"Tomorrow to Calais, and then a ship across the sea!"

Ok, not really. More like a plane from Frankfurt, but you catch my drift.

One last post from Germany. =)

My time here has been amazing.  I'm so excited to go home, but at the same time, I am really going to miss the wonderful people that I've met here.

I'll update you wonderful people with pictures and stories from Berlin and Magdeburg when I get back to Chicago, if that's alright with you =)

I'm leaving Keplerstraße in an hour to catch a bus to catch a train.  I'll get to Frankfurt (Main) Airport around 3am (my time) but it's much better than worrying about not making a train... =D  So, yeah.

I'm going to miss the wonderful people that I met here: "My Koreans" - Younghoe and Eunsol, and Decky, Ross, Ardhi, Besti, Rani, Gerrit, Johannes, Elena, Oxana, Spela, Janez, Joze, Fotis, Fernando, Terrones, Jorge Luis, Devika, Chetan... Wow, so many people.. They've all made my time here so completely wonderful.

Excited to be coming home, though. =) Very much so.  I can't wait to see my family and friends again!! And I'm DONE with school.  Which is exciting, because now I get to job hunt, FULL TIME.  Haha...

Ok, done being all sentimental now, going to pack up my laptop and get ready to go. Younghoe's going to walk me to the bus =) (Eunsol would be joining her, but she's in Lisbon right now, so that's ok =D)

Love!!!

**I'll be landing in Chicago in about 24 hours!!!!**

So, let me refer you back to this post for a minute... =)  Remember how I said I'd be in Berlin by dinner? Ha!!!  I heard once that "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." Well, God must have been rolling in the aisles becuase my plans did NOT go according to, well, plan, at all.  In retrospect, it's hilarious, but at the time it was rather nerve wracking...

This is what really happened:


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This includes an overnight stay at a hostel just outside the Barcelona Francs train station between Saturday and Sunday.  It also includes an overnight train from Paris to Stuttgart (got in at 05:30) and a two hour nap in Pforzheim before saying goodbye to my Koreans (Younghoe and Eunsol) and heading to Magdeburg to visit Emily.

Schedule of events:

• Thursday
• Wasserstraßenkreuz with Emily and her co-worker
• Friday
• Back to Pforzheim
• Packing
• Saturday
• Mailing off my suitcases (hopefully)
• Sunday
• Visiting, saying my goodbyes, prepping for my trip
• Monday
• 10:30 (+1GMT) Fly out of FRA
• 15:45 (-6GMT) Land at ORD

I'm really excited and really sad, but I've decided I'm going to come back, so it's ok. =)

ALSO.  Pictures from Italy and Spain are up on my Picasa account.... (clicky the links!)

Love!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Crazy American wanders Rome, Venice, and Seville!!!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you heard me, today you get a full run-down of my adventures with Kit in Rome!!! You also get my wanderings of Venice and, ladies and gentlemen, AND you get the beginnings of my trip to Seville.

In the interest of keeping this somewhat simple to read,we're going to start out this blog in outline format and then maybe I'll change it to actual paragraphs... but I wouldn't count on it ;)

• 
  
  Italy
  • 
    
    Wednesday, February 10.
    • 
      
      Kit and I took a train from Pforzheim to the Karsruhe-Baden Airport. (Which apparently used to belong to the Air Force. I had no idea... =) )
    • 
      
      Hopped a plane to Rome. =D Got to sit together in the “Emergency exit” seats which was awesome because it meant that I got more legroom. =D Yeah, I quickly discovered that if you're one of the first people on the plane for Ryanair, you can go to an Emergency Exit seat and as long as you assure the stewardess that in case of an emergency you are able to open the door/window thingy, they let you sit there. And because it's an emergency exit, there is more legroom so people can easily exit if they need to. =)
    • 
      
      Got to Ciampion, the airport “near” Rome and had to take a bus from there to Rome proper. No problem, it was only four euro. (Much better than the bus from Frankfurt Hahn to Frankfurt Main, which was twelve euro, oy!)
    • 
      
      Got to Termini and found the bus that we were supposed to take to our hostel, but the problem was, they don't announce the bus stops, like they do in Chicago or Pforzheim... so we had to guess where our stop was and ended up getting off of the bus at a stop that wasn't ours. Oops! After a bit of walking, we found a fruit stand that was still open. They didn't speak a lot of english, but they were very nice and tried to help us by pointing the way to another bus that we could take. While waiting for said bus, we decided that if any taxis came by, we'd take it, because we really weren't sure where we were or how far we were from our hostel, and it would be easier to just take a taxi than wander the “Roman Ghettos.” Granted, we didn't really know if we were in the ghetto or not, because there weren't any people, but there was a lot of graffiti, so we assumed the worst. Just as I had finished saying that there wouldn't possibly be any taxis around this area at this time, a taxi pulls up. Go figure. So we jump in and give him the hostel name and address, unfortunately he doesn't speak english and we don't speak italian. Haha... We made it anyways, and it turns out we were only a few blocks (six, ten maybe?) away from where we needed to be. The cab fare was inexpensive, however we were so grateful to be out of the “Roman Ghettos” that we completely overtipped him. =)
    • 
      
      We got inside and checked into our room and then asked the receptionist, Marius, where we could find food. It was about 8pm, so we weren't sure if anything would be open, but Marius directed us to a restaurant down the street which turned out to be inexpensive and delicious. =) The funny thing about this restaurant was that they serve Antipasto with every meal that you order, but if you're like Kit and I, you don't know that going in. So we ordered a pasta, a pizza, a bottle of wine,and a bottle of water. Well, no sooner had we finished ordering than a waitress walked up and started putting food on our table. No explanation, just setting down plates. Kit and I were so confused!!! We slowly started eating, and as they took one plate away, they replaced it with another one! (This was all the antipasto, but we didn't know that!) After about ten antipasto dishes, they brought out our order of pasta and pizza!! We were so baffled by the thought of more food! We started eating the pizza and only got about a third of the way through before finally giving up and asking them to wrap everything up for us so we could take it back to the hostel with us. =)
    • 
      
      When we finally got our bill, paid, and left, we realized that we were the ONLY people left in the restaurant.
    • 
      
      On the walk back to the hostel, we realized that there would be no place for the pasta and pizza to go, so we decided to give it to Marius, since he suggested the restaurant in the first place.
    • 
      
      Shortly after we had given him the pasta and pizza, he knocked on our door and told us that he was giving a “tour” of Rome to some people and we could join if we wanted to. So we did. He pulled out a map of the city and started drawing all over it, saying silly things like “This is the shopping district, I used to go here a lot with my old girlfriend, she used to be very happy, I used to be very broke.” and “Here is where our president lives, if you have any bombs, you can drop them off here...” Silly, snarky little things that just made Kit and I giggle incessantly. (Though, that might have something to do with the wine we had with dinner too, now that I think about it ;) )
    • 
      
      After Marius' “tour” Kit and I went to bed, because we were EXHAUSTED.
  • 
    
    Thursday, February 11.
    • 
      
      Kit and I got up around 9:30 and had breakfast downstairs. Italian breakfast is rather simple: Croissants and coffee or tea. The coffee was delicious, but the cappuccinos they offered were astounding.
    • 
      
      After breakfast, Kit and I decided to wander. So we took the map that Marius had “made” (also known as: scribbled all over) for us and set out to explore the city.
    • 
      
      We walked, and walked, and walked. We saw a pretty street and so turned down it. And then we saw a cool looking tree, so went towards it. Our exploration was rather aimless. =) It was a lot of fun, though! We went in “search” of the obelisks that were stolen from the Egyptians thousands of years ago, and every time we saw one, Kit would take a picture of it.
    • 
      
      We found the de Medici house, which was cool, and then found a “busty garden” which, I think, was the Villa Bourghese... Inside the “busty garden” was a cute little cafe, where Kit and I stopped for a cup of tea.
    • 
      
      After the “busty garden” we decided to start wandering south again, and stumbled, literally, upon the famous Spanish Steps. (Which were, oddly enough, designed (or was it built?) by a Frenchman.)
    • 
      
      After the Spanish Steps, we wandered some more and stumbled upon the Trevi Fountain. =) So, of course, we had to throw in coins. One coin to return to Rome, two to find true love. “That fountain is broke, I want my money back.” - Marius. After throwing in our coins, we decided that this would be a good place to rest for a while, so we grabbed some gelato (Italian ice cream) and went back to the Trevi Fountain to people watch. =)
    • 
      
      On the way back to our hostel, we found a restaurant that looked pretty good, so we stopped there for a late lunch. (It was about 3 or 4pm) The food there was delicious, and the waiters were cute, so we sat and ate leisurely and enjoyed ourselves until they brought us the bill. Then we realized that, once again, we were the last people in the restaurant. Haha!! =) Apparently they were closing for a break before it was time to serve dinner.
    • 
      
      When we got back to our hostel, we were hungry again, but Marius told us not to worry, he was making dinner for everyone. So, Kit and I, along with our new friends from the hostel: Jenny, Kasia, and Olivia from Australia, and Johnny from LA; sat down for dinner with him in the common room of the hostel.
  • 
    
    Friday, February 12.
    • 
      
      I got up late on Friday, but had enough time to grab some cappuccino before we (Kit and our new friends) set off for the Vatican. Marius had told us during our “tour” that it would take about half a day. BOY WAS HE WRONG!!! We were there for about four hours and only saw the Vatican Museum and the Sistene Chapel!
    • 
      
      The museum was gorgeous, with all sorts of interesting information about the frescoes and the art that was made for and collected by the Vatican.
    • 
      
      The Sistene Chapel. Wow. 27.something meters high. And absolutely gorgeous. I can't imagine what it looked like originally. It really, truly, does look like the postcards, which is amazing. You'd think that they photoshop or touch up the postcards to make it look better than it really was, but they really don't. Kit and I tried to take some sneaky pictures of it, as proof. Kit's turned out a lot better than mine did... =)
    • 
      
      After the museum, Kit and I had lost Johnny, Jenny, Kasia, and Olivia, so we went to find dinner on our own. Just down the block from the Vatican Museum entrance was a cute little restaurant with decent prices and a jolly man in a red sweater who said “Bonjourno!” and motioned for us to come inside. So we did! The food was really good, as was the coffee. =) (I'm noticing a trend of absolutely delicious coffee in Italy, what about you? ;) )
    • 
      
      After our lunch/dinner, where we were, once again, the last people to leave, we went back to the Hostel, hopped into Kit's bed and made use of the hostel's free internet to catch up on some TV shows before going to bed. A very low key night, but it was good anyways. =D
  • 
    
    Saturday, February 13.
    • 
      
      Kit and I had really wanted to visit Pisa during our time in Rome, so we figured that we'd go back to the Vatican and see St. Peter's Basilica before going to catch a train to Pisa, take some silly pictures, and come back. Well, once we got to St. Peter's we realized that it would be foolish of us to not fully appreciate this gorgeous church. So we said “Pisa tomorrow? Sure!” and stayed ALL DAY in St. Peter's.
    • 
      
      We saw the Basilica itself and then went under it to see the tombs of several different popes, including John Paul II. Afterwards, we noticed that Mass was being offered in the Basilica, so we went for a quick dinner at the same restaurant as the day before, and went back to St. Peter's for Saturday night Mass. It was gorgeous. All in Italian, but not really hard to follow. (Especially for me, who has been going to Italian Masses while I was in Germany!)
    • 
      
      On our way home, we decided to look for a coffee shop that the receptionist in the morning had recommended to us. It was called Sant Eustachio and apparently had the best coffee in Rome. It was near the Pantheon, we knew that much, so it was “on the way home” and we decided to try to find it. That was quite an adventure. Especially as we really had no idea where we were going and not all of the roads in Italy are marked with street signs... However, we found it (purely by accident, again!) and WOW. It had really, amazingly good coffee.
    • 
      
      We also stopped at a fruit market to pick up some snacks, as we intended on going to Pisa the next day and figured it would be easier and cheaper to take lunches than to buy them there. =)
  • 
    
    Sunday, February 14.
    • 
      
      Valentines day!!! Kit and I got up and showered and realized that since the Colosseum and other “cool” ruins closed rather Early, it was going to have to be either see them, or see Pisa. So Pisa went out the window and we were off to see the Colosseum.
    • 
      
      Wow. What a building. It's, well, colossal! And Kit and I were amazed by the size and preservation of it.
    • 
      
      We took a tour and wandered around it for a bit, before going out to find some other ruins, including the Roman Forum.
    • 
      
      We're not entirely sure of everything we saw, especially since we disagreed on several things that we thought the map was showing us... =) After that, we went to the Pantheon for lunch. While we were sitting there, a man came by with a speaker and a cd player and sang in the square in front of the Pantheon. He had a beautiful operatic tenor voice and was dressed in black pants, a black coat and a white scarf. He looked, basically, like your stereotypical Italian opera singer. =) It was amazing. Beautiful music to sing us through lunch. =)
    • 
      
      After lunch, we stopped back at Sant Eustachio and bought ourselves (and others) some delicious coffee to take home with us. =D It was DELICIOUS. (Have I mentioned this yet? Italy has Very Good Coffee...)
    • 
      
      When we got back to the hostel, we prettied ourselves up and dropped off our coffee and went back to the restaurant that we went to on the first night for our Valentines day dinner. It was DELICIOUS. We knew what to expect this time, so it wasn't as shocking when they started bringing us multiple plates of antipasto... =) We stayed until about ten and then had to head back to the hostel to pack up since we had to leave at about 0530 the next morning because Kit had to catch a bus to the airport and I had to catch a train to Venice.
  • 
    
    Monday, February 15.
    • 
      
      Dropped Kit off at her bus and then made my way to my train so I could go to Venice. My goal was simple: See Venice before it sinks. =)
    • 
      
      Caught my train without a problem and four hours later, I was in VENICE.
    • 
      
      Venice, the day before Carnivale. Wow. It was gorgeous. The masks, the colors, the costumes... A whirlwind was my first thought, and it would be correct. =) The people in the train station wanted to charge 3 euro for a map, so I decided to just wander around on my own. =) What a wonderful experience. The colors and costumes!!! Gorgeous.
    • 
      
      I walked around and bought a few things, food, masks, glass... before heading back to the train station.
    • 
      
      From Venice, I took the train to Milan where I transferred to an overnight train that would take me to Barcelona.
• 
  
  Spain
  • 
    
    Tuesday, February 16.
    • 
      
      Slept a bit on the train, and woke up in time to watch the train go through Spain on it's way to Barcelona. It was supposed to get in at 0945 but an hour later we actually got off the train.
    • 
      
      From Barcelona França I took the train to Barcelona Sants where I caught a train to Madrid. Slept most of the way there =)
    • 
      
      From Madrid, I got on another train to Seville. Went online and talked to people and watched movies until the train pulled into Seville.
    • 
      
      Sarah had told me that Tomas, her fiancé, would be picking me up from the station, however neither of us knew what the other looked like! Thankfully we found each other without a problem, he just looked for the girl with the huge backpack (oh, that would be me!) and voilá! Shortly after he picked me up, we went to get Sarah from her work. She teaches Engilsh in Seville, which means she works mostly when other people have their breaks. For example, she teaches in the morning, just after lunch, and in the evening after other people get off of work.
    • 
      
      After picking up Sarah, we went shopping and then made dinner. Dinner was delicious! Filets of meat that were sauteed in an onion and white wine sauce. It was absolutely delicious. After dinner, we went to bed. =)

***Ok, summary is done, see the regular blog posts for anything else =)***

Short update on my time in Seville =)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Wow, my computer died and I lost my entire entry on Rome before I got to post it...

First things first, let me talk about my beautiful day in Seville. I woke up around 08:30, got dressed and headed out with Sarah to pick up Tomas and go to Mass. We went to Ash Wednesday Mass at The Cathedral in Seville. This is the second largest church in Europe. The first is St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. =D Now I can say that I've been to both! ;) Anyways, after Mass, Sarah and I walked around the Seville city center for a bit and then caught the bus back to her apartment for lunch. After lunch, Sarah had to go to work, so I chilled and then Tomas' friend Juan Luis came by to take me around Seville and show me some cool things. =) Sarah and Tomas had set this up for me, so I would be able to see the sights with someone who was a) a very good english speaker and b) knew what he was talking about. (Or if he didn't know, he put on a very good show ;) ) Juan Luis showed up around four thirty, and together we went to the city center. We walked through the city center towards the Cathedral, but the Cathedral was closed to the public, so we walked around through different areas, with Juan Luis pointing out different historical and religious sights including the Macarena, which is a famous statue of the Virgin Mary. Around 18:45 we walked along the river for about forty-five minutes and then decided to go get a “Merienda” which is basically a something sweet that the Spanish have between lunch and dinner. They usually have lunch around one or two and then dinner anywhere between nine and eleven at night. Juan Luis took me to a really cute little restaurant/cafe thing where we had a small dessert and tea (me) and coffee (him). After that, we went to see the plaza of Santa Cruz and then he drove me back to Sarah's apartment. Sarah was still at work, she teaches English and so has classes after other people are done with their work or school. So I went in and found my poor, crashed computer, and sighed over the lost stories of Rome that I'll have to re-write and then started this entry.

…

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Last night, after Sarah came home we made dinner and then went to bed. We were going to watch a movie, but by the time dinner was finished it was close to 23:30, so we figured bedtime was best for both of us, especially since Sarah had to work in the morning.  Today, it rained all day. I'm not kidding. The people of Seville don't deal with rain well...it's rather amusing. Especially since it's rather warm out, about 15 degrees Celsius. This morning, we went to Tomas' house around eleven, watched “Bella” and then Sarah and I went back to her place for lunch. Sarah left for work at 1:30 and I cleaned up lunch (did dishes, put food away) and then napped and caught up on my email/facebook time ;) Sarah came home around 5:30 or six and after a small marienda, we went out together to go to Mass at San Salvador in the center and then get some tapas for dinner afterwards. The Mass at San Salvador was short, but really pretty, with a short song to Mary at the end of it. Tapas was DELICIOUS. =D After dinner, we headed back to Sarah's place and it was already ten, so we called it a night.

…

I love Seville. Really, it's just a gorgeous place. And the weather here is just wonderful. The accent is something I need to get used to, considering that the Spanish I usually hear is from Mexico and the Spanish here is... well... Spanish. =) Granted, I'd need to learn Spanish, of any sort, before actually moving here ;) And no, I probably won't actually move here, but it'd be nice to visit again. =D

Plaza de España

Oh wow, I am a horrible blogger! I promise promise I'll update soon with my adventures in Rome with Kit (I'm writing up a nice bloggy entry now!) but first I want to show you my plan to get "home."  Mostly because it amused me =)  And yeah, i'm not exactly going "home" just to Berlin for a few days to visit a friend, but still...





View Larger Map


It's basically a straight line!!! Granted, it's about 30-ish hours of train riding, but whatever... =D I'll get to Berlin just in time for dinner!

So yeah, I hope you were as amused as I was =D

Love and hugs and I promise I'll update about Rome and Venice and Seville soon!!!!

~e

Quick note

My dear, wonderful, Readers,

The new thing on the side isn't necessarily to ask for money. I'm just promoting a friend's entrepreneurial NGO. To use her words:

Kranti aims to empower and equip India’s trafficked girls, sex workers and otherwise socially disadvantaged young women (Revolutionaries) with the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to build fulfilling futures and become catalysts for social change.


SO. If you can give money, that would be wonderful, however I'm in no position to give money, so I can't really ask it of any of you. I can, however, raise awareness of this awesome endeavor, and hope that you can also spread the word in the hopes that Robin can get the funding that she needs.


Thanks for reading!!

~Erin

Schedule of my trips =D

(Hopefully you can see this, if not, leave a comment or email me and I'll try to fix that...)


LOVE!


~e