Viaje - Budapest

Well, I am now in Budapest, the 6th city of the 10 that I am traveling to. This is day13 of my trip and I have just about 2 more weeks left. As you can see from the numbers above, I am spending more time in the cities at the end of the trip. The first couple cities I basically just spent 2 nights and about a day and a half in, but Prague, Budapest, and the others following Budapest I am spending 3 nights and 2 whole days in!! I have found that I can take things much slower when I have 2 full days because I'm pretty good about seeing all of the sights very quickly... in half a day usually. So, this is why I have the time to write on here today! About the weather, it has definitely been colder in all of the cities I've been to than Barcelona, but I knew to expect that. However, I have been quite impressed with the lack of snow and how adequate my coat has been. I was pretty positive before I left that I would be living in layers throughout this trip, but so far I have been completely fine with just a tshirt and my winter coat. Oh, I forgot to write that I went to the opera in Vienna and it was really amazing and beautiful and funny and really great. The best part was that it only cost me 3.50 euro!! Yes, the tickets were for standing room only, but it ended up not being too bad, and I got to see the opera!!!!! I mean, that's pretty cool, right?!?! And the other really exciting thing that happened to me in the last few days was that I almost got a 6000 ft fine yesterday on the bus on the way to my hostel. (That translates to about $30.) This is what happened... first I took the BUS number 73 eight stops like my directions told me to do. When I got to the 8th stop and saw that it wasn't called what it was supposed to be called, I figured out that I messed up. So I got back on the bus and went back to the train station. I asked someone where the TROLLEY-BUS number 73 was, and headed in that direction. Before I left the station, though, I decided that I should probably buy a bus ticket since I finally saw a machine in which to buy one. So, I got a ticket, punched it in the little orange box, and stuffed it in my coat pocket to head around the block to catch the trolley-bus. On the bus I found a seat and started counting the stops. We were at stop number 6, when this weird looking lady gets on and sort of just stands in front of me. So I sort of shifted in my seat so that I could look at the names of the stops that were flashing in the front of the bus. All of a sudden, the lady in front of me pulls out a badge and asks for my ticket. I was sort of confused at first, but I reached into my pocket... AND MY TICKET WASN'T THERE!!!!! I sort of started freaking out because I didn't want to miss my stop and we were already at the 7th one. So I looked at her frantically and tried to explain that it was in my pocket but must have fallen out and she just stared at me. Finally, because I was almost in tears and they wouldn't let me off at my stop, the two women made me go to the metro station with them and buy a ticket and showed me how to punch it in the machines. So, basically they didn't understand that I knew how to buy a ticket and use the validation machines, but I was lucky that they decided not to charge me the fine for not having a ticket. It was scary, though, and I was really happy to get to my hostel, finally, two hours later than I had originally planned. Anywho, let this be a lesson to you all: When in Budapest, be sure to know where you put your metro/bus tickets, because they WILL check your ticket at some point, and the fine is NOT cheap like everything else in Budapest. Alright, this is long enough. I'm sure I'll have other adventures to share with you eventually...

Viaje - Vienna

It's been a few days since I have posted and I am now in Vienna. I had a really great time in Prague, saw lots and lots of things, and met some super nice girls. I took lots of pictures, so you will all get to see them at some point. I did hit a spell of homesickness, which sort of took me by surprise since I have been away from home for so long already. After thinking about it, I realized that it was exactly a week since I had talked to my mom on the phone, and I had also just been talking to two girls who were getting ready to go back to their homes in New Zealand and Chile. So, add that all up along with my traveling alone, it made me really miss home. But, my amazing mother sent me a wonderful email and everything was all better after that. So I got here (Vienna) this afternoon and already wandered about for a bit. I'm going to take the rest of the evening off and then take all day tomorrow to explore the rest of the city. I hope you are all doing well.. Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to travel. Almost 95% of the time I feel perfectly safe, but there are those few moments on the streets when men come up to me and won't leave me alone that I get scared. Alright, I'm off to shower and relax... I'll write again as soon as I can!!

Viaje - Amsterdam 2

So I learned something today... when you get yourself lost in a city, you accidentally stumble across all sorts of really cool things. I figured this out this morning when I pulled my map out and started to plan my day here in Amsterdam since my train doesn't leave until later this evening. I started to make a mental list of everywhere I would like to go, and I headed out to go see these amazing things. Well, within about 5 minutes of walking, I realized that I had already accidentally seen the first thing on my list yesterday. So I turned around to go to item number two... and then I realized I had already been there too. I decided to take a moment to sit down and study my map once again, and then I realized that there wasn't one thing on my list that I hadn't already seen!! Yes, I admit that I let myself get lost in the city yesterday because I always feel that is the best way to actually get to know a city. But by doing that I left nothing for myself to do today!! I did go wander through some of the shops, but seeing as I am on a very limited budget, I couldn't buy anything. So, I wandered a little more and then took refuge here in the hostel lobby because it is warm. I now have a couple more hours until my train leaves, so I may go on one more excursion before heading to the train station just to stretch my legs a bit. Meanwhile, I had a really great time lastnight with the 4 guys from Chile that were in my hostel room. We just sat around and talked for quite a while. One of them is a Psychology major in Chile, so we talked a bit about that. It is so fun meeting people and talking to them!! I also got to practice my Spanish a little, which was fun. So all in all, Amsterdam has been wonderful!!!

Viaje - Amsterdam

So I am in Amsterdam right now and have been since about 5 yesterday afternoon. Brussels was really great. I met two girls from Austrailia who are traveling for a bit before they start their semester in England. It was fun to talk to them about the differences between Europe and each of our homes. The train ride to Brussels wasn't exactly fun, but luckily I know the metro system in Paris, so the station switch wasn't too bad at all. I actually got to the other station before they even announced which platform the train was on. The train from Brussels to Amsterdam was great as well, so there have been no problems so far on that note. I already have my overnight train ticket to Prague from Amsterdam for tomorrow night, so that should go well. I'm thinking I'm going to use all of my 10 train passes and buy a plane ticket from Geneva to Barcelona for my trip home because I can get a ticket for $28 and I have a friend joining me in Geneva.. so it would be easier for me to go back to Barcelona with her that way. Yeah, so I know that sentence was a big rambling thing. Anywho, I'm hungry, so I'm going to run to the grocery store and get myself a little lunch. Hope all is going well with you! I'll update again as soon as I can!

Viaje: Marseille

Okay, so things have already been changed from their original plan and I'm already learning to be flexible on this trip. Yesterday after finally getting to Marseille, I tried to reserve my seat on the 1:13 train to Brussels for today... well, they were all full. So now I have to go to Paris, transfer from one train station to another, and then go on to Brussels. The whole reason I came to Marseille to begin with was because I wanted to find another way of getting through France without going there since I've already been there. Well, I guess I won't be seeing much of it as I run to the metro to try and catch my next train within an hour time-span. So I'll be coming back to Marseille at some point in my life if I would like to see any of it in the daylight!! Meanwhile, this hostel was really nice and everyone working here is super nice. So, I had a good experience... and I'm prepared for worse hostels along the way after this (this was one of the more expensive ones of my journey). Okay, I'm off to catch my train. Wish me luck today!!

One More Thing!

One more thing: I GOT MY TRAIN TICKETS IN THE MAIL TODAY!!!! So I am officially leaving for my European tour on the 4th. I reserved my seat on the train and everything, so now all I have left is the packing part... I´m really a procrastinate when it comes to that, just ask Will or Emily about the night before I left for France for 17 days... Yeah. Well, that´s all!!!

Four Things

First thing: I want to apologize for not posting any pictures anytime recently. I have a great one of the grandkids hitting the Caga Tio on Christmas and a shot of the whole family too, but I cannot post them on the University computers. For some reason the computer doesn´t like my camera and won´t recognize it. So, I have to wait until my lovely friend, Trisha, gets back at the end of January and see if she will so kindly let me upload my pictures to the internet once again on her computer.

Second thing: My trip is officially delayed one day because I still have not received my train ticket in the mail. My mom sent it to me over three weeks ago so that I would get it in time, but the post office here has been closed so much in the last few weeks I´m sure it is just sitting in a pile waiting to be delivered to my house. So far not too many plans have been messed up, I just cancelled my first night in the hostel in Marseille and will only spend one night there now instead of two. If, however, the ticket does not come by tomorrow then I will have to do some major rearranging of plans. It´s okay, though.. I learned on a trip to Bolivia two years ago the phrase "flop like a mop" because things on trips rarely go exactly as planned. So, luckily I have plenty of time and I am the one in charge, so whatever happens, happens, and there.

Third thing: All of the family came over again yesterday for a New Year´s lunch. We had every kind of seafood imaginable!!! Well, I don´t eat seafood... So my host mom looked at me and told me that I wasn´t going to eat before she started laughing and brought me my own little dish of canalones that we had made on Christmas and put in the freezer. The family all got there about 2 in the afternoon and we ate shortly after that. My host mom made a HUGE cheesecake and another lemon-cake that she makes sometimes. So after our tapas, huge meal, cava, and pineapple, she brought out the cakes. For some reason she things that I won´t take the food when it is just in the middle of the table (this is really because I haven´t been taking it because I´ve been so full!), so she has taken to putting five or six pieces of anything on my plate directly in front of me so that I´ll eat it. Needless to say, I was stuffed after the 2 straight hours of eating. I finally escaped to my room after Maria and Alida (two of the grandkids) drew pictures for me and then started to run around like crazy. Shortly after I went to my room and started reading, the buzzer rang. It was my host dad´s brother and sister-in-law. Then, the buzzer rang again and another couple came up! Our apartment was not made to hold 17 people... so I just stuck to my room with frequent visits from the grandkids. Finally, around 8:15 everyone had left, so I joined my host parents on the couch to watch the news. We just had yogurt and fruit for dinner, and then my host mom brought me a plate of two pieces of lemon cake and two of cheesecake... Harry Potter was on, so we watched that for a while and then I headed to bed.

Fourth thing: This is probably my last post for a while since I don´t know how much internet usage I´ll get at the hostels I´ll be staying at. I´ll try to update while I´m traveling as often as possible, but no promises. Meanwhile, I hope you all had a wonderful New Year´s celebration and haven´t given up on your resolutions yet!