalds had croissants and tartes on the counter! After that, we wandered around the town for a bit, saw a couple of cathedrals and then found a place for lunch. We sat an an outdoor cafe and I got the salade feta et mozz. It was one of the best salads I've ever had, very fresh and colorful. Then, we made our way past more expensive stores and took a very tourist-y picture with the huge ONLY LYON sign they had by the tourist center. Next we weaved our way through a maze of restaurants and candy shops and finally had to run and catch our bus!

Today has been very stormy and cloudy and the first day I have been able to sleep in and do absolutely nothing. I went for a run near the Alpes (the mountains surrounding Chambery) which was awesome, and I'm about to do some homework. I do have to confess, I also watched a few episodes of The Real World and Jersey Shore.

"You're skinny for an American!"

Greetings from Chambery! French living is as amazing as I hoped it would be, but it was quite the journey getting here!

I left Cleveland last Saturday and flew to Newark, then from Newark to Warsaw, Poland and finally to Paris. Wellll, lovely Truman State University sent me directions to Chambery that simply said, "Take the train from Charles-de-Gualle Airport to Chambery." So, I go up to the train information booth and ask the man working which train I should take to get to Chambery. When I said that his eyes got really wide and he asked me to spell it for him; then he proceeded to look it up. Bad omen.  He told me I needed to take the Paris metro, which is infamous for pickpockets, to the Austerlitz Train Station where the train was departing at 11:02 pm. So here's me with five months worth of stuff packed into three suitcases trying to navigate the Paris metro with no ramps or elevators, but oh-so-many STAIRS. I honestly thought about just getting on the next plane to Cleveland, but I called the emergency contact at the school here instead. That wasn't too comforting because the guy didn't understand why I was alarmed and told me to just get a hotel once I got to Chambery in the early morning so as not to disturb my host family. Thanks a lot. The metro was a disaster and I seriously thank God for all those kind strangers who helped me carry my things and give me directions. Whoever said the French were mean was seriously misguided. I finally make it to Austerlitz, bruised and sweaty, and the lady informs me that the train was not going to come, but there would be one at 6:50 am the next morning. I lost it then, but proceeded to go to the ticket counter and reserve my seat for the next morning. The man working there was also nice enough to reserve a hotel room down the street from the station. So, I lugged my baggage through the streets of Paris and made it to the hotel (Side Note: if you look under things in Paris, homeless people look back at you!) By that point, it was 1 o'clock in the morning but I was so shaken I got maybe 2 hours of sleep when I woke up at 5:00 am. That made it less than seven hours of sleep for three days, and I was exhausted. I finally made it to Chambery, but that first night was the scariest night of my life.

On a much lighter note, Chambery is wonderful! My host family is the sweetest group of people I have ever met. Elisa and Dennis are the mom and dad and they have two daughters, Julie who is 16, and Emma, who is ten. They are very kind and have set up this adorable, bright yellow and blue apartement for me. Elisa loves to run long distance as well and we are going to go for a jog later! Yesterday, I went with Julie to her grandparents and we all had a great time talking about the different places we have been and about how Americians are so fat  because of our huge portion sizes (hence, the title of this post). Julie is the only one who speaks English, the rest is all French, but they do say I speak well, which was shocking to hear!

The actual school part of my time in France is really difficult, but I can't say that its not rewarding. My first day was Tuesday and right away I took a placement test and spoke with one of the French professors to see what group I should join. The groups range from 1-6 (one being the most elementary) and much to my surprise, I tested into Group 3. Class began and it sounded like everyone around me was speaking fluent French and I almost bolted. Then, I realized that they all have different accents and no one could really understand the intermediate French the other was speaking. Prior to my arrival in Chambery, I expected my class to consist of mostly American college students, but man was I wrong! I am one of two Americans in my class. We have people of all ages coming from countries such as Brazil, Germany, Ukraine, China, Georgia (the country), New Zealand, New Jersey, etc. The diversity is truly amazing and I really do enjoy improving my French with them. The professors are awesome, my impression is that they are all taught by sassy little French women who have a great sense of humor.

A group of us are going to Lyon this weekend, I will update more soon!

Preface

Finally, after three years, 3 jobs, the most annoying summer ever, and mountain of paperwork later, I am about to leave for Europe! I wanted to study abroad since freshman year (since I knew something so fun could be related to schoolwork) and in less than two days, I will be flying a Polish airplane towards Chambery, France for two weeks of intensive language courses. After that, I will be taking a 12 hour train ride into Prague, Czech Republic, where I will be taking classes for the semester. Hopefully, I'll have a million other travels too! I'm pretty much all packed, except I can't find Visser 3 anywhere and I'm scared to think he ran off somewhere. Let me know if you see him.


I will miss my amazing friends and family severely though <3 I'm so lucky to have the funniest, kindest, most beautiful, loyal people surrounding me. That being said, this semester will fly by and I will be back before anyone knows it!


I'm SO excited to start this adventure and I will attempt to update this bloggy weekly, so I don't forget anything when I come back!


Au Revoir, America! =D