Back to Deutschland!

When we came back from Greece, we flew in again to Germany, which meant more time spent invading Nick's house. This time we mixed it up a bit and brought Karen along. We only stayed a day, but oh what a marvelous day it was. Actual showers and actual beds and POPEYE'S. Yeah. Nick's dad brought us Popeye's from base. I had never had Popeye's before and I was skeptical (as I am about every chicken joint that is not Bojangle's) but it was good. Oms noms noms.

We had a bit of an adventure at Nick's. There's an adorable baby goat that lives next door named Bobo that takes it upon himself to come frolic on the patio and play with the dog and eat Miss Lisa's flowers. He also likes to get in the house.







Yes, that was just an excuse to spam you with baby goat pictures.

We also went to the eiscafé down the road before getting on the train back home! Eiscafé = German for "ice cream parlor". Lots of fun ice cream was had: I had amaretto ice cream, Annie had curaçao ice cream, Karen had a banana split, and Nick had SPAGHETTI ICE CREAM MOST AWESOME THING EVER. No, it is not spaghetti flavored ice cream; that would be gross. They serve the ice cream in a way that makes it look like spaghetti noodles, and then they put strawberries or some other variety of red fruit on top to make it look like there's tomato sauce on top. It was super cute and we should import this to America.

All of us at the eiscafé!

And then Nick dropped us off at the station and we came back to Louvain-la-Neuve. Wee!

Yes, pretty much this post was an excuse to post pictures of baby goats.

Next up, Namur!

En Grèce!

Hey guys! I am made of fail, I know, but here's part 2 of the Spring Break series, entitled "En Grèce" (which means "In Greece" in French)!

We flew out of Frankfurt, Germany to Volos, Greece, and from Volos hopped a bus to Athens. The group parted ways there: Anna, Megan, Nick and Grace went to Skiathos, and Annie, Karen, and I went to Santorini!

It's a 7 hour ferry ride from Athens to the port at Santorini. When I say "ferry" I mean "big freaking cruise ship". I have never been on a boat before and promptly freaked out on the inside. Y'all saw Titanic; don't play games/look at me like I'm crazy. Pretty much if your method of transportation is not a car, I don't trust it.

That's the island of Naxos, as seen from the deck of our boat. Naxos is still a good 2 hours from Santorini, so we had a while to go after this.

On the island we stayed in the touristy town of Perissa at Anny Studios, a really cool/pretty hostel run by an American guy from California.

That's our hostel! There were marble steps in front of our room. It rained one morning. I wore flip flops. Do you know how disastrous that was? I couldn't sit down comfortably for 2 days. It was sad but hilarious (in hindsight).

Fun thing about Perissa: BLACK SAND BEACH. By sand I actually mean "pebble", but WHATEVER.
Welcome to paradise, right? That first day, we got to the hostel, ran to our room, changed into our swimsuits, and promptly fell asleep on the beach for like 4 hours. Words cannot express how black I was when we woke up. Yikes.

A lot of the places on the island were closed because we weren't there during tourist season, but all the restaurants were still up and running. Let me just say: Greece = CHEAP FOOD. I was so happy. A plate that would have cost me €12-14 in Louvain-la-Neuve cost me €7 in Perissa. Thank you, terrible Greek economy! You saved my pocketbook from certain death. Below is a picture of Karen with one such plate.



On the day before we left the island, we went up to Oia and Fira, the two main tourist cities. They're the ones where all the buildings are white with blue circle roofs! SO PRETTY. I'm not even going to talk about it; I'm just going to post pictures.

Fira



Fira is also forever endeared to my heart because I found €20 on the ground there.

The view at Oia







If you can be unhappy in Oia and/or Fira and/or on the general island of Santorini, then you just need to go on ahead and end it. I'm a pretty grouchy person, and even I was like, "SO PRETTY WANT TO STAY FOREVER." Pretty much all the place was missing was a herd of unicorns.

We left the island (sadly) and went back to spend a day on the mainland in Athens! Again, I won't talk: I'll just post pictures.



FUN FACT ABOUT GREECE/ATHENS IN GENERAL: there are random orange/lemon trees EVERYWHERE. They're just on the side of the road, chillin', growing fruit. Don't believe me? I have proof.

See the oranges?

The Acropolis!

The Parthenon! There was a little kid behind me; his dad was trying to explain to him that the Parthenon was very very old, and the kid goes, "...why hasn't it broke yet?" Bahahahahahaha

And here's a picture of the Alps from our plane back to Germany!


Greece is a blast in a glass. I like it!

Updates are going to start picking up. I only have 12 more days left here in Belgium, and there's a lot I want to cover. Check back soon/often for more junk!

Spring Break part 1

I'm late. I know. But I'm always late so y'all should have expected as much.

The first stop on our Spring Break Tour was Börnsborg, Germany, where Nick's family lives. It's in a quiet little corner of Germany; to get there we took the train from Louvain-la-Neuve to Luxembourg, got on a bus at Luxembourg,and his mom picked us up at the station in Saarbrücken, Germany. There's all kinds of rolling hills and greenery around their place; it's really gorgeous and when we got there we took a walk.



Pretty, isn't it? We chilled out that night (travelling sucks, btw), and ate a lot and watched tv in English. Not even gonna lie, it was kind of nice.

Nick's family went on vacation to Spain shortly thereafter, so for the most part we had the house to ourselves. One day we sat in the house literally all day in our pajamas. Another morning, Nick got up, fired up the grill, and made us Bavarian breakfast (i.e., sausage and beer) which we ate out on the patio.



I want to say that particular beer was cristal weissen (I'm pants at spelling German). It was the noms, and it took me until we left that afternoon to finish it. We drove out to the Japanese garden! The Japanese Garden had just opened and not everything was blooming yet, but it was still gorgeous. The gift shop had tea cups that said 茶 on them which I found funny/snarky because 茶 reads "cha" which means "tea".





The next day was Homburg for shopping and castle ruin exploring!






After having my camera for the better part of 7 years I've finally learned how to work it to take awesome shots like that last one. Win!





It was pretty cool. There was also a tower that Annie and I tried to climb up, but we got to the top of the stairs and it was roped off. Thanks, Germany. Thanks.

After that, it was on to the airport to get to Athens!

I like Germany. I pick on a select few of my friends all the time because they're OBSESSED with the place (I'm looking at you; Patty), but having gone there myself I now am forced to take back SOME of my teasing. Not all of it. Not even half of it. More like 1/5 of it. But I'm still taking some of it back. Take what you can get.

Next time, it's Greece!

What? Tease!

Hey guys! I'm back from my bajillion day long vacation, feelin' all refreshed and lookin' all tan (read as, "darker than I've ever been in my life") and what not. I've been travelling for 2 weeks none stop, pretty much, and, needless to say, I've got a lot to talk about and even more pictures to show. I'm pretty sure I have upwards of 300 pictures from Greece and Germany, and since I definitely can't do all of those in one post here's what the plan's gonna be:

1. Easter post tomorrow
2. Germany post Monday or Tuesday
3. Greece post Wednesday or Friday

Here's a little teaser so you know what you're in for:


The Japanese Garden at Homburg


Oia, Santorini, Greece

Be jealous :p

I made it!

I've made it to Greece! I'm currently fending off Mosquitos in the port café we're passing the night in before we catch the ferry to Santorini in the morning, but whatever: I'm here in one piece.

So Greece. The countryside is beautiful. The water's really beautiful. Athens? Sketchy. Sketchy looking and dirty. We think we may have found the nicer part of town on the train, but there was no time to investigate.

The ferry tomorrow is out at 7:55 in the morning, and it's SEVEN HOURS LONG. I will try not to cry. Y'all know I don't do water. After that, though, it's 4 days of beach and sun and wonderfulness. I'm excited.

Things I've Learned:
1: Greek food is cheap
2: Greek food is delicious
3: Greek food is filling
4: Greece is diverse. I've seen more different types of people here in 7 hours than I have in 4 months in Belgium

Deutschland Deutschland

Hey guys! How's it hanging?

Spring Break has officially begun! This week, Nick, Annie, Grace and I are in Germany staying at Nick's house. I'm not quite sure where it is, and he's gone on a run so I can't ask him, but the googling weather says I'm in Steinach am Glan. Either way, I'm close to Trier, which is where Clemson chemical engineering majors go to study abroad.

The weather. Here. Is. PERFECT. It's presently 19° C, which is close to 70° F. I FEEL LIKE I'M BACK IN SOUTH CAROLINA OH MY GOODNESS. Yesterday, we took a walk through the woods and sat out by a lake forever and played with Nick's dog. It was a good day. We even got to go to Ramstein, AND THERE WAS HAIR CARE PRODUCT I FLIPPED OUT ALL OVER THE PLACE. Seriously, I've never been so excited over hair grease. Ever.

Germany is so pretty I can't even stand it. It's all rolling hills and pastures and farm animals and deer and giant bunny rabbits and perfectly placed trees. Unfortunately, I can't put up pictures right now (not that I've taken many thus far) because I don't have my laptop on me, but they're coming. Oh they're coming.

Later this week, we're touring castles. A lot. Because it's Germany, and what is there to do? Tomorrow, we're going to Mannheim (I think)!

Check back soon for castle rants :D

Things I've learned:
1. Germany is gorgeous
2. Germany has perfect weather
3. Yes. They really do drive 80 bajillion mph--excuse me, km/h.

Photo bomber!

Soooo I know I promised a photo dump last night and I didn't do it. I'm sorry. But you're getting it now!

Czech money! The ones that are copper-looking around the edges are 50 kč, and the silver ones are 2 kč. I have 20s too; they're gold, and look like the 2s. I saved some to bring home!

St. Nicholas Church in Old Town Square, right behind our hotel. It's so pretty! And it's in the Baroque style!

Those things poking out of the top of those buildings are actually the towers of the Church of Our Lady before Týn (Kostel Matky Boží před Týnem in Czech), also in Old Town Square, which is, quite frankly, the most terrifying church I've ever seen. It is tall and spiky and it literally scares me. Go to Wikipedia and look at it and see if it doesn't scare you too. Of course, because it is ancient and huge and impressive looking/generally imposing, I also love it with all my heart.

Old Town city hall, also in Old Town Square

The Prague astronomical clock (Pražský orloj in Czech) on the side of Old Town city hall! The astrological clock on the bottom supposedly has a lot of cult symbols in it.

One of the statues on the Charles Bridge (Karlův most in Czech)! 30 statues decorate the sides of the bridge, and they're all really intense looking and full of religious imagery (2 of my favorite characteristics in art/architecture).

THE PALACE. The two main statues on the gate (the ones in the center) were intense and murderous: homeboy on the right has a bat and is about to bludgeon someone; dude on the left has a dagger and is about to stab the other guy in the neck. INTENSE. Don't mess with the Czechs, man.





That, my friends, is Saint Vitus Cathedral, Katedrála svatého Víta in Czech. Yes, it's the one that took 600 years to build. The original architects died, leaving the building unfinished, and it wasn't until the 19th century that the Czechs hired new architects to finish it. The 2 guys who finished the cathedral actually had themselves sculpted into it; there are 2 statues hiding out over the front door of 2 men in 19th century clothes!

Inside of St. Vitus Cathedral! I walked in and just sort of stared with my mouth open. I repeat: old, impressive church = love it.

I assume this was a minor altar in the cathedral.

This was just in the middle of the street. I'm not joking. Look at that blue sky! O Sunlight, how I miss thee.

Coolest synagogue ever! THE ROSE WINDOW IS THE STAR OF DAVID. We found this on accident, trying to get to... I don't even know where we were trying to go. It was on a street called "Jeruzalémská". Prague has a huge Jewish quarter; I think this may have been on the fringes of it.

The National Museum!

The main staircase in the National Museum! It looks JUST LIKE the opera house in the Disney version of Anastasia.

My favorite building was hands down Saint Vitus Cathedral. Old gothic/Baroque churches make my life, and it was done in BOTH styles because of the gap in construction. Plus (this is completely superficial), I just like to see the church glorified.

I should have been an architect so I could make important looking churches. I have realized this, and am coming to terms with it.

In other (good) news, I FOUND A BLACK HAIR SALON IN LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE ON THE WAY TO CLASS TODAY AND I THINK THEY SELL MY BRAND OF HAIR CARE PRODUCT YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS EXCITES ME OR MAYBE YOU DO.

Okay. I'm gonna go calm down now.

PRAHA

GUYS. I love Prague. Seriously. I love it. It's cold, and it snowed for 2 days (blegh, says the Southerner), but it's a beautiful place (albeit a little sketchy looking in some parts) and the people are friendly and everything is so impressive! I love it.

First and foremost, I must gush about today. Lately, I've been all grumbly and depressed acting because of the lack of sunlight in Louvain-la-Neuve (it seriously rains EVERYDAY), and today... IT WAS SUNNY IN PRAGUE. We walked out of the hotel and I felt like a kid on Christmas with too many presents. I hope tomorrow is gorgeous as well!

Today, we toured the castle panorama, which is on top of this MONSTROUS mountain/hill. I swear, if I don't have the best legs/bum in America by the time this is over I will eat the large furry hat I bought from a souvenir shop today. There was a church that took 600 years to build, and galleries, and so much grandeur I didn't know what to do with myself!

Y'all know how cheap I am. Seriously. I could get blood out of the metaphorical turnip, which is why I must reiterate that the Czech koruna is worth absolutely nothing. It's fallen 2 ck against the US dollar in the 3 days since we've been here, so I'm in cheap stuff heaven, unlike in Louvain-la-Neuve. Right now, $1 US is worth almost 18 ck. It kills me though, because there's very good stuff in the Czech Republic, but it's not priced accordingly. Food around here, for example, is therefore very cheap: tonight is the first night I've spent more than $7 US on dinner, and that was just because we splurged a bit and went to this nice Italian place we found the other night. I had spicy spaghetti, and it was delicious. Speaking of the food, I'm glad y'all asked about it because I was going to tell you.

I have discovered that I like Czech food. It's got much more of a German influence than I expected it to, what with all the sauerkraut and sausages, but it's also Slavic food, like dumplings and grog (yes, grog) and garlic soup. Garlic soup is supposed to be a big thing around here, or so Karen said, but we only found it at 3 places. We had it today at lunch while we were touring the castle and I liked it. Garlic is one of my favorite things ever, so that was pretty much a guarantee.

The Czech Republic is also famous for its apple strudel, so I tried it. Hated it. Absolutely hated it. To be fair, I knew I would hate it when I ordered it. I don't like cooked fruit; never have, never will, but it's a big deal around here according to Karen, so I thought I'd try it for the cultural experience. THERE WERE RAISINS. I HATE RAISINS. I was honestly grimacing the entire time I was eating it. It was a well made apple strudel, sure, and the drizzling of chocolate sauce helped, but it's just not something I would eat ever again. Ever.

All in all, there's a varied food scene in Prague. Apart from traditional Czech food, there are lots of Italian restaurants and Chinese places, and there's a Parisian cafe down the street from our hotel. There's also KFC and McDonald's. I've actually seen more KFCs than McDonald's, which is very random/odd.

We've been to every souvenir shop in the general vicinity of our hotel, and even some in the Jewish quarter. There are Swarovski crystal shops EVERYWHERE, and nearly every souvenir shop sells crystal and glass figurines. They're very cute, but can get a bit pricey.

I was standing around in the souvenir shop the other night, waiting on either Karen or Annie to finish buying stuff, and one of the shop owners came over and talked to me. He was a nice Arab man, and he must have heard me say something in my funny accent to one of the other girls (we've been running around Prague pretending to be British) and asked me if I spoke French. I answered him, in French of course, and he started asking me other things, also in French. He asked me if I was African, and I said, "No, I'm from America, but I guess that counts as being of African origin, yeah?" We had a laugh over it, and it turns out that he was from Tunisia, where the first in this latest series of Arab uprisings was. We chatted a bit more; he said he assumed I was African because lots of African countries speak French as their official language (which is true). I told him that all of my professors think I'm Haitian (which they seriously do), and we had a laugh over it. When the other girls were finished, we said goodbye. He really was a very nice man.

You guessed it. I'm about to get introspective/political.

I find it much less offensive when people here assume I'm anything other than American. One, they don't run into very many Americans, not as many as other English speaking Europeans anyway, so it's just not the first thing they assume. Also, to be frank, there's not very many black people in Europe, as evidenced by the fact that I can't even find freaking hair grease in Louvain-la-Neuve, and most of the ones that are here came from (gasp) Africa, seeing as it's so close. I guess it seems more like a natural train of thought that when a European (or African/Arab immigrant, as in this case) sees me that they assume I'm African, and not insulting like it is when my American professors (and high school teachers) say to me everyday "Are you Haitian?" or "Is there any French in your family?" No. If they want to get technical, if I can for sure claim any European country as my heritage, it is Germany (hoorah for the Subers out of Clinton!). In America, it just seems like they look at me and go, "Oh, she's ethnic (I hate that word) and can speak another language; obviously she's not a regular black person and that language is in her heritage." It's demeaning to me, and I take it very personally.

I've also taken a bajillion pictures, but you'll have to wait until Sunday to see them. Know why? I'm a complete and total boob and left my camera cable back in Louvain-la-Neuve. Who's brilliant? I am!

Srsly though. Tune in Sunday for a photo dump.

Things I have learned:
1. They do not split tabs in Europe. It is therefore best to carry around bills.
2. Grog is real. It is a drink. No, I did not try it.
3. In the Czech Republic, beer is cheaper than water (surprise)
4. It is the Czech Republic. Not Czechoslovakia.
5. I like sauerkraut.

Les vacances!

First things first: RAFA NADAL LOST TO DAVID FERRER IN THE AUSTRALIA CUP WHAT KIND OF WORLD EVEN IS THIS I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Admittedly, Ferrer is a good player, but REALLY?!! REALLY?!! At least Rafa's been a gentleman about it and isn't whining about his hurt leg. HE'S SO CLASSY. I'm still upset though; I really wanted him to get that 4th title. (I'm sorry, but tennis is my football)

Now, the stuff y'all actually care about! After pretty much a 24 hour journey, I have made it in one piece along with Karen G. and Annie to Prague! We're sort of all zombies right about now, but I'll start from the beginning.

We took the train from Louvain-la-Neuve back to Brussels, only instead of being at the Grande Place we had to get off at the Midi stop, also known as the business part of town. BORING. And we had like 6 hours to kill. It was looking pretty wretched, but we wandered around until we found interesting things!



Impressive, right? You have no idea. But that's not the coolest thing we found. Not by any means. THIS is:

THERE IS A REAL LIVE CASTLE TOWER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY FOR NO REASON DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS EXCITES ME I DON'T THINK YOU DO. Seriously, I live for this kind of stuff. Old churches and castles? Sign me up; why is this not 1456. It was just there on the other side of this random park in the middle of the street and I had a small heart attack over it (sort of like the one you just read). We wanted to tour it, but we're going to save that for another day (one where we're not toting backpacks full of junk). BUT THERE WAS EVEN EVIDENCE OF A MOAT. AH.

We flew out of Brussels South Charleroi airport on WizzAir, which is this super cheap Euro airline. It was only an hour and fifteen minutes, AND I DID IT WITHOUT TAKING ANY SEDATIVES THAT IS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. Granted, I was flipping out the whole time, BUT I DID IT. It helped that we stayed awake in the airport all night so I was dead tired and only wanted to pass out, but the point is I did it! I hate planes, guys. Seriously I do.

We're staying at the Hotel Atlantic. It's in a really nifty location pretty much in the center of town near a lot of really important buildings. It's a really cool hotel, and this is probably the biggest Euro hotel room I've ever seen. We didn't do much exploring today because we're zombies, but we did see a few impressive buildings!









Woo pretty things! I have no idea what any of these buildings are except the first one which is something akin the an opera/concert house, but I will find out and tell you.

Things I've learned:
1. Prague is not really full of gypsies. I feel like I've been lied to.
2. The Czech Republic was supposed to switch over to the Euro a year or two ago, but no one really has. Most places still only take the Czech crown, but, unlike Belgium, most places also take American bank cards!
3. Czech money is worth NOTHING. 1 US dollar is 15 Czech crown, and 1 Euro is 25 Czech crown.
4. Czech money is really pretty so I hope they don't get rid of it