This is Places Productions, signing off (May 28th)

Alright, quite clearly I have started tailing off with posting new blogs.  It's been a combination of lack of desire and nothing interesting to write about, so I'll sum up the last bit of my trip.

Friday, Nath and I rented a car so we could explore a bit of Ireland.  We got an insanely good deal and I was very excited to drive on the wrong side of the car and on the wrong side of the road.

It took a little time to get used to, but by the end I got pretty used to it.  The hardest part of driving was remembering how much car I had to the left of me.  I mentally kept thinking, "I have to hug the left side of the road"....all of which made Nath terrified as he sat in the passenger seat of the car, which came dangerously close some parked cars and shrubs.

And I'm glad to say, I only drove down the completely wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic ONCE!

It turns out though, that the rental car only got one day of use.  Our plan was to head to Galway, so we rented the car....we did this BEFORE checking to see if there were any hostels open...which there weren't.

We ended up going to Kilkenny the first day, where the Whalens of old hail from.  Though I didn't go see any old gravestones or anything, I had a sense of nostalgia being so near where my family came from.

Kilkenny was also where Smithwicks is brewed, so we made sure to have one at dinner.  It was pretty good, but honestly it tastes the same as back home.

Saturday and Sunday we didn't do anything because Turdo McGoo (Nath) didn't want to go anywhere.  Sunday, we did go get some groceries though, so that was pretty cool...NOT!

I took the car back on Monday.  A 15 minute drive took an hour because I couldn't find ONE street sign to point me in the right direction...how do people find their way around in Dublin???  Seriously...not ONE street sign!

The rest of my time here was spent trying to get out of Dublin for the day, but ultimately, I didn't want to spend 6 hours of travel time for 4 hours in whatever city I would end up in.  I was sick of staying in hostels and moreover PAYING for them, so I didn't want to stay overnight anywhere to turn it into a two day trip.

Oh well.

My time in Dublin and Europe has now come to an end.  I thoroughly enjoyed ever second of my trip, but it'll definitely be great to get home.  Has it really been two months?  Doesn't feel like it AT ALL!

Thank you to the thousands of people for reading this...I hope you enjoyed it.  It's been fun to write it, at times.  Other times, it felt like homework.  But in the end, it was about updating people on our trip and to help us remember the little things that will undoubtedly be lost from our minds over time.

Well, this ends Places Production's blog, "Places Productions goes to Europe."

Coming soon:  Places Productions flunks out of grad school AND Places Productions Wonder Emporium.

The Red Jumpsuit who? (May 22nd)

Nath, Aidan, and I all woke up the next morning not feeling all that well from the night before.  So the only natural thing to do was to sit around all morning (and afternoon) watching TV and just chillin'.

Finally, at 2, I showered and headed out to Howth, which is about a 30 minute train ride from Dublin.  It was supposed to have about 4 hours of seaside trails, making for a pretty nice walk.  I must've been a moron cause I saw no such trails.

However, I did spend close to 4 hours walking up the hill and subsequently down the hill through the town looking for a good view of the Irish Sea.

I preferred going down the hill.

Once I got back down, I found a road that went nearish the sea and I followed that.  But I had lost all my drive for walking and I didn't really want to do it.

I looked at my watch at it was about 6:30.  I saw on a poster that a band I like, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, was playing at The Hub, in Temple Bar at 8 so I decided to catch the next train and go to the that (I seriously had about twice as many commas in that last sentence before I trimmed them down).

I got to The Hub and hopped in line amongst all the Gothic attired fans and got in and grabbed a Guinness and a seat.  The place was pretty small and there ended up only being about a hundred people there by the end of the night.  There were two bands opening up before the main act was coming on, which was kind of annoying cause I've seen a lot of crappy opening acts.

But honestly both of these bands were pretty good, especially the second one. They have a dumb name, Sherwood, but they sounded pretty good and I was actually able to get a deal on a couple of CD's because the band was from California and hadn't run into any Americans yet....and I only had 4 euro, not the 5 that it actually cost...which was actually a lie cause I did have another 5, but I was saving that for another Guinness.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was about to come on next, so I went to the bathroom right before they were supposed to go on.  When I was in there, two punk kids noticed the guy that was washing his hands at the sink...it was the lead singer.  I'm glad they were there otherwise I would've had no idea who he was as I'm not a REALLY big fan or anything...but nevertheless it was pretty cool to see him.

I followed him out and watched him meet up with the rest of the band and I saw their ritualistic "Let's have a good show!!" group hug before they went on stage.

The show was pretty darn good, albeit very short.  I just realized that it was probably so short because the 8 or 9 songs they played compromised about 90% of their released tracks.

When the show got done, I had about 15 minutes to catch my bus, but I waited just off stage, camera in hand, so I could meet the band and grab a picture.  It was about a minute later that I realized what I had become...a 17 year old girl, eagerly waiting to grab a picture of the band she just saw.  Granted, it wasn't as bad as wearing a shirt of the band to one of their concerts, but I said screw it and left.

I REALLY didn't want to have to pay 10 euro for a cab, so I sprinted through Temple Bar and got to my bus stop with just a few minutes to spare before the bus was supposed to come.

Well about 18 minutes later that bus finally showed up and I headed home.  Time well spent today.

No more wastin' time (May 21st)

Today started off very similarly from the two previous days:

Woke up.

Watched some Arrested Development.

Chatted with some people online.

But today would not end up like the others.  I got my "lounging around and wasting my day" thing out of the way, so I set off to explore Dublin.

Well, it turns out I was just re-exploring a lot of the territory that Scott and I covered in the few days we were in Dublin.

After a good 3 or 4 hours of walking around, I met up with Nath, Aidan, Jason and Peter at a pub to watch the championship game of the Champions League:  Man U vs. Chelsea.

I really couldn't have cared less who won, but I was going for Man U simply because I knew TWO of their players...two more then I knew on Chelsea's team.

From what I hear, this was one of the best matches in recent history.  Man U and Chelsea were tied, 1-1, after the first 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of extra time.

This meant their would be a shootout, where each team selects 5 players to take penalty kicks and whoever has the most wins.  Well, the best player for Man U, Ronaldo, missed his penalty kick, which set it up for Chelsea's best player, Terry, to win it.  But he slipped on the wet grass, causing his shot to go wide left.

Everyone in the pub exploded with cheers, as they were mostly made up of Man U fans...or at least they shouted the loudest.

This meant that each team would get one more kicker each until someone eventually won.

Not too long after, the Man U goalkeeper made the game saving stop and then the pub erupted once again.  What had started off as a pretty good crowd before the match ended up as a mob with nowhere to move around in the pub.

Such a good game to watch...probably the best football game i'll ever see...until early August when ANY REAL football preseason game is on.

After the match, we headed out on the town.  After a few pints at a good pub, we ended up heading to a terrible pub, or actually a dance club, and had a few more pints.  It was not my type of atmosphere...terrible lighting and music that was way too loud.

Finally we left the club and "hired" a taxi back to their apartment, where I quickly passed out while watching Arrested Development.

Nothin' to do, nowhere to go Part II (May 20th)

This day was an utter waste of time.

I got up.

I watched some Arrested Development.

I chatted with people online.

Nath and Aidan got home and we watched some more TV.

Nath had a date, so Aidan and I stayed home and chilled.

We watched Casino Royale...first time I'd seen it and it was really good.

I went to bed.

Such a waste of a day...I'm definitely not going to waste my day tomorrow.

Nothin' to do, nowhere to go (May 19th)

This day was an utter waste of time.

I got up.  

I went and ate lunch with Nath and his friends.

I came home and watched more Arrested Development.

I chatted with some people online.

Nath and Aidan got done with work.

We went and got some food and beers.

We came home and watched more Arrested Development.

We didn't do anything exciting.

I went to bed.

Such a waste of a day...I'm definitely not going to waste my day tomorrow.

Oh Guinness, how I've missed you (May 18th)

Today was the first time I think I've ever seen 3:30am from the waking up side of a day.  I'm happy to never have it happen again.

I hazily got myself onto the bus this morning and the eastern sky was already starting to get light.  I got to the airport and had another 3 hours to kill before my flight left.  It's funny, because the flight only ended up taking 35 minutes to get to Dublin.

A variety of buses finally got me to Nath's place around 1.  I would've gotten there sooner had Nath given me more then 14 words of directions.  But alas, I made it and it was good to see him.

Nath and his roommate, Aidan, had started watching Arrested Development the night before and were in the middle of season 2 by the time I got there.  It wasn't long until I was hooked in so we spent a good couple of hours watching that.

After about 6 episodes we headed out to a pub, which was amazing cause I've been desperate for a Guinness since I last left Dublin...but I decided to wait until I got back here before having one.  When we got there, I tasted that blissful bit of heaven and it wasn't long until I had another...and then a few more...and then one or two more...followed by just one more....and then another and then we went home.

While we were out, we met a cool girl named Charlotte that we hung out with for the rest of the night.  I foolishly thought that 25 euro would cover my time for the night, but that lasted about 7 minutes, so Nath was gracious enough to spot me...such a new concept.

Somehow it was 11 by the time we were catching the last bus home.  I heard it was a pretty good night.

Braveharder! (May 17th)

Come on...you didn't really think I was gonna get to the foot of the Wallace Monument and not actually go in, did you?

I retraced my steps from a few days before and found myself in Stirling once again.  I took the same bus and got up to the Wallace Monument where I now had all day to spend if I wanted to...not just a few minutes.

I browsed around the gift shop and found just about anything William Wallace or Braveheart you could ever ask for.  My favorite was the William Wallace beer...but I passed it up to save the 6 bucks and the weight off of my shoulders in my pack.

I didn't have a working camera, so I opted to spend $18 on a disposable camera...damn weak dollar.

I finally began climbing the 250 stairs of the monument.  Half way up though, I stopped and saw William Wallace's ACTUAL sword!  It was quite a site to behold, even though it didn't look like the sword used in the movies.  Personally, I think it was a good idea to create a new one because it looked much cooler then the real one.

He was a truly giant of a man though, as the sword was 1.6 meters long!  Some men's swords are longer then others I suppose.

After a few snap shots and checking out the terrible video they had of actors portraying William Wallace (honestly, they should've just put Braveheart on repeat), I headed to the top for...you guessed it...another great view of the surrounding area!

The bad thing about when I went was that it was freakin' cold out!  Couple that with the wind up on high and I could barely stand it.  Luckily, I found the one spot protected from the wind up there and was able to stay for a good half an hour.

I helped the moment by listening to the Braveheart soundtrack as I enjoyed the good view.  I know, how awesome am I??

After my nerd time was up, I decided it'd be cool to try to climb up some of the nice landscape I had just observed.  Heck, they didn't look that hard to get to, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Me and my legs were sorely mistaken.

Literally, 5 HOURS LATER!  I still hadn't gotten to climb up anything!  I'll bet I walked 15 miles.

It wasn't all bad though.  I passed a super market more than one and enjoyed milk and cookies as I walked.  Now THAT was great!

I got to walk around Stirling University though, which reminded me a bit of Iowa State.  It had a Loch instead of Lake, and a golf course, but other then that it felt very similar.

My legs were very absolutely spent, so I started walking back to the train station.  I passed over Stirling bridge, the location of Wallace's greatest victory that earned him the title of Guardian of Scotland.  Though the original wooden structure had been destroyed, this one was from the 1500's and was still an interesting bit of history to experience.

I eventually tore myself away and hopped on my train back to Edinburgh.  I told Kaylie that I couldn't leave Scotland without trying some Haggis, so we set out and found some.

Now I don't know if it was TRUE haggis, but it actually tasted pretty good.  It was smothered in a pretty good house whiskey sauce, which may have dulled the true flavor of it.  When I come back I'll have to try the nothing-to-hide version.

The rest of the night was spent getting prepared to depart Scotland.  Kaylie wiped the tears of sadness from her eyes and said goodbye and good night.  By the time I went to bed, I only had a few hours of sleep before I had to catch my bus.

Hope my early morning travels go better then the other half of Places Productions...

Is this seat taken? (May 16th)

Sam had finished his essays that he needed to write the day before, so we ended up hanging out most of the day.  We headed up to Arthur's seat, which is this massive hill just outside of the old town.  It didn't look like it would be too difficult to climb when we approached it, but Sam warned me that it was quite deceiving.

Pffff, wasn't tough to climb AT ALL...if you don't count the 5 or 6 breaks we took on our way to the top.

But alas, we made it up there and found some truly spectacular views.  From up there you felt like you could see forever.  Some truly bonny and comely views (thank you Merriam Webster thesaurus).

We had spent all this time climbing up to the top of the hill, but when we got up there, there really wasn't much to do, so we ended up climbing down after about 15 minutes.

We got to the bottom and trekked through some uncharted territory for me.  We expertly calculated how long a certain tunnel was using math.  MATH!

Stopped for lunch as the Mosque Kitchen and had some Indian food.  Despite one of my good friends being Indian, I don't remember ever actually having it before.  It was pretty darn good...though we ordered way too much and I couldn't finish mine.  Even Sam couldn't quite get all of his food down and he can EAT!

Spent yet MORE time in St. Princes Gardens lounging around until we headed back to the flat.  Sam was going to visit his dad down in southern England and took off shortly there after.

That left me with pretty much nothing to do because Kaylie needed time to work on her essay that she was freaking out about...oh how I don't miss school...good thing I'm not going back there anytime soon...

So I headed out on the town and grabbed a mocha about 5 feet from where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter!!!  Sure I payed about twice as much for my drink then anywhere else in town....but this was where HARRY POTTER WAS BORN!!!  Amazing!  I even got to see "Hogwarts", or at least structure that inspired it.  Other then the 4 separate towers representing the different houses, it really didn't look anything like the Hogwarts of the movies.  But it was still awesome to see.

After the mocha, I popped in my headphones and walked around town for a good couple of hours.  Because it's so far north, it doesn't get completely dark around Edinburgh until about 10 o'clock, so I had a good amount of daylight to walk around in.

I've really grown accustomed to wandering.  It's the best way to see a city, like I've probably said millions of times.

When I got back Kaylie was scarfing down a pear and was STARVING...probably should've come back a bit sooner, but I enjoyed the walk.  We headed out in search of a baked potato...which are apparently popular enough to have an entire restaurant with just baked potatoes and toppings.

Sadly, they were all closed, but we did manage to find some good food and then we called it a night.  Good times...

FREEDOM! (May 15th)

I was heading to Stirling today to check out the castle there and to see the William Wallace monument. Despite the movies numerous historical inaccurasies, there really was a person named William Wallace and he's known as the Gaurdian of Scotland.

I ended up sleeping in a bit, which I didn't think was a big deal at the time.  I went by a little convenience store to get some flapjacks....it was actually the exact one we went to the night before when I tried some of Sam's...I pretty much thought about it all night cause it was AMAZING!  Now flapjacks aren't synonymous with pancakes, like in the States.  They're pretty much sugary oat bars of deliciousness.

So I grabbed a few and caught the noon bus to Stirling.  The ride took about an hour, but honestly it could've lasted all day and I would've loved it.  The scenery of Scotland is what I came for and it is just remarkable.  The rolling green hills, Highlands monopolizing the horizon, is just a truly amazing sight to see!

I got into Stirling and didn't really know what to do, so I hopped on my first sightseeing bus of the trip and enjoyed the views of the city.  There a recorded audio commentary during the ride, so I learned a lot of cool things about the city.  We went around near Bannockburn, where Robert the Bruce defeated the English in the year of our lord, 1314.

I visited Stirling castle next, which was quite a site to see.  Like Edinburgh castle, it was perched up high on an outcrop of rocks overlooking the city.  I took a tour for the first hour and a half I was there.  It was lead by one of the best tour guides I've had to date...partially because he spoke with an awesome Scottish accent, but mainly because he was very entertaining.  He wasn't a typical tour guide because he really got into talking about the information and he committed.  Much better then most tour guides I've seen recently.

The most interesting thing I saw was the spot where Mary Queen of Scots was crowed at the tender age of 9 months.  It was said that the crown slid right over her entire body because she was so small:)

I felt very rushed after the tour though, as I had only 15 minutes left to just explore the castle and check out the views before the next bus came.  I would've just gotten the next one, but I was very pressed for time because my return bus home left at 6 and that was the last one of the day.

So I was left with only about two more hours in Stirling.  So I caught my bus and it lazily meandered through town and finally out to the Wallace monument.  Since it took so darn long to get there I was in a pickle.  I only had about twenty minutes to spend.

Should I spend the 6 pounds and sprint up the 250 stairs or should I save the money and just go on home?

It was a tough decision, but I decided just to go home seeing as how I didn't want to get stuck in Stirling for the night.  Oh well....

I caught my buses and got back to Edinburgh without any problems.  That night Sam cooked up some bangers (brats) that was really good.  Kaylie had to work on an essay, which then actually turned into just going to bed, so Sam and I went and grabbed a few pints.

The beer was good, though I don't think i'll ever get used to room temperature beer...just not as good as cold beer.

One more pint at an Edinburgh townie bar and then it was off to bed for me.

Lazy Day (May 14th)

Today followed a somewhat similar path as yesterday.

I spent the morning just lounging around Kaylie and Sam's flat. It's nice to just be able to relax and not be forced to do anything. Too many hostels require you to be out of the hostel by 10 so they can clean or have to get up for breakfast on time.

Nope, today was a very lazy day and it was much needed.

I went and tried to snap some photos of places I saw on yesterday's tour, still trying to work out the problems I was having with Sam's camera. I managed to get a few good shots though, which is really all I needed.

I had a traditional Scottish lunch of rare foods found only in this neck of the woods. My burger and fries was quite good as I polished it off with a cold "coke", I think it was called.

The sun was just finally starting to shine when I got done so I decided to head back to St. Princes green, where I layed down and enjoyed the spectacular view of the castle once again. It fit my lazy and relaxing theme of the day.

I find that Scotland is very much like it's neighbors to the south, the Brits. The pubs and food choices are very similar to one another. And as I've hung out with Sam, who has acted as my English tour guide on many occasions, I oftentimes forget that I'm not in England...a blasphemy that I'm sure many Scotsman wouldn't be happy to hear.

But at the same time, this is very much Scotland. There are men dressed up in kilts and playing bagpipes on street corners for spare change. The pubs are often filled with performers playing traditional Scottish folk tunes, where a lot of the patrons clap and sing along with the singer.

Kaylie and I grabbed a coffee at the restaurant that she works at, Harvey Nichols. There are some really great views from up there. And the sun was shining which was nice, however, by the time we got done we each had half a sunburned face, which was not nice. Probably should've switched sides on the table about half way through.

For dinner, Sam's friend, Luke, joined us for steak night at one of the local pubs. It was an insanely good deal where we got a steak, chips, and a beer for a little over 4 pounds each. Granted, the exchange rate makes that not as good of a deal, but for Scotland it was phenomenal. I had a tuna steak, which I had never had before, which was absolutely fantastic. I decided not to get the sirloin as I'll be home in a few weeks and have my fill of it the first night I am back.

We hopped around to a few different pubs after that and enjoyed some cheap beer....again, damn exchange rate not making it as good of a deal! But it was a good night and it's just so nice to be staying with someone who doesn't confuse Iowa with Idaho or Ohio.

It was a good end to my lazy and relaxing day.

Do it...and let the English see you do it (May 13th)

I woke up 10 minutes before I was supposed to go on my tour of Edinburgh from a dream where I woke up 1o minutes before I was supposed to go on my tour of Edinburgh. Luckily, the tour meeting point was at the Starbucks a half block up the hill from where Kaylie and Sam live, so I made it in time.

This would be my last New Europe tour, as Scott and I had been to every city where they were offered, having only missing London because we didn't know about them yet. So I was hoping to end it on a good note by having a fantastic tour guide. When I got to the meeting point, there were quite a few people, so they split people up into two groups. One tour guide was lead by a guy who looked eerily like Legolas, though not NEARLY as attractive as that hunk, Orlando Bloom. And the other was lead by a very enthusiastic American girl from Chicago named Gaja (pronounced guy-ah) who was conducting her third ever tour.

Well I chose Gaja simply because she was the closer of the two. We began the tour and instantly I regretted my decision. She was the type of person who couldn't stop performing for the crowd and trying to make everyone laugh even though she wasn't remotely funny. Don't you hate that? PLACES!

We saw quite a few cool things on the tour: Edinburgh Castle, which sits on an inactive volcano, the sites of many witch burnings, and the coffee shop where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book, overlooking the original "Hogwarts." Lots of really cool places to see.

I had borrowed Sam's camera so I could resume taking pictures of my travels, but only a handful of pictures turned out...something having to do with the shutter was causing all of the pictures to turn out WAY too bright. I did manage to get a few pictures along the way, but it looks like I'm somewhat cursed when it comes to cameras nowadays.

The tour ended right near a huge green space called St. Princes greens. It's basically two huge hills with a path going right between them where most Edinburgh-ers or ens come whenever it gets sunny out. The grass is pristine and is cut just like a putting green. The sun had just come out and warmed me up, so I decided to head to the hill where I eventually took a little snoozer. Gosh, I LOVE being on vacation.

I went back to Kaylie's flat and then her, Sam and I went out to eat and then had a few pints at various pubs. They had house beers at one of the pubs, though it was chilled to below room temperature so it was much better than the stuff Scott and I had in London.

The last pub we went to had a Scottish folk singer performing, which was really cool because most everyone in the pub claps along with the song and get really into it. Reminded me a lot of an Irish pub, but DEFINITELY not Mickey's or Paddy's...those are NOT Irish pubs.

After the pubs, the three of us went back to the flat and had a discussion about politics and religion and patriotism, etc. Kaylie and I both agreed that it was the first time we had ever had this type of discussion without a Duffy in the room. Though it was a DISCUSSION, not an ARGUMENT, so maybe it was different then the typical Duffy-incited conversation:)

My first day in Scotland was pretty darn good. I also think I neglected to mention that Kaylie's boyfriend is British, which makes the title of this blog a little more poignant I think.

If it's not Scottish it's CRAP! (May 12th)

FINALLY I am leaving Barcelona. I was there for quite some time.

But I'm a little older...a little wiser...and I'm finding sand in REALLY weird places.

The best part about today was that I was going to Scotland!!! My favorite place I've never even been too. I have to say, I think this is the part of the trip I've been looking forward to the most.

Because I was flying Ryanair, I wasn't flying directly out of Barcelona or directly into Glasgow. The reason Ryanair can make their flights so affordable is because they fly into airports NEAR the cities they are referring to...which meant that I had to pay to get a bus ride to and from the airports located about an hour away.

All in all though, travel was pretty smooth. On each leg of my trip I found myself plastered to the window looking at the beautiful scenery: The Pyrenees, the ocean, the Highlands. All of it was just gorgeous to see.

I resisted the urge to listen to the Braveheart soundtrack over and over again as I flew into Scotland...I'm saving that for later.

I got off the plane and found my train to Edinburgh, where I was going to stay my friend Kaylie and her boyfriend, Sam...which I am ETERNALLY grateful for a place to stay.
I had to change trains in Glasgow in order to get to Edinburgh, but I was a bit confused on how to do it because I had to walk to another train station a few blocks away. When I got off the train, a lady came up to me and asked me if I was going to the other train station. She overheard me ask the ticket taker guy where exactly to go and she insisted upon walking me about halfway to the other station to make sure I knew where to go. Such kindness...it was nice to feel the hospitality of the region so quickly into my time here in Scotland. I gotta say, it's a lot better than getting pickpocketed:)

I finally arrived in Edinburgh and I was a little heartbroken about having just spent about $12 on a crappy Burger King meal...ugh...but I needed food pretty badly.

I followed Kaylie's directions and I found her place no problem. I got in and met Sam and couldn't stop thanking them both for the place to stay and for all of their hospitality...probably almost to the point of annoyance, but I was thankful for the place to stay.

We chatted a bit and we watched the last half of the Bourne Identity (awesome!). I had been wanting to re watch it because of my recent trip to Paris I had seen a few of the sites where they filled the movie. And ya know, I always thought Damon was a bit of a Streisand but he really kicks some ass in that movie.

The movie ended and it was off to bed. I had just fallen asleep when a thundering noise coming from the streets. The sound was of heavy horse...shook the very ground. It was the British!

Luckily, I brought my Scotland liberating sword from home. I quickly rounded up some locals and we sent those Brits home. I told them to tell their King that Scotland's brothers and sisters are theirs no more!

Attached is a quick snapshot taken of me after the battle.

FREEEEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

When in Rome...eh, Spain I mean (May 11th)

Today the sun was supposed to be out...just in time for me to get back to my beach side hostel.

I guess the weathermen weren't completely wrong because the sun was out...but the freezing cold wind blowing off of the Mediterranean was just too much to bear.

As I pondered what to do for the rest of the day, I decided to follow the phrase, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" for the rest of the day.

So I started it off with taking a nice long siesta. This is the great thing about not having any agenda whatsoever. No work to try to steal away from to catch some zzz's...just lay down and take a nap.

I got up when I felt like it and called mi madre on Madre's Dia (pfff, Spanish ain't hard). I also talked with Emily for awhile bringing the grand total of the conversations to $76.50...man it's expensive to call home. Oh well, money well spent...Happy Mother's Day again, momma!

Keeping with my Spanish theme, I headed out for a night of tapas and futbol. Now I was trying to be daring, so I ordered spicy meatballs, mussels, and fried squid, or sepia I think it was called.

The mussels, I thought, would be my safe pick because I've had them earlier in the trip at Chinque Terre. Well no, it was not safe as the crappy taste of these MUSSELS was too STRONG (that one's for you, pops).

The meatballs were quite good and I was glad I ordered them. It provided a bit of culinary sanity to my meal.

The squid wasn't my favorite. It was better then the mussels though, so I'll give it that. It tasted kind of plain and was kind of hard and chewy, like really thick egg whites that were cooked too long.

Luckily I had a gigantic beer to polish it all down with. And bread...lots of bread with oil.

The futbol game was alright, but it's just not the same as GOOD football. Too much punting.

Overall, my appreciation of Spanish culture isn't on par with my appreciation of the other cultures I've visited, but I'm glad I got to experience it. Now I know.

And who knows, maybe I have a better time the next time I visit:)

Rain, rain go away! (May 10th)

It really stinks when you decide to stay someplace warm so you can lay on the beach all day and work on evening out your burn...and then it decides to RAIN ALL DAY! Damnit! I guess skin cancer will have to wait...

Ok, so I didn't have nice weather here in Barcelona, but at least I had a really nice hostel for the weekend. Only having to share the room with 3 other people was quite nice, so I was actually able to sleep in til a decent hour. The rain was really coming down when I got up, but I was determined to enjoy my day anyway.

After polishing off some stolen muffins from my previous hostel, I set out into the city, umbrella in hand.

There's something to be said for traveling around by foot. You really see so much more when you aren't viewing the world through the windsheild of a car or the window of a bus. I put quite a few miles on the ole soles today again, but it was well worth the drenching I endured.

Barcelona is a pretty interesting city. I've lingered here for quite awhile and it really does have some amazing sites. I saw Barcelonas Arch de Triumph along with a mushy trailed park that had a mammoth Elepheat in it...not an ACTUAL elephant, but a sculpture of one.

I took a break from puddle jumping and relaxed in a coffee shop for a few hours sipping capuccinos reading my book. I forgot home good of a read Angels and Demons really was. It was really hard to put down and head back out on the town.

I passed by the Picasso museum, which was FILLED with tourists, and decided to skip it. Heck, I already knew EVERYTHING there was about him because I researched his life and his works for ~1000 hours because I'm such a dedicated actor.

I also ran into another huge market selling fresh food and decided to try some of the fresh cherries they were selling. Not bad, but I don't think they were very fresh and I was kind of disappointed that they didn't live up to my hopes.

Umbrellas don't cover EVERYWHERE on your body, so I my pants were soaked well above my knees by the time I got back to the hostel. I had wandered for about 5 hours and was exhausted and hungry. I cooked round two of my ravioli and enjoyed some spanish Simpsons, which I still thought was funny even though I didn't understand a word of it. It definitely loses something when you can't here the actual voices of the characters, though, so I stole away and finished my book.

Capping the exciting night off with some free laundry, I decided to live it up even more and head to bed. It was nice not to have to battle snorers for a change though, so I was pretty happy with that.

All in all, a pretty good day.

Well camera, we had a good run:( (May 9th)

It´s hard to write about today. The anger and violation I feel is hard to contain, but I will just let it all flow out.

I had to leave my seaside hostel today and head for a hostel much more inland and much more expensive. Sure, I COULD have saved €1.30, but I opted instead to get their in fraction of the time and save my legs a long walk with a heavy pack.

I said goodbye to the last of my newly acquired friends and headed for the Metro. If only I would´ve just walked...

After I bought my ticket, I ran into a few other girls from the hostel. I chit-chatted with them until our train arrived. It was packed, but I plowed me and my big bag into the crowd and urged the girls to do as I did. They tried, but ultimately there just wasn´t enough room on the train and they waited for the next one. If only I would´ve done the same...

The train was full of passengers and I kept on getting pushed around with the swaying of the train. I had heard that Barcelona was a TERRIBLE place for pickpocketers, so I was paying particular attention to my huge bag strapped to my back.

I felt bad cause I kept on plowing into this one guy and I tried to apologize to him. But when I made eye contact he gave me this weird look, but I couldn´t comprehend what he was trying to say. He then whispered something in my ear...but it was in Spanish and I had no idea what he was saying.

But there was something about the look he gave me. It was if he was trying to tell me, ¨Someone just stole something from you."

I was worried, but I had been watching my bag and I was pretty sure no one could´ve stolen anything of value from it...

What I didn´t realize, was that in all the tossing and turning on the train had distracted me and I didn´t notice that the pocket that contained my camera was now empty.

I thrust my hand into my leftside pocket, expecting to feel the shape of the camera I had used continuously on my trip...but it was EMPTY! I felt around my other pocket, but there was no camera.

Suddenly realizing that I had just been robbed, I turned to one of the passengers who had been next to me the entire time and brilliantly asked, "Did you steal my camera?"

Wow! Smartest move ever. Oh course he would just come right out and say, "Oh HO...yep, sure did...sorry about that. Here´s your camera back"

So dumb, but I just wasn´t thinking clearly at all as I felt like I had just been personally violated.

I´ll never forget that feeling of complete and utter helplessness as I got off the metro at my stop and watched the remaining passengers slowly passing by as the train moved along to it´s next stop. I almost expected the victorious thief to reveal my stolen camera and snap a picture of my dejected appearance as he safely escaped the scene of the crime. SUCH a terrible feeling.

I spent the rest of the day trying to cope with this injustice. I even had the receptionist at my new hostel call my previous one to see if I had absentmindedly left my camera there.

I held out hope, but I knew it was all just wishful thinking. I would never see my camera again.

I refrained from spending the rest of my day facedown in my own pillow, screaming, "Why...WHY!!!", as tears streamed down my face.

Instead I just chilled at my new hostel, which turns out was well worth the extra cast I spent on it.

It basically felt like an apartment, albeit one that you had to share with several other people. There were three other people in my room, but it was much less then 7 to 32 person rooms that I was used to staying in.

There was a living room and kitchen, which I expertly cooked ravioli in for dinner.

I decided to spend the night simply reading my book, Angels and Demons, which I had already read but found renewed interest in having visited Rome three weeks ago. I have to admit, I can definitely see why people think Dan Brown is crap as a writer, but it´s still an entertaining story in my opinion. George Lucas is a FANTASTIC storyteller, but writes some of the worst diaglogue EVER for his movies..."Good call, Anakin!"

So I have lost my camera, which will make posting pictures with my blog increasingly difficult. I need to figure this camera thing out before I get to Scotland, but for now, I´ve included some pictures of myself from the other day.

I'm...dancing...(said in Garth voice) (May 8th)

Hola!...just showing off my master of the Spanish language.

So, it's impossible to sleep late in a hostel. This one in particular is basically just a giant room with 5 separate "rooms." These "rooms" all have walls in between them, but there's 2 feet of space between the end of the wall and the ceiling...all of this means that if one person is snoring 3 rooms over, you hear it.

Not very refreshed, I planned on walking up to see the Olympic Stadium and any other cool things along the way. I got lost a bit, but that's the nice part about visiting a foreign land with no real agenda.

I wandered, I wandered...stopped for a swinging brake...Wandering, wandering.

Finally I got to the stadium and was amazed that they let you walk around in the stands for free. I was suprised, it looked a lot smaller then Jack Trice, but apparently it holds 55,000 in the possiblity to expand it to 77,000 for big events....like the Olympics. Very small looking though, but a beautifully designed stadium.

Wandering, wandering....stopped for some gelato (up 6 now!)...wandering, wandering.

I had made plans to met up with the Detroit girls at Mercat Boqueria, which was a huge open air market with fresh fruits, meats and vegetables. It was complete sensory overload...I wanted everything! They had really cheap bing cherries, so I'll definitely be back tomorrow.

I tried to save money, so I went and bought some bread, ketchup, chips and HOTDOGS!!! I miss Iowa and summer food.

After my delicious hotdog dinner, the Cornell girls, a guy named Matt, and I went out on the town. We got to a bar and had Sangria, which is another specialty of the region. I was having a good time, but I then spied the ugliest thing I've ever seen...the Hawkeye logo. Ugh!

But it was on a shirt worn by a guy from University of Iowa, so I decided to shake off the rivalry and talk to him. It's nice to talk to people who have actually heard of the town you're from. I've been generically saying Iowa when asked about where I'm from...much like when you ask someone where they're from in Iowa, they reply with a corner of the state, not the town. But Cody, I think his name was, was from Dubuque, so we had a nice little chat about the good ole state of Iowa.

After that we went dancing at a discoteque, which was a lot of fun. I was hoping to dance some Salsa since I had mastered it in France, but alas it was just like dancing back in the states. Guys grinding on girls listening to overly bassed up remixed Pop music. All in all though, it was pretty fun. Knowing I would never see anybody from here again, I cut loose and unleashed my "moves." By the end of the night my pockets were full of the phone numbers of every girl at the bar...they INSISTED that I have them, which who could blame them....I'm a REALLY good dancer.

Spanish guys kept on wrangling Kim away from the pack and "dancin' up on her." (I have to put things like that in quotes cause I can't even TYPE like a "G") We all offered her rescuing, but she stuck with it for a bit. She eventually got outta there safely and we headed back to the hostel, sweaty and tired.

Matt, from Canada, got us all singing the Star Spangled Banner on the way home, which was very funny. An odd variety of music was sang after that, from Don't Stop Believing to A Whole New World...which just wasn't the same without Places Productions rocking it out.

Tone deaf and tired, I hit then bed and was out.

White boys don't tan, they burn (May 7th)

I woke up today ready to finally start enjoying some quality beaches. The day started off well as I got up in time for breakfast...something that rarely occurs. The nice part about this was that they had free pre-wrapped muffins, so I now have about 6 sitting in my bag at all times.

After breakfast it was time for the beach. Possessing very little sunscreen, I prioritized which parts of my body would be spared from the harmful rays of the sun...face, neck, ears and arms. By the end of the day, they were all fine, so my sunscreen worked. However the rest of my body looks like a dark pink ink blot, which I showed to this one guy and he saw the image of a bat on it. Huh, weird.

The beach was really nice. The wind helped keep me from sweating off the sunscreen, which was quite nice. There were also a lot more topless sunbathers...this time not so old. It´s funny how it´s not a big deal here at all. There aren´t pervy old men sitting around gawking or anything. It´s just the culture and people don´t think it´s a big deal.

After I was fully cooked, I went inside and got ready to see some sites. I was to go on the Gaudi tour, where we would see some of the great works of Something Gaudi. I got to the meeting point and I found out that there would be only four people in total on the tour and we were all from the same hostel. I met Sarah, Jaimie, and Casey, who were all from the Detroit area (the nice, rich part), and we were on our way to learn up on Gaudi.

Our tour guide was Polish, which made her pronunciation of Spanish words that much harder to understand, but we got through it.

So Gaudi was, from what I gathered, pretty much the father of mosaics, which are pieces of artwork formed from broken pieces of glass or ceramic. His works were quite intriguing...the San Grada Familia was my favorite...construction began in 1882 and is still going on today! Only one of the facade´s was finished before he died. And we also so the worldest longest bench! Very cool sites to see though.

It was kind of annoying because the tour ended very far from our seaside hostel, so we had quite a walk ahead of us. But it gave us time to figure out our plans for the evening.

After not having spoken much American English with anyone, I wasn't in any rush to get away from my new friends, so I sort of latched onto them for the night. We decided to shower up and then eat and watch the Barcelona/Real Madrid football match.

We settled on El-something, where we had some pretty delicious paella...which is rice mixed with a variety of seafood and meats with added spices. All in all it was quite delicious, though there were bones you had to look out for when you were chewing...almost broke several teeth!

Real Madrid POUNDED Barcelona and we were all deeply shaken...after all we'd been big fans of them for about 2 1/2 hours. But we got over it and decided to head back to the hostel rather then finding a bar or discoteque.

The night ended with me waiting up about 2 hours to use the computer only to find that they were working slower than molasses. Not wanting to punch the computer in exhausted frustration I turned in and climbed up to my bunk.

The sucky thing about his hostel was that they only gave you a sheet for free, so I was stuck trying find a way to cover my neck and feet with a blanket that was just too short to do both. Oh well, I drifted off to sleep and tried to block out the numerous voices in the hostel room.

Oh how fun it is to budget travel. Hopefully this whole lottery thing will work out so I can become independently wealthy and travel in style.

Beachside in Barcelona (May 6th)

Success! FINALLY, the weather turns bad on my travel day! Now it has to be nice when i get into Barcelona.

I left Marseille this afternoon and took the 6 hour train to Barcelona. Hope the good weather continues.

I woke up a bit late this morning, about 10 past 10. The cleaning lady was coming to our room next but I needed to shower still. She didn't speak English though so we played a nice game of charades before a frenchmen finally helped translate that I had simply woken up late but would be out of my room very soon. She said something that apparently meant "Ok."

After my shower, I ran down a bus headed for the city. It's weird riding buses now. I drove one for so long and you can't help but critique how each busdriver drives. This ride was a little choppy, but overal not too bad.

I eventually caught my train and I was on my way to Barcelona.

In order to travel by train in France you need to get a reservation for a seat. It's a minimal cost of about 3 euro and though it confused Scott and I at first, it really isn't a bad system. You have to pay, but you gaurantee yourself a seat and the trains are pretty nice...and FAST! They have what is called the TGV, which roughly translates to REALLY F-IN' FAST! They run around 300 miles per hour or something ridiculous and it gets you to your destination pretty quickly.

But with your reservation you can hopefully try to sneak a free day out of your Eurail pass. When the ticket taker comes by you show them your reservation ticket and they punch that, but oftentimes they don't check your Eurail pass like they should. Unfortunately, I had to show it to one guy, after already making it past two other ticket checkers, so I had to use a travel day. I had already planned on using it though, so nothing was lost.

The train ride was...you guessed it...beautiful. We hugged the Mediteranean the entire way and you could see the Pyrenees mountains in the distance...truly an amazing train ride once again.

When I got to Barcelona, I tried to find a map without any luck. I hastily took a picture of the google map website with the location of the hostel marked on it, but there was no point of reference I noticed. A Swiss girl named Virginia noticed I was trying to find a hostel, same as her, so she and I set out into the night to find it together.

It turns out that the hostel was quite close to the train station. We found our way and we found the hostel is RIGHT across the street from the sea! Awesome! Looking forward to spending some time in the sun tomorrow.

Luckily they had room in the hostel for her and we both got placed in the same room. There we met two American girls named Cynthia and Kim, which was great because they both spoke my language! We chatted for quite some time and now I am here....ACTUALLY typing my blog out about TODAY! Amazing!

But I forgot my camera cord so I can't post it now...but nevertheless I finished a blog on the day it happened!

Mar-sigh (May 5th)

Both glad that we met a native english speaker to hang out with, Alex and I set out on our way to see the city of Marseille. We thought we would trek it out along the seaside and make our way to the Notre Dame Cathedral. On the map, the walk didn't look TOO long, but as always, it was a lot longer than we thought. Oh well, it was beautiful outside and we didn't mind the walk.

So yeah...Alex. I really enjoyed talking with him at first, mainly cause he spoke my native tongue and that was nice. However, as the day wore on, he stated to get on my nerves more and more. He had some weird views on faithfulness in relationships and he wouldn't shut up about Canada and how everybody probably loved him BECAUSE he was Canadian. I held my tongue, but really I just wanted to spout off just how AWESOME AMERICA IS!!! Damn right!

He wasn´t as bad as Red Jared, but he was starting to wear on me.

But anyway, we walked around the city and stopped a few times to get some beers. On our walk home, I decided that I wouldn't join him and his friend for dinner that night...he just annoyed me too much.

When I got back to my room I ate my grocery store ham and butter sandwich (mmmm yum!) and read Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown. I thought it would be cool to reread that seeing as how I've actually been to some of these places now.

I was just finishing up my meal when the a new roommate walked in. His name was Mike and he was a Brit who had, get this, been motorbiking around Europe for the past 19 months! How insane is that? Granted, the first thing he did was make fun of what I was reading, but it didn´t matter.

He was a former sports writer and he spoke French and Spanish and probably Swahili along with every other language on the planet. He actually helped translate a conversation between me and my French roommate...both of us couldn't understand the others language, which made our conversations a bit confusing.

Mike was 42 and he was actually writing and filming a bit of his journey that he hopes to someday make into a book or television show, which I think is a great idea. Just a very interesting guy.

We chatted for a good long while. He was great to talk to cause he was very layed back and seemed interested in my past as much as I was of his. Great conversation.

After that, I hit up the beach AGAIN and tried to duplicate last nights wine and sunset experince, but alas, there were clouds covering the horizon, completely blocking the sun. Oh well, probably wouldn't have been the same anyway.

The wine, however, was the same and sure enough I staggered back to the hostel again. I was glad to see that Mike was still up. We chatted for awhile longer, bought a few rounds, then headed off to bed.

No sunset, but no problem.

Posts!

Alright, I just posted my last 5 days since Scott left, with the exception of yesterday, which will come soon.

Scott is taking his sweet ole time in finishing his long overdue posts (come on, he has better things do back home?). But when he does finish them, we will post them, but they will come up in order by date. So you will have to scroll down to check them out.

Watching the sunset in Marseille (May 4th)

Grateful for morning, I caught the first train out of Geneva. Probably should've stayed for at least a day, but I had seen enough from my park bench to not feel bad about leaving.

I was looking to head down to Barcelona, but I knew I couldn't make it in a day, so I settled on Marseille, France and hopped on the train. I was going to Marseille...no poorly planned detours for me anymore:)

The train provided a much better bed then the park bench and I slept all the way to Lyon where I then caught the train down to Marseille.

After writing some blogs, I got to the hostel and I sat on my bed and instantly felt the exhaustion from the last few days. Every fiber of my being wanted to lay down and go to sleep, but it was 3 in the afternoon and it was gorgeous outside...time to head to the beach!

I got to the beach and noticed a few things were different from the American beaches I had been on before.

1. There was no sand...simply small pebbles covered the beach.

2. Man, I am WHITE! I almost felt embarassed to take off my shirt! Hold a piece of computer paper up next to me and you'll find no difference. I was easily the whitest person there.

3. It was legal for women to lay "sans top." Yes, I saw quite a few pairs of naked boobies...but not the good kind. Most pair belonged to women whose young days were far behind them. Not the best sites to see, to put it lightly.

Anyway, I foolishly brought my shower towel that had just been cleaned a few days ago and used it as a beach towel. Dumb.

I was so exhausted that I layed down and drifted off to sleep without putting on any sunscreen! Luckily, the sun wasn't so bad and I escaped unscathed. Hopefully I will be able to get a tan within the next few days in the sun....not a big red burn.

I showered the stank off of me from the two previous days and discovered that I hadn't eaten all day! Bringing back Vietnam-like war memories, I dreaded trying to find a good French restaurant. I actually found a couple right away, but they weren't open yet and I didn't have a small fortune to spend, so I sucked it up and ate at a crappy Quick Burger.

I swear, when I get home I'm going straight to McDonald's and I'm going to enjoy getting the crapload of ice they give you in your drink (making it about 95% water if they ice melts) and I'm going to get about 50 ketchup packets and lather it on my fries Mah style. So excited! (sorry Mah, it was more funny to say "Mah" style then "Brandon" style, even though he aced you out in the ketchup eating contest).

I could've gone to bed then, but it would've thrown off my sleep schedule for quite some time, so I went to the store, bought a cheap bottle of wine, and headed to the beach to watch the sunset.

Tip: Watching a sunset is a very romantic thing...bring a date if possible.

I found a spot well away from the couples making out and I sat down and finished my book. When I looked up I saw some of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen in my life. The sun blazed the sky pink as it was lazily tucking itself behind a tiny mountain in the distance. It was amazing to see how quickly it truly sank below...a lot like watching sand trickle down the hourglass. Next thing I knew, it was gone.

I learned a pretty interesting thing as I sat there...one bottle of wine, sadly, gets me drunk. I popped in my headphones and staggered back to my hostel and came to the realization that I had just gotten drunk by myself. I'll be attending my first AA meeting when I get home. I made sure to pictorially (is that a word? welp, it is now) note this moment before I went to bed.

The hostel bar was full of people watching a soccor, eh football, game so I bought a beer and sat down. Soon I met a guy named Alex, who was from Canada...I'll talk more about him in tomorrow's blog, but we chatted for a good long while until I just couldn't stay up any longer.

My head it the pillow and I was out.

My day as a homeless person (May 3rd)

Today was my last day in Heidelberg and I made my way up the hill to see the castle. Again, a bajillion steps reminded me of my lack of conditioning, but after collapsing at the top, I quickly regained my form and set off for the castle.

As I tried to present myself as a student, I was nevertheless forced to pay the full price to the castle and the full price for the tour. SO wish I would've brought my ISU card!

The tour started and a German man with a perfect British accent launched into a bit of the history of the castle. Now, Scott and I had been our fair share of tours on the trip, so I've become somewhat of a critic of tour guides. While no one could top the horror of Red Jared, this guy was Captain Boryphill. He struggled to present concise information about the castle as he would pause for literally MINUTES to try and find the correct English word for something. So frustrating!

Overall, we saw about 3 percent of the castle and I lost one hour of my life and 4 euro.

Anyway...

I salvaged a bit by walking around the castle gardens, which were quite beautiful and provided a great view of the city. I also saw the WORLD'S LARGEST wine barrel, which could hold something around 220,000 liters of wine. Pretty sweet!

I speedily walked/fell down the same steps I gaspingly crawled up and I was back at my hostel. They had a lunch special for only 5 euro and I wolfed down the well cooked schnizel and potatoes. I think they might put crack on their food cause it tastes AMAZING!!!

After lunch, it was off to the train station where I was to head to Freiburg.

This is where things get a bit crazy.

I got on the train and I noticed the ultimate destination of Interlaken, Switzerland...where we had hanglided a few weeks before. I seriously comtemplated going back and meeting up with our Aussie gliders, but I decided that it would probably be weird going back there alone without Scott and Katy...just wouldn't be the same.

But I felt like I had my fair share of Germany and I was eager to get moving south. So I planned on spending a few days in Geneva where I would yodel a bit more and snack on some Swiss chocolate.

If only...

I pulled into Geneva around 9:30 and, as Scott and I had done without any problems so many times on this trip, I didn't have a place to stay. But no problem, right? I headed to the first hostel.

"Fully Booked."

No biggie. I headed to the next hostel.

"Fully Booked."

Awesome.

Alright, no hostels? No problem! I'll just get a hotel room for the night.

WRONG!

The most inexpensive hotel I found was for 130 Swiss Francs and as my strongest character trait is cheapness, I wasn't about to pay that.

Ok, no problem! There was a night train heading for Barcelona in a few hours that I would catch. I guess I'll just skip Geneva and France.

WRONG!

Of course, this train didn't run tonight.

I was stuck in Geneva with no place to stay. I would experience what it was like to be homeless for one night.

And to add to my troubles, I was back on the Swiss Franc, not the Euro. Luckily I got to chatting with a shopowner and I got some pizza and a Snickers (too bad I didn't have my emergency stash of Snickers!) and got some Swiss Francs back in exchange for some Euros. And the shopowner was also nice enough to offer me a place to hang out all night if I needed to, because his shop was open 24 hours.

Not wanting to spend 8 hours standing around a convenience store, I tried my luck on the mean streets of Geneva. I walked around the lake and I started to get drowsy....and it was only midnight!

I walked back and forth a few times between the lake and the shop, but I needed sleep so there was only one thing to do...pull up a park bench, get out my travel blanket, and try to get some sleep.

I truly felt homeless. I tried to bundle up against the cold of night and slept lightly so I would awake with every passerby, and hopefully be able to avoid any problems with the local police.

Time slowed down for me this night, but FINALLY dawn arrived....I had made it!

I decided that I had had enough of Geneva and it's inflated prices, so I hopped on the earliest train I could and got some sleep on the train.

Hopefully I won't have to go through a night like that ever again....

Clean clothes smell AMAZING (May 2nd)

Today was a so called "work" day for me as I was in desperate need of clean clothes and I was trying to plan out the rest of my trip...and of course update the blog, which has become increasingly difficult to update now that I am responsible for everyday.

As i sat in the internet cafe in my pajama pants and nicest shirt feeling like a goon, I began to wheep because I had just paid €10 to have my laundry done by a mean old fraü who didn't speak any English. It was sure interesting trying to convey to her that I needed to wash the clothes I was wearing as well, so I would need a place to change. Luckily we got it all figured out and my clothes smell spring time fresh.

Man, I think the thing I most take for granted in this world is clean laundry. I can't tell you how good it feels to go from wearing a shirt that smells of 15 days of travel to one that smells of absolute cleanliness...SO GOOD!!!

After sitting around in the internet cafe for 3 hours waiting for my laundry to get done, I was looking to get out into the nice weather. I took a walk along the Philospheweg, an uphill trek that showed a truly amazing view of Heidelberg and it's castle. I also learned a very interesting fact on my verticle walk: I am amazingly out of shape!

After I made my way down the hill, I came across a long lost friend: GELATO!!!! Foaming at the mouth I quickly approached the man and asked for a chocolate, mint, and cafe cone. He obliged and I found myself 3 scoops up on ole Scotty boy...and it still counts even though he's not here.

The hostel I was staying at (or should I say restaurant with rooms next to it?) served food and I thought I would give it a try. Here I think I had not only the best meal I've had in Europe, but the BEST MEAL OF MY LIFE! I had breaded pork with gravy and mashed potatos smothered in gravy. Seriously, the BEST meal. Add to that the liter of Bitburger Pils I had and it was a perfect meal.

I also met a German guy named something that sound like Carson...not Klotz as I first thought. He was studying at the University here to be a teacher and we chatted about all sorts of things. Very good to get to talk with him, but it also made me realize that I really haven't talked to someone who spoke American English since Scott left. Oh how different it is over here.

Fat and happy I set off into the town to party. As this was a college town not unlike Ames (though about 600 years older), I quickly ran into two bars that were across the street from eachother that was packed with students and loud music. Think Welch Avenue if Paddy's and Cy's was packed, but intstead of everyone crowding around in side, they crowded around the street in between the two.

As I quickly remembered how I often come to hate that type of atmosphere, I went back to the hostel and chatted with a few Canadian girls and an Argentinan guy that I had seen a lot that day, Herman. Soon Herman was fast asleep snoring quite loudly and the Candadian girls were asleep, earplugs in ears, and I read a bit more before going to bed.

Gelato consumed (in scoops):

Jordan - 3
Scott - 0

No May baskets for me:( (May 1st)

Well, I felt like i had exhausted everything there was to do in Brussels. Ok, I'm sure there was a TON more I could do, but I had had my fill of the city. It was a nice suprise and I'm glad I went.

I found a cafe after breakfast where I enjoyed a delicous Kriek bier, which for those of you that don't know is a fruit flavored beer that is absolutely delicious despite it's hefty pricetag. I planned out how I would get to Heidelberg and continued to contemplate my exact route down to Spain.

I finished my beer and left the cafe, not knowing that I had left my pen there until sometime later! I know...big deal, right? Very blog-worthy. I felt dumb though because I had given Scott crap about not being able to hold onto a pen for longer the 2 days the entire trip.

After a quick trip to the train station to solidify my days travels (and dealing with a rather rude person at the ticket booth as well), I went and had another Delirium at Delirium. Next time you're in Brussels you should go...in that highly likely situation.

Oh no! I spent a bit too long sipping my beer and I now had to rush down to my hostel and then back down to the train station. But don't worry, I made it!

(It's hard to add entertaining drama to my often boring travels, so bear with me.)

I had a lot of connecting trains, but my final train was a truly wonderful experience. The train made it's way south, hugging the Rhine river for much of the time as it cut through the absolutely gorgeous valley. By far the best train ride of the trip so far...even beating Switzerland!

Following this river I had this great urge to walk around in nature. One of my top priorities for when I eventually go back to Europe is float down the Rhine on a canoe and camp rather than stay in hostels...anyone want to go?

My train arrived in Heidelberg just fine and I navigated my way through the old town to my hostel.

I was worried cause I hadn't eaten for quite sometime and I needed dinner. But the only thing I saw open were Kebab shops!

Scott and I first encountered kebabs back in Dublin and we swore that we would never eat them again...though we both agreed that we would've rather had a kebab then those terrible fish 'n chips in Amsterdam.

For those of you who don't know, kebab's are basically really terrible gyros. And what adds to their lack of appeal is the fact that they have this HUGE leg of lamb rotating right there in front of you. When you order one, they carve a bit of meat off of it and then start it rotating again.

Luckily they also served a nice little Hawaiian pizza, which I polished off quickly and headed to bed, glad to have not had to eat a kebab.

Jordan's first day on his own (April 30th)

Awoken at 3 am with a tap on the shoulder, Scott was ready to go. This would be the last time I would ever see my friend...for one month. I got up and we hugged it out followed by a final Strength and Honor.

He had a big day ahead of him. Once his flight left Brussels at 7 am he would have about 21 straight hours of travel. Or at least that's how it was SUPPOSED to be...I'm sure you will read a lot more about his adventures from his blog about April 30th.

After going back to bed, I got up and began my first day as a lone traveler.

I headed toward the main part of the city and I honestly had no idea what I was going to do. Scott and I had always tentitvely had an idea of the days festivities, but today I was at a lost. Who knows what the day would bring?

I actually went and got a waffle at the same exact place that we had gone the day before. I sat for a good long while and contemplated my travel choices.

I really wanted to go to Greece and Spain and then head back up to Scotland before going to stay with Nath in Dublin. However, our travels in the first month, as Scott put it, "gutted" me. I was back in the middle of the circle we had just completed around Europe. So it would take a good long while to get to really anywhere I wanted to go.

I must've changed my mind at least a dozen times within the next 24 hours. Prague, Vienna, Corfu, Venice, Geneva, Nice, Marseille, Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga....I didn't know which ones to go to or how to do it most efficiently.

I knew I had to make a decision, but I just couldn't choose. Finally one was kind of made for me. Ryanair, the discount airline in Europe, didn't fly at all in Greece. Therefore, I couldn't go to Greece unless it was by boat, which would take about 22 hours from Venice...not looking forward to doing that one day and then doing it again a few days later.

So I had chosen Spain. It felt nice to have that narrowed down.

A few more decisions loomed, but ultimately I had decided on Heidelberg, Germany, a university town of about 150,000 that had a castle and a pretty amazing old town.

Ok! I had made a decision and I could enjoy the rest of my day.

Now, I was in need of a beer.

I was really excited to be in Belgium because they have ridiculously good beer and I wanted to try as many as I could before I left. Walking past bars and into beer stores, I had sensory overload with the plethora of beers to choose from.

Finally I found a cafe that had...get this...over 2,000 beers!!!!! Dear Lord!!

It was called Delirium cafe. Delirium was also the name of a beer, which I had heard from many sources (I think Jessie told me about it first) that it was absolutely fantastic. So went in there and had my very first Delirium in Delirium. Awesome!!!

After my delicious beer, I realized I couldn't really afford to have another one (expensive!), so I made my way up north where Scott and I had seen advertisements for an exhibit the day before.

The exhibit wasn't of some grand Belgian or even European painting that was famous around the world.No no, the exhibition was for STAR WARS!!! Bam!

I walked into the exhibit and immediately saw a giant timeline of all the major events in the Star Wars series, from the birth of the galaxy to about 30 years after the first filmed movie, A New Hope. Pretty darn interesting.

They had scale models that were used in the films and replicas of space ships and some costumes. Videos were all around showing the marriage of filming the actors and adding the special effects. There was a video you could make where you could dress up as a Jedi and engage in a lightsaber fight with your best friend that I was totally going to do.......but oh wait!!!.....my best friend wasn't here anymore!!!!!!! Dangit Places!

The exhibit was amazing and it made me really want to go home and watch the movies, but alas that will have to wait a few weeks.

My night was relatively tame as I didn't meet up with the 3 english guys we had played pool and talked sports with from the night before, so it was an early night for me.

But all was ok....not a bad first day. (that rhymed)

Red Jared and the Search for the NFL Draft (April 26th)

This was to be an exciting day for Scott and I. Not for anything Berlin, German, or even European.

No no, today was the of the 2008 NFL Draft. Our whole day was planned around watching it. The real question was: Where on earth, or should I say Berlin, are we going find it?

Today was warmer than it was yesterday, though it felt as if there was a 400 degree change intemperature between shade and sunlight.

We set off north and walked through Checkpoint Charlie, then found our way to Potsdam Platz.

Earlier that morning Scott had asked the guy who worked at the hostel, Alexander (who I called Zander), where we could possibly find NFL football. Puzzled, he said that the best place to find it would be at an American themed restaurant in Potsdam Platz called Play Offs.

This seemed simple enough...until we saw Potsdam Platz. It was HUGE! It was about 4 city blocks and there was no way to navigate through it. A nice tour guide helped us out and we eventually found it, but there was no time to linger because we were going on a tour at 1 o'clock.

The tour was of "Red" Berlin, what it was like there in post-WWII Communist controlled Berlin. Little did we know, at the time, that we should've gone with our first instinct of the 3rd Reich Berlin tour.

The reason for this was because of our guided named Jared; a seemingly straightlaced American from Indiana who claimed to have studied radical warfare and politics or something of that nature. Seemed like a good guide...but oh how wrong were we.

The tour itself was MASSIVELY boring as we would stop at a random huge building and be lectured about its history and what it all meant in the grand scheme of things. Mind you, we would never actually, ya know, GO IN the building, but simply be talked to about it.

Next building. Stop and talk about it.

Next building. Stop and talk about it.

Oh, and to add to that, we had to buy a one-day public transportation ticket that cost €6.10 in addition to the €10 euro we already spent.

Next building. Stop and talk about it.

And each buidling we would stop and talk about, Scott and I were becoming more and more bothered. By what? We couldn't quite figure it out, but there was something about Jared that just rubbed us the wrong way.

We didn't know it at the time, and wouldn't figure it out until some time after the tour, but we realized that Jared was just a big ole Red Commie!

As we went back over each of Jared's lectures we realized that they were just chalk-full of Communist sentiment. It bothered me a little bit, but with every passing hour Scott was infinitely more upset with him. I think it culminated with Jared's closing words about how the East Germans got screwed once the wall came down because they no longer had a home to live in and food on the table gauranteed for them from the government. What he didn't seem to delve into was the fact that they now had CHOICES...they could choose to leave if they wanted to, they weren't going to be forced to stay against there own will.

Thanks for the tour Red Jared.

Trying to calm ourselves, we were now in "Find NFL Draft" mode. Now you think we spent a lot of time trying to a good french meal in Paris, well I think we spent twice as long trying to find the draft. I bet we tried 6 different places...no luck!

One of the hardest things to when trying to find the Draft was how to ask if a restaurant or pub has it on. Should we ask, "Do you have the NFL Draft on?" or simply, "Do you have ESPN?" or what? It was very weird that people hadn't even heard of ESPN, but then Scott put it into context that we really didn't know what the Premiere channel (the "football" or soccor channel in Europe) was until we got here.

Resigned to just find out what happened on the internet, we logged on at a cafe and the Bills were on the clock. And it didn't take Scott long to go to nfl.com where, get this, they were showing the draft LIVE! Couldn't believe it!

The Chiefs had already chosen Glenn Dorsey at this time and the Bills took some no name corner who won't be able to outrun or outjump Moss. But the good news was that we found it and we got to watch a few more of the draft picks before the place closed down.

Man, that was a long and interesting day...