Czech This Out

This past weekend, I took a trip to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. After leaving on Friday morning, we were able to arrive to the city by 5pm. Madison and I met up with Ryan, who was flying in from his week in Dublin.

Upon arrival, we were astonished to see how little worth the currency had there. One Euro is approximately equal to 28 Czech Koruna, so we were dealing in thousands. On the bright side, things were very cheap.

Our first purchase was pizza at a place nearby our hostel. Each slice was 30 Koruna, so about a Euro.This may not sound out-of-the-ordinary, but compared to European prices, that pizza was dirt cheap. After the pizza, we tried to explore a bit, but it was too dark to really see anything, so we gave up. Next, Ryan, Madison, and I headed to a small pub to sit down and talk because we hadn't seen Ryan in a while due to his weekly travel.

We decided that we should go sit by the river to talk, because it wasn't extremely cold, and there were many cool places to sit by bridges. On the way, we passed up a 5-story night club, which is supposedly the biggest in central Europe. Later in the night, we headed to the club to see what the levels offered.

There were ice bar, hip-hop, oldies, chill, and dance music levels to this club. It was a fun time because there was so much variety in style. We didn't go in the ice bar, but we had fun on the other levels! We headed home, and got Subway on the way. Both times I've had Subway in Europe, I've loved it: partially because it tastes so good, and partially because it reminds me of home.

We woke up the next morning ready to go to a shooting range, an excursion we had booked earlier in the week. The range was 45 minutes out of the city, but they provided a driver both ways. Madison was the first to shoot, which was pretty funny to watch, but she wasn't bad! She came in first place for marksmanship in her group! (She was the only one in her group). Ryan and I got to shoot an AK47, a pump-action shotgun, an M16, and a sniper rifle. Ryan beat me, because he basically perfected shooting an M16, but it was still a blast! Totally worth it.

Next, we headed to see the city square. We hadn't seen much of the Prague that I was expecting yet, just tons of normal-looking buildings. But once we got to the city center, it was just like how I expected Prague. The architecture and layout was really cool, and very different from a lot of what I had seen up until that point of the semester.

We stumbled upon a promotor for a pub crawl, and he asked if we were tourists. He pointed us in the direction of a vantage point with a stunning view of Prague, where we could take some pictures.

So we walked up many stairs on our way to this secluded and elevated park area. We sat down on a ledge for a little bit, but since sunset was 4:15, we had to hurry up to see other things before dark. We headed to see the castle district and the John Lennon wall.

Trying to navigate from the park area to the main castle district was very difficult, and we may or may not have accidentally trespassed on the royal property while doing so. But we eventually found our way to the district. It was full of small shops and cool views of the city, since it was elevated as well. We walked around, walked into "Prague's best christmas shop" (I didn't even have to see another to know it's not the best), and we took pictures from the new great view. Ryan grabbed a random corn on the cob from a stand, and we headed to see the Lennon wall before it got dark.

Since it's only a wall, it is hard to come by unless you know exactly where you're going. But the receptionist at the hostel showed me earlier that day. We got there in time to take pictures while it was still bright, and we took a bunch of pictures again. I was a little bummed, because I had a poster in my room last year of the wall, and it had a famous "Imagine" encompassed by a peace symbol painted onto it. But it must have been painted over, because it was no longer visible. The wall was still astonishing and exciting to see, though.

We got Starbucks (well, I just got WiFi) before we headed to dinner. Dinner was amazing. It was pretty cheap, and ridiculously filling. We took a couple hours to eat, and then headed to an Irish Pub for one drink. We were all exhausted from our long day, so we decided to go back to the hostel.

We left Prague at 8:30 Sunday morning, getting home at like 9pm. The travel did not seem too long though, so it wasn't bad at all. It was such a relaxing weekend; I really enjoyed both Prague and the people I traveled with. I'm so happy I went, and hope to return one day. 88/117.

Brit was a Great Weekend

This past weekend, I headed to London with a couple friends, and I wish I could've stayed much longer. On Friday, we left at 10:15, taking a train to Brussels, and a train through the Chunnel from there to London. Before getting on the train to London we had to go through Customs, which wasn't like customs in other countries I had been to. I quickly realized the hard way that the UK is much more like the USA. After not having the address of my hostel (only the name, due to lack of wifi in the train station) on hand, and not having my returning airplane ticket with me (same wifi issue), I thought I wasn't going to be allowed in to the country. I was ridiculed and lectured by the Customs officer for 10 minutes at least before I was allowed to move on. It makes sense that the information was needed; I just wish I had known that this Customs was different from other Customs in Europe, so that I would've prepared more. But I was able to proceed on my travels.

Kaushik and I met up with Sarah in King's Cross Station as soon as we arrived in London. This big train station is home of Platform 9 3/4. Being a huge Harry Potter fan, my plan was to take a picture at the platform as soon as I arrived. We stood in line, got a great picture, and headed to the hostel (which I got the address for because London is normal and has wifi in the train station).

The hostel was the strangest hostel I had been to yet. Being on the periphery of the city, it would have been difficult to find, had Sarah not arrived that morning and scouted it out. The hostel looked like a family home from the outside. It had no front desk, and no noticeable staff members. After asking around, we found a staff member who showed us to our room. He almost gave one of us a bed that was already taken, only to be told otherwise by someone else in the room. It wasn't the nicest hostel, but you get what you pay for, and it was a way better price than all the other ones we looked at in London.

We headed out to see things soon because it was getting late. Our first stop was Piccadilly Circus. This place was like Times Square, having giant screens on outsides of buildings lining the streets. We walked into probably the coolest sports apparel store I have ever been into. It was so hard not to buy pairs of shoes, which were only £40. But then I remembered that that's like $65. It was hard in London to save money, because of the terrible exchange rate, but we tried to keep that in mind while looking around. We headed to dinner at an Italian joint, and we sat there for 2 hours before actually leaving. Being really late, we started to head home. We saw an M&M store, and we HAD to walk in. Let me tell you, this place smells like how heaven must smell. I'm convinced I gained 5 pounds in there without even eating anything, because I was breathing pure chocolate. It was 4 stories, and filled with as many M&Ms as one could ever need. After experiencing all 4 stories, we were tired and decided to keep making our way home.

We made a brief stop in Trafalgar Square on the way home, which we didn't even recognize until we were there for a few minutes. There were temporary monuments dedicated to the soldiers lost in WWI, which began 100 years ago. The square was big, but dark, so we didn't get to fully take it in. We headed back to the hostel to get some sleep so we could see more on Saturday.

The mentality about getting up early is always different when it's the morning. We ended up sleeping in until 9, and heading out at 9:30. We got to Green Park, which is the stop for Buckingham Palace. Although there are no inside tours of Buckingham this time of year, we got a good view from the outside. We got to see the guards from a distance, and see all decorative intricacy of the gates.

Next, we headed to Westminster, from which we knew we could see Big Ben and the London Eye. Westminster was very cool, but it was too crowded for us to go inside the church. We were able to easily see both Big ben and the London Eye. The Eye, being a massive ferris wheel-type structure that overlooks the city, sounded fun. So, we headed to take a ride upon it.

At the London eye, we paid £22 each and waited for about 40 minutes, but I think it was worth it, because it gave us an absolutely stunning view of the city, with classic London cloudy weather. We were higher than Big Ben, and felt like we were in the clouds. I felt like Peter Pan when he flew by the famous clock tower on the way to Neverland. It was about a half-hour ride, which is plenty of time. 

We got some fish and chips just after the ride, because why not. It was pretty good, but I wasn't able to eat much, because I was so nervous. I was to Skype in to deliver my speech for VP of Philanthropy for my business fraternity. Because speeches and delegations take so long, and I had to be ready for whenever I was called, I waited in the same cafe with wifi for more then 4 hours. Kaushik and Sarah walked around and shopped for soccer gear, but I was sitting and preparing. The four hours were worth it, though, because I ended up winning the position! I was/am so excited, and I felt so much better that I didn't have to worry about it anymore. It just added to the delight of my weekend. I just could've used more time exploring London. Now it gives me an excuse to return one day to see everything that I wanted to.

That night we headed back to Piccadilly Circus, and we got food at Pizza Hut. It was one of the best meals that I've had in Europe, just because I missed American-style pizza so much. The first free refills of the semester weren't bad either. The night before, when I asked if there were free refills, the waiter actually laughed at me. But it's always worth a shot. Pizza hut, being a sit-down restaurant there, took us nearly 3 hours. we headed back to the hostel so that we could get more done in the morning again.

But, like I said earlier, it's always different in the morning. We slept until 9:45, and didn't leave until after 10. We headed to Abbey Road, because that it a must-see. The road is still a normal road with regular traffic, so it is hard to get a good picture. Especially when regular pedestrians are crossing both ways in addition to other tourists. But we waited it out to get the best pictures we could. It was amazing to think that I was in the same place that perhaps the greatest band in the history of the world was. I love small stuff like that.

We then headed to Hyde Park to check it out. On the way, we ran into a couple members of the Royal Band, which look similar enough to the guards. I asked for a selfie, and one of the men laughed, so I'm claiming I made a guard laugh, because the picture looks as if I did.

Overall, London was really amazing, but short-lived. I wish I could've seen/done more or had more time. So, I'm not going to say it was my favorite trip, but I think it had the potential to be. It was so refreshing to be around English-speaking people, and made me realize that I have only 5 weeks left here, so I need to keep making the most of it. 80/117.

On Top of Spaghetti...

Hey All! This is the first post in a while, but for good reason. I took a week-long trip to Italy, and I got to see tons of stuff. So lets start from Friday the 25th...

Madison, Morgan, and I hopped on an 18-hour-long train that took us from Luxembourg to Munich to Rome! On the last leg of the train (9pm-9am), we ran into some guys from our program who were in the cart next to us. They were about to watch "Big Fish" on a laptop. I ducked into their 6-person cart because I'm a big fan of that movie. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend you do. While watching, I couldn't help but relate Ed Bloom's variety of adventures to my own, and to the idea of this Blog. In the movie, Ed finds out how he dies when he is a child, so for the remainder of his days, he is able to do crazy things because he knows they aren't how he will die. While I don't know how I will die, the purpose of my bucket list and this blog is to fight aging and death by experiencing as much as I can while I'm alive.

The train ride was incredibly long and uncomfortable, spanning the entire night. We arrived in Rome Saturday morning, and after a good bit of searching for it, we checked into our hostel. I was deemed navigator for this trip, and if you know me at all, you know that was a bad idea. We soon went to explore, heading first to the Colosseum. On the way, we ran into a large protest complemented by some police with riot shields. Still not sure what the cause was, but the flare smoke and the large crowds made the trip to the Colosseum dreadful.

The Colosseum itself was really cool. We learned that the Romans were completely brutal, and entertained with savage killings. 700,000 people, at the very least, were killed purely for entertainment within that structure. I took the opportunity to channel my inner Russell Crowe and shout "Are you not entertained?!" Cross that off the bucket list!

Next, we headed to see the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Pantheon, and the Trevi Fountain. Saint Ignatius was beautiful, and had an amazing ceiling mural. The Pantheon had the most architecturally awe-inspiring dome I've ever seen. I can't fathom how it was created, especially without modern technology. It was also cool to see it,  being a structure common to many text books that I've read for school, in person. The Trevi Fountain is drained for construction, so it wasn't very cool. After exploring, we were starved and tired. The pasta I had that night was legitimately the best pasta I've ever had in my life: Italy really does do pasta right.

The next day, we headed to the Vatican in an attempt to see the Pope say mass. We stood in a giant line which looked like it was to get in to St. Peter's Basilica, and moved our way toward the entrance. While we were about to get in, we heard a voice over speakers. There was a GIANT crowd in St. Peter's Square (which is more of a circle in my opinion) that was listening to this speech. Without a good angle anymore, we were not able to see from where the voice was coming. So after like 20 minutes, we walked into the the Basilica. We participated in a mass said in the Vatican, but it was not said by the Pope, unfortunately. That night, after seeing our peers' Instagrams, we found out that the speech that we were confused by was actually given by the Pope! So although we didn't get to see him, we heard him! Later that day, we headed to the Spanish Steps, but they were basically just a staircase, so that was more of a resting spot than an actual excursion.

Monday morning, we headed to Florence to meet up with our friend Maggie Lane, who is studying in Florence. WARNING: IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO LEATHER, DON'T EVEN CONTINUE READING. FLORENCE IS SO FULL OF LEATHER THAT YOU WOULD PROBABLY HAVE A REACTION FROM JUST READING. No joke, there are like a bizillion street vendors of leather purses, wallets, and belts in addition to the billions of actual shops. In Florence, we did a lot of sitting around and looking around shops. Ryan finally met up with us on Tuesday, and we kept looking at shops. But on Wednesday, we headed to a soccer game to watch the Florence team! it was awesome, and so was the stadium hotdog. Brought me back to home. And Florence won! Florence was the typical Italian city, and I really enjoyed it.

On Thursday, we headed to Venice. I was stoked. We got there at like 3pm, and I was amazed immediately. We walked through some streets, crossing over beautiful canals and seeing gondolas. It's just like the pictures. The water is so much nicer than you'd think. We had an awesome and cheap dinner by water, and the pasta was amazing again. We went back to the hostel very early though because it was dark by 5:30, and Venice gets very creepy when the sun sets because it's full of dark alleyways.

The next day, we walked around some more, and took some public boats to different places including a cool island where we got to climb a clocktower that overlooked the Adriatic Sea and Venice. Taking it all in was amazing. It was Halloween, and that just added to the creepiness of Venice at night. I had another great pasta, and we headed back to the hostel.

The last thing we did in Venice was on Saturday morning. We headed to the island of Murano to watch some glassblowing, which is what Murano is known for, dating back to the Middle Ages. It was cool to see such intricate detail being made out of glass in such a short period of time.

We ended our break by training to Milan, staying in the Milan train station and airport for more than 10 hours, flying to Brussels, and then training home to Lux. I can't say it's how I wished to spend my birthday, but I realize I shouldn't be complaining. But I was definitely ready to get back to Lux. 74/117.