And Time Goes On.

The fact that probably only two other people, besides myself, will read this post only adds to my feeling of my life becoming progressively more boring. I'm sorry I have no exciting weekend trips to rant about or no new Italian vocabulary to share or no traveling stories to laugh about. Since returning back about four months ago, life has been a bit dull. I go through huge ups and downs with how I feel, but in general I feel as if things have come to a grinding halt. Time doesn't fit this category, of course, for it still moves with lightning speed, but it's what I do with my time that has changed drastically.

Right now, for example, I should be catching up on all the reading I have neglected or at least starting to pack for Thanksgiving break, but it's becoming hard to find motivation. Last year at this time I would have just attended my pre-departure orientation where I felt so confident, so excited, so ready for a crazy adventure. I also met my italian "friend" at this time and memories of so much new-ness have been infiltrating my every thought. I miss having something to look forward to instead of this huge vast, daunting future where all I can see are negative dollar signs for massive debt I'll have to pay off and lost independence living at home and more years of schooling. All I want to do now is TRAVEL.

I feel that your 20's are the most appropriate time to travel because you have such trivial worries holding you back (usually). I don't want to spend these next years buried in books and competing with others for a job I will most likely have the rest of my life. I want to be selfish. I want to travel and see everything there is to see out there! I want to meet unique people and learn about their unique customs. But I also want to help others less fortunate than me. I want to teach english in South or Central America. I want to snorkel in the bluest oceans. I want to dance with people unlike me in every way. I want to zipline, touch a stingray, stand under a waterfall, see exotic animals up close instead of on the TV, eat weird things, have perfect Spanish, and once again have no worry in the world. I want to live fully in the present and enjoy life, like what happened in Italy. My new goal is to teach english in a Spanish speaking country, while making money to start paying off my loans, before starting back up with grad school.

Before studying abroad I was all about achieving things as fast as possible. I would never have thought I'd be taking a year off or wanting to teach in a foreign country. Now, however, I see how stuck people can get in their same routines and how boring life can get when that happens. In my Feelings and Emotions course, we've learned all about happiness and one of the best ways to be happy is through "intermittent reinforcement". Aka spicing things up. I will always travel, that I am absolutely sure of, and without that spice in life, I fear things will become so monotonous.

It freaks me out thinking about my future. I just want to back away for a little bit and go on my own and discover even more of myself that is out there. I don't want to be held down or pressured in anyway. I don't want to compete and stress.

Pulling myself back now. I am a senior in college and I want SO badly to be enjoying this last year in Santa Cruz as much as I can. And I really making an effort and I truly am enjoying everything I am doing here, but I can't help to compare! My mind and the past are like two magnets of the same charge, they only stay centered when I am firmly holding them there but the second I let go my past zips here and there. I need to stay focused on the PRESENT because it is awesome. Just different than before, that's all. This year is just filled with so many conflicting thoughts and concerns for the future. It's becoming near impossible to push these worries aside because they are so real and so close in time. I know everything always has a way of working itself out as it should in the end. I keep reminding myself of this. I also know I've already had an amazing opportunity to travel all around Europe, something the majority of people will never do in their lifetime. Again, this is something I so easily forget because I just want to do it again and again! But maybe I need to look at reality head on and realize that yes, I will most definitely travel again, but I just might have to wait a little longer than I'd like. Sigh.

Well, as I've learned in my Feelings and Emotions course, writing things down is a form of therapy and makes people happier. I do feel a bit lighter having spewed my every thought all over the place and I truly hope many of these feelings at least calm themselves down soon. I never go a day without thinking about my time in Europe. What a truly life-changing experience!!! And now my job is to convince people to study abroad (something I would do for free and something I find SO much joy in), which is awesome but sort of sad at the same time because I can't help but wish to be in their place.

Time to get on with it, then. Arrivederci, a presto! Ti manca italiano!!!

Some pictures of this quarter (Study abroad coworkers, best friends, softball team):

Round trip

7/18- 7/26

- We spent this lovely last week in Castricum with my grandma and Stan. It was a great way to wind down, pack up, be with family, and prepare ourselves for the scary yet exciting trip back home after SEVEN MONTHS.

- Unfortunately, our immune systems finally found time to attack us. Almost instantly we had runny noses, coughs, headaches, and sore throats. Thank goodness we had ample time to relax (it really is the best place to relax) and grandma made sure to take care of us. Lots of yummy food (we all even made delicious enchiladas one night).

- Although we didn’t feel 100% ourselves, we were still able to get in a few good bike rides around the dunes and the cute city, as well as going to the beach (with the rest of Holland) in the extremely nice weather (pouring the day we got there, 80’s the last few days we were there) and visiting Amsterdam one last time (and meeting up with a family friend of Katie’s).

7/26:

-  I write this as I sit on my flight from Washington D.C. to L.A. We have already been travelling for roughly 18 hours total (we left Holland at 7am, had an 8 hour flight, a 3 hour layover, and now this flight) and I can definitely feel the exhaustion creeping up on me. My eyes are bloodshot and my body is tired of this airplane food (okay its actually much better than I thought it’d be).

- At this point I just really want to be home already. I will have to miss my original flight from LA to SB because the current flight we are on had all these issues, but all is still okay. Soon enough, soon enough!

- A little about my feelings. I am very mixed inside!! I am constantly flip flopping from excitement to see family and friends (I just will randomly start smiling and can’t stop) to sadness because my time in Europe is officially over. I know I can always come back, but never quite like this. It is something so unique that can really only be done at this age and I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. The biggest problem is that it was all so easy. I never noticed exactly how wonderful of a time I was having until it was gone. Another emotion that I’m having difficulty with is my criticism of America. I have this annoying tendency to think of Americans as disgusting. Lazy. Sloppy. Too stressed and fast paced. Red necks. Frat boys.  If you can’t tell already, I much preferred making friends with foreigners (and thus learning about their extremely interesting culture and background) and I really do feel that most are much more open than Americans.

- I really, really, REALLY need to open my eyes more and see that I am unfairly generalizing and that many Americans are not like what I described at all. I feel that once I am with family and friends in beautiful Santa Barbara, all of this will go away. This is going to be a hard next few months….

           

London's calling

7/15

- London here we come! This incredibly long "day" continues. Our early flight had us in London before 8am! The flight itself I remember none of for I was passed OUT from the moment my butt felt the cushion to the moment the wheels scraped the runway.

- after about 3 hours of buses and trains and more buses and delays and construction, we ended up in a small town where Katie's friend from grade school, Steven, was waiting!!

- it was great to be with someone we actually knew and as he crazily drove us to Windsor i fell asleep in the back with a smile on my face (and a lovely double chin as well im sure)

- the town of Windsor was ADORABLE!!! This is the queens favorite castle and the whole area felt very quaint but regal and poised at the same time. The castle itself was large, of course, and so interesting but all I started to hear was the droning of my audio guide and all I could feel were the aches and stabs in my feet and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and sleep on the queens nice comfy bed. Just for one minute...

- I felt so bad for Steven because he really was meeting a different me. I just really don't do good off of little sleep. I know this, and yet we still booked that stupidly timed flight. Lesson learned!

- after seeing the grounds and the amazingggg interior of this castle (even a dollhouse of the entire castle with real artwork and gold furnishings and everything matching the real castle exactly was there!) we grabbed some sandwiches and decided to head off for the day. I was a literal zombie by this point. Feet dragging, eyes barely slits, hair a mangled nest on my head, makeup smeared and my normal self hidden deep below, sleeping away.

- steven then drove us to gatwick airport so we could get a direct train straight to our hostel. It was an hour drive and as Katie and Steven chatted away in the front, I recharged (ie conked out) in the back.

- we FINALLY arrived at the hostel, fun vibe with its own bar, club, and rooftop garden, talked to some Spanish girls in the lounge, ran across the street to the grocery store, grubbed in our beds (14 people in this room!), looked at some pictures, and then...drum roll please...SLEPT!!!!

7/16

- michelle's back! That's what I felt like as I woke up feeling well rested and energized. I'm usually a light sleeper, and being in a room of 14 would have had be up at 5am, but this night I slept like a complete baby.

- Katie and I did the usual routine and then met up with the free walking tour. Im a big fan of these just because I love hearing the history behind what I'm looking at. It makes it so much more real and alive in my mind. and free= great.

- we cracked down and got an oyster card for transportation, and were then led around a good part of this huge city by our actor/ tour guide.

- things we saw and learned about: Belgrave square, Hyde park, st James park, buckingham palace, st James place (prince Henry lives here), Marlborough house, trafalgar square, Westminster abbey, big Ben, the parliament building, London eye, and much much more along the way! SO COOL!

- after the tour we went to a Chinese buffet...eh not so great. Then back to the London eye and bridge to take some scenic pics, and then where??

- ABBEY ROAD! We trekked across the city to walk across this oh-so-famous street and had tons of fun watching all the Beatles fans walk across this road, all cool like, in between bouts of traffic. The wall near here was covered with Beatles lyrics as well and it was pretty magical, I must admit. Those poor people who live there and have to drive there everyday, though.

- we decided to squeeze in one more thing before our tour and basically had to sprint through Kensington gardens and snap past the palace. It was well worth it and so beyond beautiful. I want to live here!!! With Kate and William of course :)

- Hop back on the metro and head to the meeting point for our “Grim Reaper” Tour of London (Katie insisted, and I thought it’d be a cool way to learn about London’s oh-so-dark history)

- A total of 6 (gasp) of us decided to do this tour, apparently, but our tour guide was very knowledgeable, down to earth, and fun to listen to as he led us around eastern London (a side of town not usually visited by tourists).

- We were led past the old sites of gruesome beheadings, heard even more gruesome stories about these beheadings, learned about the Tower of London and more lovely torture techniques, and followed in the steps (literally) of Jack the Ripper. The weather was gloomy and cold, perfect for learning about this spooky history (especially when we went to the actual sites of horrible murders), and after a few hours we were finished.

- We meandered back past some bridges (forget the names currently) and then finally back to our hostel where we munched on grocery store items. My feet were KILLING ME after 2 tours that pretty much had us sprinting all around London. And London, my friends, is HUGE. That night we slept really good, again, from pure exhaustion.

7/17

- Waking up early, we walked from our hostel (past more amazing London sites) and over to St. Peter’s Cathedral, Millennium Bridge (from Harry Potter), The Globe Theatre, and grabbed lunch at the Borough Market (pie, mash, and gravy).

- Now for the exciting part. We grabbed a metro and then a train and then a special bus to the HARRY POTTER STUDIOS!!! Oh wait! Before catching a train, we stopped at King’s Cross Station and took the classic pictures at Platform 9 ¾! Like everyone had said before, it was extremely anticlimactic. But still a must for any Harry Potter fan, of course!

- We were high on life for the rest of the day and could barely contain our giddiness as we walked past (and sometimes even touched) ACTUAL props from the Harry Potter movies!!! We felt completely star struck and what should have taken only 3 hours would have taken us 6 (if we had more time). We spent way too much time in the first room (literally taking a picture of every single thing) but we got to learn so much about the behind-the-scenes of Harry Potter and there were just so many interesting and amazing details! Any Harry Potter fan would absolutely love this and I couldn’t recommend it enough. It went above and BEYOND any expectation I had and I would have honestly paid 100 euro’s for it.

- Short on time, we had to semi sprint through the last couple rooms but when they say they save the best for last, they don’t lie. When I rounded the corner into the final room, I was literally left speechless. The magnificent blue lighting of the room combined with the magical music and twinkling lights and the HUGE HOGWARTS CASTLE in the center of the room was just like a dream. I can’t put it into words.

- Sadly having to dash through the aaaaaaamazing gift shop to catch the final bus of the evening, we left the studios feeling 100% content with life. One of the best experiences yet. Harry Potter will always live on.

- Another grocery store dinner, another exhausting arrival at our hostel, to sleep we go.

7/18

- Our last day in England. We woke up pretty early, grabbed breakfast, checked out and threw our bags into a locker at our hostel, and off we were! We never wasted one second in London, that’s for sure!

- We RUSHED to the British Museum (free entrance, yeah baby!), made a beeline for the Rosetta Stone and some cool Egyptian mummies, raced back out, and walked pretty darn far to Buckingham Palace. I was not satisfied with our lack of seeing the Changing of the Guards and I insisted we go back and see the real show.

- Towards the end we were literally running towards the palace, especially when we heard a marching band looming closely. We got there in PERFECT timing. Spot on I tell ya. Just as the guards were exiting Prince Harry’s place and marching towards Buckingham we arrived and pretty much followed them down to the palace. Some tourists got a little too excited and were harshly yelled at by some of the guards. We stayed for the next hour and got glimpses here and there of the guards, and heard snippets of their music, and even got up close and personal at one point. I really enjoyed the experience and I still can’t believe it’s something they do every single day. Crazy!

- We then had a little picnic in the park nearby (as it rained on us) and slowly meandered back to the hostel and grabbed our ever-increasing-in-size-from-souvenirs backpacks. From there, we caught a train directly to the airport and it was smooth sailing from there on out! 

- Our last budget airline flight was through easyjet and after a small delay, the 45 minute flight was easy peasy. All was good until we got to Schiphol Train station and realized neither of us had any euro’s handy AND our debit cards wouldn’t work in any of the machines. And they don’t take credit cards. We literally had to scrounge together loose change to buy our train tickets, but eventually were on a train (the wrong one at first, oops) to Castricum! 

Pubs

7/13 (Friday)
-Rise and shine! Feed chickens/ shower/ do some gardening in the pollyrtunnel with the girls (very midgey outside)/ take dogs for a last walk (and play in the stream of course)/ a few rounds of Spoon/girls give us some Russian candies for a present/  feast on a thanksgiving-like meal made by svetlana /say our sad goodbyes to the girls/  hop in car with feral/ 2.5 hour drive to Dublin (awkward silence, sleep most of the time)!!
- Katie and I walk through the rain, of course, and check into our amazing hostel! "famous hostels" is a sort of chain around Europe for backpackers and it's a great place to stay for socializing especially, and meeting cool people of course!
- Anyways, we checked in and jetted off to see the city! It was already around 6pm and we decided to splurge and eat at a highly recommended Lebanese restaurant.
- after dinner we went back to our hostel and bought our pub crawl tickets and then got all spruced up. So excited for our first pub crawl because everyone who goes on em always has a blast. And where better to do one than in Ireland??
- the pub crawl was amazingly fun as we met tons of young people traveling all around, got free drinks, spent WAY too much money on more drinks, hung out with our new Swiss friends and accidentally got separated from the crawl, listened to live Irish music at all the different clubs, got a free bike carriage ride, returned home at 4am, played some pool and guitar, then finally went to bed! Phew!

7/14
- I was awoken constantly by noise outside, and ended up getting maybe 2 hours of sleep before having to check out. Not my favorite.
- after bfast, we met up with a free walking tour and saw the sights of Dublin! It was a bit long and not THAT interesting but our tour guide was great and we still enjoyed seeing all of the cute city.
- famished by the time it ended, we had surprisingly good burritos for lunch as the fatigue really started to set it.
- we attempted to shop and walk around but I felt incredibly heavy and my feet were refusing to move forward. We eventually went back to the hostel where we were keeping our bags and just sat on the couch.
- at some point we ran into our Swiss friends who then convinced us to do the pub crawl again because it was free the 2nd night.  Why not??
- we grabbed a bite and it was pub crawl round 2!! We hung with the guys again but this time managed to stick with the group. Marcel and Marco were great company! Before the end of the night we made Marcel watch the "marcel the shell YouTube video" :)
- we meandered home at around 3am, grabbed our luggage, said our goodbyes, and hopped on a shuttle to the airport! All I wanted to do was sleep.

The three weeks we worked on a farm. In Ireland.

This will be my first “real” blog entry in three months! I finally have use of my laptop (instead of my tiny little cell phone) and I can type 5 times as fast (ie 5 times as much partially useless information!). I saved this chunk of our trip to blog about until the end because it lasted so long. Ireland, here we come (there we went)!

So I have to admit that I wasn’t too keen on going to Ireland in the first place. Not that I didn’t want to see the country, it just had never been on my top list. Katie did want to see it, though, and the stars aligned just perfectly. We decided to wwoof (work on an organic farm) in this country for anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks in order to save money and truly absorb this country’s culture. We were extremely fortunate and had an incredibly sweet family respond to one of the 50+ emails we sent out to farmers (their previous wwoofers had canceled on them). Long story short, we booked a flight to Dublin the second we could and left from Amsterdam at the end of June! After not waking up to our alarm and thus not showering and feeling disgusting off of maybe 4 hours of sleep, everything went perfectly (okay we almost missed our first bus, and with no cell phones at this point in our trip, that would have been detrimental, but we thank our lucky stars). After a rather LONG and MISERABLE three and a half hour bus ride to the small town of Nenagh, we finally met our “host dad”, Fergal!

Fergal is an extremely quiet guy (his 2 daughters and wife completely drown him out) but throughout the two weeks we were at their house, Katie and I both got to spend a lot of time with just him and got to know him as a person. Since I didn’t write down what we did every single day (we honestly had a lot of down time and pretty much kept the same routine), I thought I’d just give a typical day and talk about the cute, cute, cute family! Okay, let’s see! 

-8am: Wake up, let out chickens, feed chickens, let out dogs (Prince and Roxy), open shades, make breakfast, feed dogs

-9am: get ready and count the cows/ check on their water

-10am: Chore #1 (either inside organizing/housework or outside gardening in either the lower/upper gardens or in the pollytunnel)

-12pm: Lunch (we got creative and they left us SO much food. Our favorite was making pizza!)

-2pm: Feed chickens again; collect chicken eggs, either relax for a bit or complete Chore #2 (either inside or outside again)

-5pm: Start dinner and then eat dinner (when Fergal came back we’d cook for him as well. Didn’t always go as planned…)

-7pm: Take dogs on nightly walk (SO beautiful!!!)

-8pm: Feed dogs, feed chickens, any last minute small chores, relaxing time, etc.

-10pm: Dogs to potty (“busy, busy”), lock chickens up, close everything up, shower, die of exhaustion or read a nice book or talk or house hunt on the laptop (that had to be plugged in outside of the office door that was locked. In other words, we’d have to sit in the cold hallway tethered to the door).

There you go! It was just Katie and I for about 6 days running the farm (don’t worry Svetlana left us a VERY detailed handbook) and then Fergal came home from Russia before the girls for about a week. We mostly kept to ourselves during that time except for dinners where we’d always have nice chats with Fergie (our secret nickname for him). He was SO Irish by the way! So so so Irish. Very quiet, hard to get a lot out of, but so genuinely kind and he had that accent of course. I am kind of sad that we only got to spend about 4 days with the girls by the time they returned from Russia (not counting the very first day when they gave us an extremely speedy tour around the farm, showed us their favorite hideouts near the stream, and taught us some Irish slang). The last days we spent with Emma and Zoe were filled with fun games, such creativeness from the girls, watching movies together, and almost no work J They loved us just as much as we loved them and by the end of the trip I was even starting to say some words in a slightly Irish way!! For example, they say “that’s lovely” instead of “cool”. “leads” instead of leashes, “plats” instead of braids, “fringe” instead of bangs, and tooooons more. We left them with a new love for the game of “Spoons” (I swear we played more than 50 rounds with them). What fun!!

One large part of our trip to Ireland included visiting nearby cities to Killaloe. It was extremely nice of the family to pretty much let us tag along whenever they left the farm. They’d just plop us in a random city and then pick us up on their way back! We got to visit the towns of Ennis (saw a rubber duck river race that the entire town went to), Limerick (cool castle, lots of good shopping and fresh food), Scariff (extremely tiny and not touristy at all, but with lots of character and true Irish people), and Galway (our FAVORITE with tons of live bands just playing away down the huge pedestrian street with tons of cool Irish shops. We also had a magical tea party here) when we were with them! We would have never thought to go to any of these cities so it was all a huge added bonus. I love the Irish!!

Deutschland!!

6/19
- The day before, we'd gotten a message from our friend Justine who were about to visit on this day saying she has the flu! Ah!
- we majorly panicked as we tried to decide if we should still spend the money to visit the small town she was working at (camp counselor on an army base) and maybe not even see her, or if we should stay another night in Paris, or if we should visit another friend in Germany a day early.
- that decision was made on the spot, at the train station.
- to start the story right, we left the hotel and grabbed our usual train. Except it wasn't the usual. We realized about 20 mins in we would be heading somewhere totally different with many metro changes involved to reach the actual train station.
- added bonus: rush hour! EVERYONE was heading to work. From metro to metro we had to weave through hoards of people, making the parisians hate us even more as our backpacks knocked people left and right.
- next bonus: we forgot our train tickets at the hotel!
- we frantically found the ticket window as our savior tried to help us "find" our original tickets in the system.
- they found them about 2 minutes before the train left and we BOLTED to the platform. Stress stress stress! But I still couldn't help but laugh (once we were finally on the train of course).
- decision made. No exchanging any ticket here. Off to see Justine!
- the train was extremely fast (200+ mph) and after a couple local train changes, we were in the town of Landstuhl, Germany in just 2.5 hours!
- cutting to the chase, we didn't get to see Justine (even though we talked to multiple army guards at the gates of the base) but we did get to explore this beautiful and lush town and even ate some German schnitzel and drank some beer!
- side note: we were so mystified by this army life. Meg especially. It was like their own little american world or bubble, but in Germany. They had grocery stores and bowling alleys on base even! I still don't know exactly how I feel about it all. After my psychology of trauma class (where we extensively learned about PTSD) im not to keen on war, to say the least. I'm trying to keep an open mind though.
- we ended the night watching a Eurocup game at a local bar and sleeping in our cute little hotel.

6/20
- surprisingly but so excitedly, we heard back from Justine and were able to see her for 40 minutes at 6am this morning before she started work.
- after a gate confusion and a surprise morning jog in the crisp air, meg and I finally met Justine at the main gates (with intensely muscular German Shepard watching our every move nearby).
- we talked and talked and caught up as cars of military personnel drove through the gates to work. So weird to see! It was great to catch up with Justine, though, and it really made the whole trip so worth it!
- we took some pictures together and were forced to delete them :(, but the memories remain.
- Meg and I went back to sleeping Katie, all got ready, had the most adorable breakfast from our hotel owner with the best French toast ive ever tasted, tried to wander to the nearby castle (found other treasures on the walk instead and ended up catching a bus to the much farther away than thought castle), and enjoyed the endless greenery and breathtaking views.
- the castle was oh so charming and we spent a lovely hour on the grounds.
- the bus back took an hour (there's only one bus that does an entire loop through the whole town) and we quickly grabbed our stuff, hopped in a taxi to the train station, grabbed some kebabs and we were off to the next town!
- we learned very quickly that they seriously don't check tickets in Germany. After FOUR train changes that actually made the journey go quickly, we were met by Sam in her town of Bad Honnef.
- another adorable small town I'm so glad I got to see! The train ride was along the Rhein and I think it's one of the prettiest rides I've ever been on. It passed through the cutest towns with amazing churches and castles everywhere, all along the river! I'll have dreams of this ride, im sure of it.
- Sam had us relax in her place as she made us an amazing dinner (beef stew with mashed potatoes, this girl is such a good cook!) and then we headed out to a true blood-esque bar with really fun drinks. We all failed at taking the fire Harry potter shot but I'm still glad we tried (though im convinced it was literal liter fluid). Sams friends were all so sweet and we all had an amazingly fun night!

6/21
- Sam had no class today so she took us to the nearby city of Cologne to do some shopping, see an amazing cathedral, and eat some true German food (Bokwurst and fries for me) followed by massively large and flourishy dessert (something I've yet to see anywhere else but is supposedly quite common there).
- We made some spaghetti at Sams place this night and relaxed with a movie as it thundered outside.

6/22
- rise and shine! Up early and ready quickly, we met sams friend keely and headed for the train. Making it just on time (and without a ticket) we took the 40 min ride to the airport.
- off to Berlin! With the hop on a plane (finally not Ryanair! A real airline that didn't make us shove our bags into a box) and another quick taxi ride, we arrived to our amazing apartment! Best deal we've gotten so far (so cheap and huge and fully equipped and not so far from things, in a semi weird area but we aren't picky!)
- keeping up the tradition of taking 2 hours to find food, we wandered and finally found an ok place near the Brandenburg gates.
- the Eurocup game between Greece and Germany was happening this night and even 3 hours before it started we were seeing hoards of yellow, black, and red clad people heading to the gates.
- after dinner we joined the crowds and entered into the biggest beer garden I have ever seen in my life! Huge screens were set up along an entire street, again with these famous gates as a backdrop, and there were food/drink vendors galore! We ate ourselves silly as we tried all of this unique German food (currywurst, fries, pretzels, etc) and waited for the game to start. We painted our faces and got festive lays to blend in a bit more as well. It was so fun!!!
- these Germans were SO into the game and I am so glad they won! After each goal, beer was showered down on the crowd and the excitement was electric. I got so into it and really enjoyed the being surrounded by such enthusiasm and spirit!
- we left a few minutes early to avoid the massive and crazy crowds, bid farewell to Sam and Keely for now, and the remaining 3 went out to a bar.
- we met some...interesting people at an absinthe bar (didn't have any, don't worry) and had a fun time talking and finding our way back.

6/23
- going off of 4 hours of sleep, we were awakened bright and early so we could make it to our walking tour of the city.
- we were happy to find out that the cute English boy strongly resembling John Lennon would be our tour guide for the day and we were not once disappointed! He kept our full attention the whole 3.5 hours as we passed by the Holocaust memorial, the Berlin wall, hitlers bunker, check point Charlie, museum island and other important buildings. I feel as if I could go take a test on Berlin and ace it without even cracking open a book!
- After being pointed in a good direction for lunch, the tour ended and we sat down to Japanese food! It was quite good and refreshingly different.
- getting a bit lost along the way, we headed back to the Berlin wall and the "topography of terror" exhibit. It was free, huge, and incredibly moving.
- another 2 hour search for dinner that ended with eating huge and delicious burgers and fries while watching the Spain vs France game
- home sweet home to sleep!

6/24
- an extremely early morning tour of the Reichstag government building was scheduled this morning and most of us (ie not meaghan) got ready and headed out with the sunrise.
- this place had very tight security but it was amazing to climb the glass dome and see the spectacular views of Berlin below (it was free too!)
- we grabbed an English breakfast, met up with meg, and jumped on a 45 min train to Berlin's nearest Concentration camp.
- before the heavy stuff, we had a funny moment when we got into the train and realized there was vomit nearby. We were stuck in the stench for an entire stop. Needless to say, our entire car bolted off of that car and over to the next at the next stop. Slight problem: meg and keely don't get on in time and we are left staring at each other through the unbudging doors. We got a food laugh out of it though.
- we grab subway, meet back up with meg and Keely and walk the somber walk to our next designation.

- sachsenhausen concentration camp. So incredibly exhausting and moving and draining and heavy and beyond sad and overwhelming and huge and cold.
- on the train ride up to the camp, passing through the forest, I could just picture escapees running for their lives or people from far away camps being brought here or others just started the death march, filled with hope. An eerie feeling, needless to say, creeped up very quickly.
- upon walking into the camp, I literally got chills and felt the air cool. Looking out onto the vastness with the watch towers bordering the area felt surreal. This is what I'd always pictured in books and movies when hearing horrible stories, but I was now standing in the exact spot that thousands of others before had stood. Others who had little idea of what would be happening. I am so fortunate to never have to even give a seconds thought to being in a situation like that.
- this camp was much larger than originally thought but it was SOO well done. To truly read every story and absorb everything, you'd need days. I tried my hardest though and perhaps the most frustrating thing was not having the time to give each person or story the attention they deserve. It was quite overwhelming.
- another issue was that I was feeling quite sad and overwhelmed but felt ridiculous for wanting any sort of pity. How could I be feeling this when the actual people had it far far worse?
- we spent a good 5 hours walking all around the camp and the most moving part to me was the mortuary. To see the actual slabs of stone where so many innocent people were cut open and given a fake cause of death, or who pointless experiments were practiced on or where brave souls sent secret messages and saved records for later persecution of the horrible nazi doctors. It makes my repulsed just think about it.
- This experience is something every person must do once. It really sets in stone what we've learned for so long.
- one thing about Germany that our tour guide taught us and something I admire is that they are not running or hiding from their past like many other countries do. They are using their countries funds to bring insane awareness to their awful past in order to never repeat it. It will never erase or lessen the actions of the past, but it can prevent so much.
- after the camp we were all very quiet but did discuss among each other over Italian food. We went back to our apartment and, both physically and emotionally exhausted, got to bed rather early.

6/25
- Sam and keely leave early to catch their flight, we pack up and leave our great apartment by 12, yummy apple strudel, confusion and help by a nice lady with the metro.
- arrive at the Jewish museum and luckily get to drop off all of our luggage there. Walk around (a bit boring at first) and then find the real area of the museum with tons of interactive areas that turns out to be loads of fun.
- grab a kebab for lunch, gather our bags, metro to airport (never once bought a metro ticket this trip!), and hop on another lovely germanwings flight with no rush or drama (well, actually, the flight was 1 hour late)
- arrive to Maastricht way later than thought, bus doesn't come for an hour, cab takes forever to get there (meg goes in the can earlier to get our train tickets), get to station and find out trains are finished for the night, nice guy studying there tries to help us find a place to stay, finally end up just stating at a nice hotel directly across from the train station and all works out just fine.

6/26
- another early morning!yippeeee!
- hop on train to Amsterdam and grab lockers there for our stuff (thank goodness).
- decide on the hop on hop off boat tour for the day and I especially enjoy seeing Katie and meaghan fall in love with the city! It was amazing weather (a bit hot actually) and after the lovely canal ride, we hop off at Anne franks house. I waited outside for an hour or so as meg and Katie made it through the museum and thoroughly enjoyed it.
- we eat an amazing avocado sandwich, hop back on the canal boat, hop off at Reich museum and spend much too long taking pictures on the "I Amsterdam" sign (scary on top, rude australian girls).
- hop on again, its so HOT but I am even more amazed with this city the 3rd time around. It's just beyond charming with all of the flowers and architecture right along the canals. We hop off near a wonderful flea market, grab a famous bagel thing, and walk back to the station (happen to go through red light district, ew).
- we get our stuff out of storage, run for the train, and arrive in castricum in no time!
- I looooove showing Katie and meaghan around this town I now consider partially mine :)
- it was great to see gma and Stan again (I honestly can believe it had been 7 weeks since i saw them last! Time sure does fly!!) and we had yummy Mexican food waiting for us as soon as we got there.
- we had great catching up time and after filling ourselves up, meg Katie and I hopped on the bikes (meg on the back of mine) and peddled around town! We stopped for some ice cream (ok we had some fries too) even though we weren't hungry at all! We just hadn't gotten those treats in Amsterdam so why not now? Haha always making a good reason for food. we had tons of fun on the bikes and really wish we had longer there!
- we sadly had to then repack up (all new wardrobe at my gmas! Finally!), do laundry and make sure everything was in order. In the end, we didnt get to sleep until veryyyyy late. But Ireland was tomorrow!!

Cooincidences

6/12
- hop off plane, hop on hour long shuttle bus to Paris where we then maneuver the huge and confusing metro to cergy, and finally we walk 10 mins to our hotel!
- meg and Arielle and Megan are there waiting for us in our AMAZING apartment!!! It's even better than last time and the complete opposite of any other place we've stayed at during this backpacking excursion. Thank you Leclerqs!!
- it was hard to stop our mouths from moving because everything was so exciting but eventually the other 3 went into the city at night while our exhausted selves decided to rest.
- at one point we walked into the mall area (never knew that existed) and after an hour of getting lost and not knowing the language we eventually found the huuuuge grocery store.
- we cooked uncooked pizza, amazing tabouli, and Finally had a salad
- without needing any coercion whatsoever, we melted into our satiny silky douvet

6/13
- Starting our weekly tradition, we slept in a bit, always waking up by 10am to receive the wonderful and free yummy French breakfast.
- After breakfast, we said goodbye to Arielle and Megan (other meaghans future housemates) and then pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in luxury (ie taking a bath and laying on the bed) and slowly, slowly getting ready.
- we eventually walked over to the mall area of our town (a 35 min train out of Paris btw) and helped meg buy some more warm clothes (as well as some desserts-- eclairs this time)
- we were kicked out of the mall at 8pm and then cooked ourselves a yummy dinner in this fully equipped modern kitchen of ours!

6/14
- today we learned the hard way that there's really never enough time/ things always take longer than you think they will, in terms of traveling at least.
- we woke up later than planned, bought ourselves a handy 4 day unlimited metro card and were off to the Eiffel tower finally!
- we waited in a wrong line at first, then got into the right one (which required climbing to the 2nd floor), rushed up, snapped away, rode a scary elevator and voila! We were at the top! What an amazing view awaited us below. Michelle got over her sweaty palms as Katie took in the view and marveled at how big this city was!
- unfortunately, but not so unfortunately, we had to rush down the tower, hop on the ever confusing metro (Paris' metro is the worst, in my opinion) to meet my friend from Florence, Scott!
- Scott studied in Paris last fall semester and now is back for a couple months to take an acting course and has a fabulous apartment studio thing in the city
- Scott proceeded to tour us around the city, first stopping at the notre dame then to his favorite crepe place then we hiked up to parthenon in the Latin quarter (such a cool area) then to the Luxembourg gardens (soooo pretty with the flowers now in bloom and the temperature above 30, unlike when Michelle visited in the snow last time), and finally up to scotts place (meg and Katie hopped in the tiniest 2 person elevator).
- Scott had the most fabulous dinner waiting for us (well he cooked as we talked) and had even made a special musical playlist for the occasion. We ooed and awed over his French flat, his baguette and tomato sauce/cheese appetizer, his lit candles, the place settings and especially over the amazing pasta and avocado salad AND of course the creme brûlée with strawberries for dessert!
- we chatted away for hours (wine was also involved) and eventually returned to our hotel at 2am!

6/15
- after eating our normal and huge, unlimited breakfast and packing up our usual lunch (from the bfast selection of baguettes, meats and cheeses) we headed into the city to meet up with Katie's friend Megan from high school!
- Katie LOVES coincidences and after realizing Megan would be in Paris only a few days before (on fb she saw that Megan arrived the same day as us! Such a shock and Katie could not wait to see her) she went crazy.
- we went inside the notre dame with Megan and her brother David and enjoyed the stained glass (katies favorite) windows as the sheer beauty of this massive cathedral.
- the 5 of us then metroed to the arc de triumphe, walked along the champs élysées, picked up a box (a way too small box says meg) of the best macaroons in the world from Laduree, sat in a cafe for an hour (Katie and shell got 6 euro orange juice, not worth it), marveled at the touilleries and the views surrounding these gardens, and finally made it to the Louvre by 6pm for free student admission.
- we were now a party of 6 because Scott met up with us but within minutes we were 8 because Sam and Anjali surprised us in line!!
- meg and shell had just found out a few days before that Sam would be there as well but were not expecting to see her just then! What a wonderful surprise! We could not believe the size of our group and all the connections within, and the fact that we were all in PARIS! Coincidences galore!
- we all spent about 2 hours in the louvre (amid catch up conversations and excitement) and saw the Mona Lisa (Katie says its too small), the Venus de milo, the Egyptian exhibit (Katie loved it) and beelined out of the huge glass pyramid (blanking on its name)
- Megan and her brother left us to Skype with their parents and Scott then led us all (in the rain) to his favorite restaurant in the Latin quarter. We passed over the adorable love lock bridge over the seine and finally arrived at the cutest little French restaurant with the nicest owner.
- dinner conversation flowed as we enjoyed our delicious French onion soups, avocado salads, chicken, streak, lamb, and apple tarts.
- we all bid goodnight and parted our ways within the metro as we shot off to different sections of the city.

6/16
- we allowed ourselves a couple extra hours of sleep this morning. We had been EXHAUSTED every day and it felt as if we could never catch up!
- after bfast we watched some desperate housewives in french (way more entertaining than youd think) and didn't get out of the hotel until around 3pm
- we headed to the montemarte area of france (Michelles personal favorite area) and first stopped at the moulin rouge and the ate the BEST quiche and chocolate chip cookies (says meg), then meandered up to the sacre cor basilica while passing past really cool stores.
-if you've seen the movie "Amelie", this is the area it was filmed in. If you haven't, go see it now.
- we made the trek up one of the only hilly areas of Paris. The buildings and the shops and the people are all eccentric here, the artists quarter I believe it is, and it's so great to see such creativeness!
- we were met with the most amazing view of Paris from above as we sat on the steps below the church and listened to a live performer singing away.
- after walking through the church and taking tons of pictures we rolled down the hill on a cool funicular (scene of last trip to Paris' close call gypsy for shell) and searched for hours, literally, for a good place to eat.
- eventually and partially out of desperation, we settled for a random crepe restaurant in an alley way. It had charm, but that's about it.
- at one point on the metro, as we pushed the doors open as they tried to seal us off, we greatly embarrassed ourselves as the metro lurched forward and we were all thrown forward as well.
- to end the night we got a quick glimpse of the lit up Eiffel tower during a metro change as meg rushed to use the bathroom in McDonald's. Magical!

6/17
- getting out of the hotel 2 hours later than originally hoped, we went on another 2 hour metro excursion that eventually led us to the Palace of Versailles!
- the gold gates welcomed us in (along with the throngs of people) and we waited in line after line for a good hour or so. It would all be worth it! (25 euro later)
- Short on time, we first jetted through the palace (leaving behind new friend mikaela who Katie had met in line) and rushed to the hall of mirrors with audio guide in hand. What an incredible "hallway". To think that people used to actually live here! It's insane.
- in less time than originally thought, we were out of the palace and into the famous gardens which we had heard most about!
- breathtaking. Gargantuous. Green. Regal. Magical. Enchanting. Royal.
- Upon walking out to the gardens, we were pleased to see that the fountains were all dancing away along to the classical music playing throughout the gardens.
- we took our time just taking in all of the incredible scenery meeting us in every direction. We honestly felt like we were in a movie, not real life.
- feeling a bit short on time, we made a beeline through the mazes of gardens and ponds and flowers (making a pit stop for ice cream of course) until we finally reached Marie Antoinette's estate, also known as the petit trianon. Katie was most excited for this part and as we walked through another set of golden gates (slightly smaller than the first) we entered the "small" estate. The words small and estate don't really go together. Anyways, each room was adorably decorated with many floral patterns and brighter colors. You could really see Marie antoinettes personality coming out here and it was a much more personal experience, which we definitely preferred.
- After walking through the few rooms, we headed into her gardens! These were much smaller but were packed with loads of charm. Michelle's favorite was the "temple of love" which was reached by crossing adorable foot bridges over streams and through flowers packed with wonderful smells.
- the 3 of us found a nice spot on Marie's grass (I could picture her here so well) and lazily napped/ gazed out at the temple on one side and the estate on the other. What a perfect way to relax!
- we leisurely bid farewell to Maries place and made our way towards the main attractions. The buildings were now all closing but the gardens were available for at least another hour.
- the remaining time was spent watching people row boats in the huge pond, being grossed out by the massive fish in the pond, and slowly making our way back to the palace and then out the gates.
- We caught a quick train to the Eiffel tower to look for some food and got the added bonus of seeing the tower right as the sun was setting, perfectly and naturally lit. The Eurocup has been following us everywhere this trip and a huge screen was set up right in front, with crowds of people cheering on France. Not many people get to watch a soccer game with the Eiffel tower as their background.
- we spent the next 2.5 hours in search of a place to eat. Another thing that has plagued us this summer. Always in search of an authentic, non touristy, cheap place to eat. It's not as easy as you think!
- after walking up and down hills, happening upon the arc de triumph, and being advised from a Scottish person on a different area to eat, we hopped on a metro and landed in the gay area of town. Things were poppin, as it was now almost 11pm!
- we found a cute little restaurant where we chatted with the enthusiastic owner who translated the menu for us and we leisurely tried new French food and met some English speaking friends who gave us their leftovers.
- tight on time, we got off at a random metro stop to catch another view of the Eiffel tower at night and grabbed a mcflurry from McDonald's to top the night off.
- Sidenote about McDonald's: they vary country to country. For example, you find macaroons and special French fries in France, wine and croissants and pistachio mcflurrys in Italy, sausages in Germany, special Hungarian foods in budapest, pinxos in spain, the list goes on and on (can you tell we often make use of their free wifi?).

6/18
- our last day in Paris, sadly.
- meg decides shed like more time to get ready so Katie and I go into the city a little before her and have a cute picnic in front of the Eiffel tower, with cheesy posey jumping pictures included.
- we then metro to the Latin quarter again, walk around, stumble upon an AMAZING and local-filled crepe place (nutella and banana again), and rush to the tulleries to meet meg.
- we had to wait an hour (meg decided to get her eyebrows done before meeting us......) but before long we were sitting inside the famous "Angelina's" for some hot chocolate! Meg and I had both been recommended this place and even though it was a bit too rich for me, it was a cool and fancy tea partyish experience (the price almost had me using the remaining chocolate as a face mask or something).
- my god we ate a lot today. Our next stop was dinner back in the Latin quarter! Sharing some wine and the meal of the day (3 courses of deliciousness) we happily ended our last evening in Paris chatting away at a street cafe.