Amsterdam Day 2

Wow, I am behind on blog posts.

So my second day in Amsterdam had a slightly rude awakening (literally). I go to bed about 5:30am in my 10-person dorm room. The last of the people decided to get up around 10am. There were 3 American guys and they represented the asshole American stereotype perfectly. Even though some of us were still sleeping and there was natural light they turned the lights on. They talked in regular voices, yelled at times, slammed doors and were yelling down the hall to other people. Finally, a very nice Australian girl who was up said, "there are other people still sleep." One of their replies was, "well they can deal with it."

After these dicks left, I got up with a few hours sleep in me. I started talking to the Australian girl, Aly. She said, "No offense, but I run into American guys like this all over and it makes me think Americans really are assholes." I told her no offense, that they do make us look that way, but I promise we are all not that way. In fact, there are a lot of nice, respectful Americans and this guy is far from the norm (though too prominent in America).

After getting ready Aly and I grab lunch, joined by another Australian guy who, while traveling Europe, decided to just stay and got a job in the hostel as a cook. We later meet another American from Austin who is traveling and he joins us. After breakfast, we decide to go visit a local market. Now these markets sell everything. It is kind of like a giant outdoor second hand shop. Hands down the best place to get souvenirs. We hang out there for an hour or so and then head back to the hostel.

Now, the other American, David, is biking across Europe. I mean with a bicycle. That blows my mind. He carries a tent and a back pack. He bikes up to 100 miles a day on a long day.

David and I are sitting there chatting and we realize that neither of us have wandered through the famous Red Light District of Amsterdam yet. Now, for those who don't know is the Red Light District is where prostitution is legal. It is famous for many reasons, but is a big tourist attraction as well. They have red lights everywhere (thus the name). I thought it would be some mildly seeding looking hookers harassing people on corners where they take you into a brothel.

Well, let me tell you how wrong I was. This place is a complex of small streets that are lined with glass doors where the women (hookers) stand inside waiting for clients. I guess they are not allowed to harass people on the street. You have to approach them. There are 50+ "rooms" in this small block. These women are not seedy either. They are by traditional definitions extremely attractive. It was like window shopping for sex. A very weird concept.

We walk though, which went better than expected because I didn't get harassed. I have no interest in prostitutes. That is not what I am looking for in life. But I will say this place was far different than I expected. It was regulated, (security was all over) and professional. It really gives a boost in my opinion to the idea that legalization and regulation are the best ways to deal with social issues in a country.

After this David and I meet two random guys from the Netherlands that came to Amsterdam for the local Occupy protect. So there is Occupy Wallstreet. Now there are other protests world wide. One was going on at Amsterdam, so we went a checked it out. It was interesting. Some people are there with a purpose and understanding. Some people are there because they don't understand economics and want people with more money to give it to them even though those with more worked for it and those asking for it have done nothing. It's a bad mix of under education and entitlement.

That night was much, much calmer. I met back up with Aly and a new Australian friend of hers who is in love with America. She was asking me all sorts of questions, which was pretty fun to answer. We got dinner, hung out and by 10:30pm I wanted nothing more than sleep. I called it an early night and hit the hay not fully sure what I will do the next day, since tomorrow is my last in Amsterdam.

To Amsterdam!

I wake up, say my said goodbyes and head to the train station. (I feel like all my posts start with "head to the train station," but I guess that makes since). I get there pretty quickly and go to buy my ticket at the counter. The train ticket from Breda to Amsterdam is about 18 Euros. Now the regular train is 2 hours. The Fyra is only 1 hour - definetly worth the 3 euro extra. I don't want to get 20 euro in change so I just pay the 50 cent fee to get my ticket from a live human. Very friendly guy who ONLY charges me the 50 cents, not 1 euro. Also, I have my unused Fyra upgrade from yesterday with the canceled train. He just upgrades my new ticket to the Fyra for free (saving my 1.5 Euro). Nice guy!

I get to Amsterdam an hour later and figure out how to get to my hostel. After some confused wandering I finally get there (very close to train station and right in the heart of Amsterdam, Booyah!).

I get to my Hostel at about 1pm and can't check in until 2pm. I sit down, bust out the ol' iPad and start surfing the net. I notice across from me are two girls surfing the net on iPad 2 with the exact same logitech keyboard I have. I causally say, "nice setup over there." (Smooth, right?) They laugh and say they noticed the same thing. Turns out these two girls (sisters) are from California. They both got bored, quit their jobs and decided to travel the world as well. Awesome! Except they 1-up me, well 10-up me. They first spent 4-months traveling in South America and now are spending 4-months traveling Europe. Wow, now that is impressive.

After a little chit chat, they invite me to join them in renting bikes and riding around the city. Well, I am not going to reject new friends. I can finally check in, so I drop my bags off and am ready to go biking!

We get our bikes with out issue and head off through the city. Now, I can honestly say I don't think I have almost died as many times as biking through Amsterdam. Cars drive like crazy, scooters drive on bike paths, bike paths disappear and reappear at random and trams run all over it. I about got hit by a few cars, lots of other bikers, scooters and one tram.

Finally, we find the park we were looking for. It is a beautiful park for walking or biking. We bike through it, stop to take pictures and eventually get some snacks. The two sisters are Kelly and Megan. I have fun talking to them about their adventures so far, lives, future goals etc. Kelly wants to go back to school, but this time in Australia to become a Veterinarian. Megan works for a publishing house, is a grammar nut and wants to get a master in Communication or Journalism, also internationally.

After out snack we just bike around randomly. We finally end up at the I Amsterdam sign. Which is awesome, because it is on my list of things to see in the city. I get some great pictures planking it. Take some pictures of the sisters and we enjoy the beautiful weather for a bit there.

We continue biking around the city and seeing smaller sites, but nothing too exciting, just almost dying every 100 feet. We finally return our bikes and are ready for dinner. We settle on Mexican. We all miss Mexican food, so it seems fitting. We find a decent joint and keep the conversation going. The food was good and I was stuffed.

After going back to the hostel and relaxing for a bit they invite me out with them that night. They are going to try and find their Dutch friend they met in South America and go to a bar with him. While we are leaving they run into an Australian guy they met in Switzerland. He decides to join us. As we are walking HE runs into two American girls he met in Germany. They decide to join us too. Now we are a random party of 6. Awesome!

We fail to get in touch with the Dutch friend at first, so we end up at a small, local pub. We enjoy a few beers there and then finally get a hold of the Dutch friend. He is already pretty drunk, so his cousin acts as our guide to their bar. It is pretty far so we split a cab ride instead. We lose out Australian friend, but the other 5 of us make it there.

We enjoy a good time at the bar, drinking, which our generous new Dutch friend keeps buying for us (score). The bar closes at 1am though, so we decide to go to a club. Another cab ride back to the city center. We get into a club, which is packed and I mean that as literally as possible. There is no room to move. It was exactly like being in a mosh pit. We all lose each other really fast. After awhile I meet up with the Dutch and then Megan and Kelly, but we lost the other two girls, who we are pretty sure just left (they had a 5am train to catch).

We keep partying at this club till about 2:30am when the cops break it up. Wait, what? Yes, the cops. 20 of them. Not kidding. Our Dutch friend says he has heard of this, but never experienced it (it is rare). To leave, they pat you down. Now Amsterdam doesn't care about pot, but it cares A LOT about heavy drugs and cracks down extremely hard on them. Our friend points out that usually those raids are 4 or 5 cops. 20 cops probably means some sort of drug boss or kingpin is in the club with us and they got word of it. That makes it even better and more exciting. Takes 20 minutes to get out (single file line).

After we get out, we are still full of energy and our Dutch friend suggests going to his apartment and having a drink. We head there. Now this guy is 23, a pilot for the major Dutch airline and owns his own apartment in Amsterdam. And it is a sweet bachelors pad. We hang out, have a few more drinks and finally realize it is 5am and we need sleep. He gets a cab for us, makes sure the guy doesnt screw us on price and we head home. At 5:30am I finally crawl into my bed excited for some sleep.

Oh Amsterdam, what will tomorrow bring?

Rotterdam!

So, one of the major Netherlands cities, Rotterdam, is a 20 minute train ride from Breda. I thought to my self, "why not check off another city? I hear cool things about this place." So I get up the next morning and head to the train station.

At the train station, the trains run there every 20 minutes or so. There are two trains fast (Fyra) and local. Local is a 40 minute ride. The faster train is only 1.70 more, so I go for it.

I try to order a ticket at a machine, but it won't accept my visa card and doesn't take bills, only coins. The ride is 10 Euros each way ($13.21). I go down to the booth with one of those old school humans in it. I say I don't have the coins and could use change, she says I can just order here. Sounds good to me. Here is the following conversation.

Her: You want the Fyra.....to Rotterdam....11 euros - She said this very condescendingly.
Me: It is only 10 I thought
Her: 50 cent charge at booth
Me: Okay, so that is 10.50, not 11
Her: No, there is a 50 cent charge, it is 11 euros
Me: No, it is 10 euros, + the 50 cent charge is 10.50, 11 euros is a 1 euro charge.
Her (frustrated): It is 11 euros, you choose the more expensive train.
Me: Okay, well I just came here for change, can I just get the change so I can order it at the machine and not pay the extra charge you didn't tell me about till after
Her: Why didn't you just say so in the beginning?
Me: I did...that how the conversation started "I need change..."

I leave, buy my ticket at the machine for the 10 euros and feel good.

Shortly after I am in Rotterdam. Now the city isn't a party town or anything. It is a business city and port city. I found a tourist center and they had a good self-guided walking tour. I decide for that free option.

I start walking around the city and find that it is really cool. They have a very unique architectural style. They build their buildings to be unique and different, but yet they all seem to blend into the city so well. Often cities like this look weird, confusing and kind of rub me the wrong way once the "wow" factor wears off. Somehow Rotterdam got it just right. I keep going through the city, which is filled with canals and see the main sites.

Eventually I get to the river, inlet, not really sure what it is since we are so close to the sea. I find a good view, a bench and enjoy my home made meal (sandwich, candy, water). I keep walking down the river and eventually come across a beautiful park that I walk though. At the other end of the park is a giant tower. I come to learn it is an observatory. I am in. I don't like to spend money, it is only 6 euros to go to the top.

I go in and get a great view of the entire city. You can even take a ride that goes up to the very top of the needle and rotates around for even better pictures. I get my fill of the view and head down after a good 45 minutes. I feel I got a good run of the city and start heading back to the station. This is a long hike since I am on the other side of the city. Takes me about an hour, but I take some detours down cool looking shopping streets.


Eventually I get back to the train station, buy my Fyra ticket and wait. I find out that the Fyra train broke down and is canceled. Luckily, the regular local train leaves in about 5 minutes so I catch that one. The extra 20 minutes doesn't really make a difference on the ride home.

I get back and head to the house. Not sure what is going on tonight, but should be fun either way. Katja, Silvia and I end up going to the store, getting food for dinner, drinks for the night and heading back to their place. We cook and eat dinner and then sit around having different dutch beers and talking till 1 or 2 in the morning.

It was a great time just talking about our lives, philosophy, the future and anything that comes up. This is something I realized I was really missing the last year. Good, deep conversations. My favorite night is sitting around with a few good friends and discussing/arguing about some issue. It really forces you to think, develop new ideas and listen. I feel like my brain is so out of shape these days since I graduate college. I don't use it in the same way anymore. I don't go as deep into thought anymore, but this trip is getting me back there pretty fast.

We eventually all give up and go to bed. I go to Amsterdam tomorrow and this was a great send off. It is funny, Silvia and I talk about that we only really knew each other for 3 months when she lived in KC almost 6 years ago. We talked randomly after she left and then I saw her when she was in KC this last summer. But what is funny is how when you think about it we don't know each other that well, but yet we both feel like we know each other pretty well. Like there wasn't 5 to 6 years in between, like we stayed in contact the whole time. Life is funny that way sometimes.

Finally, after a long day, to sleep!

Breda Day 2!

After waking up around 11am I feel refreshed. Headache gone and I am ready for some adventure. Sadly, it is still raining (also been like this in the Netherlands). Silvia doesn't have class but has to crank away on a project for a bit. I spend my time catching up on some work, job searching and figuring out my next few days in the Netherlands.

Finally, Silvia and I head into town to get some food. We go to her favorite pizza place and it lived up to the high reputation she set for it. We then move into the main square and get a beer at her favorite pub, also a great place. I do have a little fancy for the Dutch beer so far.

Tonight we are planning meeting up with her friends to drink, hangout and then go to a bar for the Dutch Oktoberfest (pretty small, mainly an excuse to drink German beer in large quantities). We got to the store, get some supplies (which involves gummy products for me. See Harbo, the best and original gummy snack company is German based and they have cheap products all over this area, so I buy a lot).

We head to her friends and hang out for a while. It was fun getting to know the group there. Conversations keep shifting between German and English. It is funny, in America we are taught to expect dislike towards American's while in Europe, but almost everyone I have talked to has been very interested in America, its people and culture. Very little negativity. I spend more time learning about each of the different friends back story, schooling and goals. It is an interesting group. Most of them are studying similar stuff that I did. Public relations, marketing, advertising, etc. Now let me note, this picture is of about half the group there.

Around midnight we head out back to the city center to find a bar. We hang out there for about an hour. I meet a bunch of other students and have good conversations with them. People are from all over. South Africa, Spain, Brazil, etc. I still can't believe I never studied abroad. What an idiot I am, but oh well. After a good time having a German beer or two and meeting new people we head home to crash.

Tomorrow, I take a train 20 minutes to Rotterdam!

To the Netherlands!

The main difference between the Netherlands and the Neverlands, is that you can take a train there instead of needing fairy dust. But let me tell you, that train doesn't always work out ideally.

So I have a 6 hour train ride from Hamburg, Germany to Breda, Netherlands. I take 3 trains, all about 2 hours long with plenty of stops (thus the long rides). I finish my first leg of the journey and notice my next train is a little late. Finally, I notice on a board it is delayed an hour. Well, that won't work, I only had 3 minutes in-between my next connection.

I go talk to the help desk. I guess they are used to this because he asks my final destination, takes my itinerary and gives me a new one. It will only add 30 minutes to my trip, but now I have 5 trains to catch before I get there (added 3 connections). I am hopping local trains until I get there. Well, this will be interesting. My phone is out of minutes, I have no Internet, my friend is expecting my at 6:30pm and I will get there at 7pm and I can't tell her that.

One of my train rides is as short at 14 minutes. It was crazy because I was never 100% sure if I was getting off at the right stop. One major, major difference between Scandinavia and Germany is the friendliness of people. Germans are good people, but not by nature friendly. I ask a lot of questions and get more glares than not, but I get my answers either way and move on.

My last leg is the longer one, about 1.5 hours and by a sheer miracle it has free wifi on it. I was able to let my friend know I would be 30 minutes late without any issue. Success! I finally get to the station and quickly find my friend in this super cool tunnel.

We proceed to walk back to her place where I will be saying. Now Breda is a relatively small city. Roughly the size of Lawrence, maybe a little bigger. It is only 15 minute walk or so from the station to her place just outside the city center. Once there I get to meet her cool roommate Katja, also a German. Now both Silvia and Katja are in Breda going to a University there.

Since I am starving we go to the store and get some food to make. I have been living off bread pretty much for days now, so since I have access to a kitchen I buy two round cut steaks for my meal. Silvia has potatoes and adds peas and carrots to the mix. Sweet Jesus, it tastes so good. I wolf my food down and enjoy a Dutch dessert (Flau...?). It is pretty much pudding, but a little less thick. Ours is mixed chocolate and vanilla. It is good though.

Around this point one of Silvia's other friends comes over, Vanessa, also a German. We all hang out, get to know each other, have a few Dutch beers and an all around good time. At some point during this I notice that I am getting a migraine. Balls. Now, migraines are not simple for me. They are by me slowly going half blind. Then I get crazy auras in my vision that make me sick, then I get a huge headache. I have a medicine cocktail I take now that makes a huge difference though and gets me back up on my feet in about 4 hours. I take it down and say F*** this, I won't let it spoil my time. I keep hanging out with everyone till about 1am when the pain is blocking me from really interacting. At that point I go to sleep and wake of refreshed!

On to Hamburg!

I am going to sum up my two days in Hamburg into one post, mostly because it wasn't exciting at all. I happened to venture to Hamburg - one of the famous party cities of Europe - while it was freakishly cold and raining and I knew no one there, met no one at the hostels to go out with, etc.

I left From Copenhagen at 11:45am by train for a 5-hour ride to Hamburg. No problems getting there and getting on the train. I got up at 10am (about 5 hours of sleep, not bad), had my things pre-packed, said good-bye to Noelle and went to the station. I did realize at this point I didn't print off my train ticket. Searching the station I had no luck finding a printer. Luckily, there was a little internet cafe near the station and for about $2 I printed it off and checked my e-mail (double win!).

Finally getting on the train I luck out and get an empty seat next to me allowing me to sprawl out and fail at taking a nap. I just can't sleep in vehicles of any kind, but that is okay.

After about 2 hours our train stops. I am pretty confused, have no clue where we are in Denmark or how we are getting to Germany. They tell us the train stops here, we have to switch to a ferry for 45 minutes and then hop on another train. This was actually pretty cool. Ferries are decked out with shops, comfy seats and restaurants. It was a great break from the norm. I assume we are crossing from the main Copenhagen island to Jutland (the mainland Denmark). Nope, we are going straight to Germany I guess, because when I get there everything is definitely in German.

Sounds good to me! We hop on another train and 2 hours later we are rolling into Hamburg. I get there around 5pm, get a map, ask for directions to my hostel and figure out the public transportation system, pretty much the norm. I get to my hostel and on my walk there it just starts raining. It is already abnormally cold for Hamburg today, so the rain just adds a little gloom to it all.

Now let me interrupt my self and say that rain in Europe is completely different than rain in Kansas. It doesn't pour at all. It is weird. It has the rate of a heavy rain, but the drops are so small, its almost mist like. Its actually just kind of annoying. It is like the rain is mocking you. You can still go out and do stuff, but it feels like it is mocking you the whole time by just making it less enjoyable.

I go to my hostel, which is half hostel and half hotel. It is extremely nice. I am in a 8 person room with private bath. Built in curtains for each bed, very comfy bed, etc. It was a nice place. Problem is, looks like it is a popular hostel for younger people (18/19). Seemed to be a lot of huge groups there for some sort of tour. I ended up catching up on a lot of e-mail, reading and sleep instead of doing anything too exciting.

Now I only booked one night, so I have to find another hostel for night 2. I find one not too far from my current one. As I am walking there (in the rain, in my poncho looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame with my backpacks), I notice there are a lot of strip clubs, sex shops and casino's close to my place. Yep, did it again. Booked a hostel right off a cities Red Light district. Welp, it will make walking around at night interesting to say the least.

I get to my hostel and check-in. There looks to be a camera crew across the street at a hair saloon. I guess they are filming an episode of a really popular German show there. Made for good entertainment. I sit for a bit watching the filming with the staff for awhile.

I finally go to my room, as I get ready to head up, the desk attendant changes her mind. I booked a bed in a 6-person room (cheapest they had). I was going to be in there with 5 friends from Australia. She says - "Nah, take this room, it is a 4-person and you can have it to your self." I guess she had a lot of open rooms that night and when she has open rooms she divides people up if they want. Awesome. Already I know this place is getting a great review. I settle in and prepare to take off into the city.

For the first time in a city I decide to do take a tour bus. Normally I like walking around the city and seeing the sites, but its raining, so the bus seems like the better option. The tour turned out to be mostly in German because only 3 English speakers were on the tour. Oh well, I still get to see the sites right?

About half way through I notice an Apple store. Perfect! I am relying entirely on my iPad when I travel and my adapter has died on me. Charges for maybe 5 minutes and stops. I tested with other adapters and they worked fine. I go into Apple, explain the problem and they offer to replace it for free after I explain I am traveling and won't be anywhere for them to mail the replacement too. I have to go get the broken one, schedule a meeting with a Genius and wait about an hour, but totally worth it for the new adapter. This is one of the reasons I like paying a premium for Apple products. I can go to another continent and get a faulty piece replaced for free without any hassle.

I get back on another tour bus and finish the tour. I decide to walk around a nifty area I found and I stumble upon this gem. There was a post-it war in this square and someone upped the ante to recreating the Sistine Chapel God and Man part. That is entirely in post-it notes. Insane. The best part is, I saw this picture on a social news site called Reddit.com a month or two ago, where someone talked about a post-it war getting out of hand in his building. He didn't say where it was. I love how life works sometimes.

The rest of my day and night are pretty calm. I go down to the "multicultural" district to get some food and a beer. I really want a hamburger. I discovered that we call them hamburgers because they were invented in Hamburg. I found this out while telling a joke recently about how silly it is we call it a hamburger, it isn't even ham, it should be called a beefburger. My friend goes "yea....it is because they were invented in Hamburg...." Welp, way to kill my dreams friend, but thank you for the educational lesson.

The multicultural district was the wrong place to go for a burger. I can get food from anywhere else in the world though! Finally, I find a place with a burger. I order one (it as alright), get a Hamburg beer and entire a quite meal to my self while contemplating life. At this point in my trip I am really hitting hard some important questions. What do I want to do with my life? What do I want to do when my visa expires? Etc.

I go back to my hostel still thinking. When I get close I see some mildly attractive women on the street and I think "Bet they are hookers." Almost immediately they start yelling German at me. "yep, hookers." I yell back I don't speak German, in German (I know a few phrases). They keep yelling and I just chuckle and walk off. After a rather boring day I hit the hay for a good nights sleep to catch my 10am train to Breda, Netherlands where I am meeting up with my friend Silvia. She was a German exchange student at NorthWest I got to know and stayed in contact with. Should be fun!

My First European Rave

My last full day in Denmark started out pretty relaxed. Ulla, her brother-in-law and myself went to a local town to see the famous church where all the Danish Kings and Queens are buried. It was pretty cool. After that we went to the Viking Museum, which was awesome. We went here as kids and I loved it. It is great revisiting some of your best childhood memories. The museum isn't all that much different, but it was a lot of fun to see it again.

After that I hop on a train back to Copenhagen to meet up with Noelle, Kirstan's granddaughter (Ulla's niece). The last time I saw Noelle was 18 years ago and we didn't speak the same language. I am staying at her place down town and she is taking me out tonight. It will be interesting. We plan on meeting at the train station at a set time, but neither of us are entirely sure what the other one looks like. Noelle is short and has long dreads in two colors, which makes it easier. I am the out-of-place American with two back packs. We find each other pretty easily in the end.

She takes me to her apartment, I meet her boyfriend and their other house guest, a Russian girl named Lily. Noelle ran into Lily, who is back packing the world randomly while Lily was asking people about hostels. Noelle, being the incredibly nice person she is offered a spare room for Lily to stay in while she was in Copenhagen.

After a quick dinner Noelle outlines the plan. We are going to a rave, Danish style. It is in an old warehouse that isn't being used anymore. They just move in, put a bar up, add music and go for it. Luckily, the owner of this one is cool with it and doesn't even charge them rent, just utilities. Only Lily, Noelle and I are going. Her boyfriend has work at 6am or so.

We head off on bikes (its about 45 degrees out) and we have a 30 minute bike ride ahead of us. It was a little cold, but a lot of fun really. We get to the place and it does not disappoint. It was literally a worn down warehouse, holes in the walls, graffiti everywhere and it was awesome.

We got there around 10pm (very early) and partied it up. Beers were only about $2 which is the cheapest you will get in Copenhagen, but the beer is also warm, but that is how this impromptu raves roll. They find a location, post it, find some entertainment (djs, bands, etc) and go with it. My favorite part was the 60 year old guy that looked exactly like Santa Clause, white beard and all, wearing a fur pimp coat, big sunglasses, a hat, red t-shirt, red shorts and holding a 9-iron. He never once left his chair. I felt like he was the king of the rave.

Now possibly my favorite part of Europe is that no one can really dance or better, no one cares. finally I don't look like a fool dancing! I fit in! Plus we added some neon face paint for the lights. (pics to come).

Finally, at 3:30am or so Lily and I are both spent and decide to bike home. Noelle was just getting started and had a good few more hours in her (got home at 6am). Lily and I have a great time figuring out how to get back to the apartment (plenty of wrong turns), but also talking and getting to know each other. She just graduated school and wants to see the world before working. She meets people, gets suggestions of a good place to go and heads there. She is doing it right.

Once we get back to the apartment, we enjoy some cereal and stay up for awhile talking about life. It is just amazing, the people you meet and the things you learn traveling. Everyone needs to go out and travel like this. I can't imagine how people grow individually without this experience. I have learned so much about my self in such a short span that I didn't know. You can't begin to understand yourself until you throw yourself as far from your comfort zone as possible and figure out how to get home. I was always to scared to leave on this adventure and now that I did it, I don't want to come back. I want to see my family, but I want to stay on this adventure, I don't want to settle down again.

As I Wander Through Copenhagen

After 6 days in a hostel with 11 other people in the same room, having a room to my self was like heaven. Now, I am surprised by how little I am bothered by sharing a room with a dozen people. I thought it would be terrible, and with the exception of that one night, it has gone great so far. But a room to my self, finally. I slept well and long, fully recharging for the day ahead.

I went downstairs, had a nice Danish breakfast, talked to Kirstan some more and then was off to get on a bus and then a train to downtown Copenhagen. Luckily, Kirstan is used to visitors so she always has spare bus tickets on hand (she is really amazing) and the bus stop is across the street. I said my goodbyes and thanks and got on the bus.

After a quick trip I was on a commuter train downtown. Now let me say something about Danish trains, they are like spaceships. They are so nice, smooth, comfortable, have sections for parking your bike, strollers, anything. I mean, this is how public transportation is done!

I get to the central station, find a locker for my bags and then realize I have no map or clue about the city. After some wandering I find the tourist center (400 meters away from the train station). I get a map, which conveniently includes a walking tour guide hitting up all the major sites I want to see.

I take off on my adventure walking through the city, seeing some famous buildings, looking at the canals and the cool shops. Not 20 minutes into my walk I strike gold. The Lego Store. Now, most people reading this might not realize, but growing up, my brothers and our friends pretty much lived for Legos. Contests of greatness were determined by Lego creations and nothing else. The Lego Store is the burning bush of our childhood. Now, Lego Land in Denmark - couldn't visit :-( - is the holy land. I strolled through the store looking at all the new Legos they have. In the store they have a lot of cool things they have built, like a 4 foot long Super Star Destroyer (epic). Finally, I got the strength to pull my self away from the store and leave. It took about all the energy I had though. I would spend a life time in there just playing if possible.

I again wander around, finally finding the palace. Last time I was there we watched to guards march around the square and my older brother stole one of the marble stones from the courtyard. I mean, one of the square ones from the mosaics on the ground. It is still to this day one of the best souvenirs one of us brothers have taken home with us. I tried to find another lose stone to take to my brother thinking that would be the ultimate Christmas gift, but couldn't find a loose one and the guards were watching my like hawks. They must have remembered us from last time. The family who pulled off the perfect crime.

I don't linger long around the palace and head back down the walking path. I come across a canal and am instantly hit with a wave of nostalgia. This is the place I was looking for. Now, when I think Denmark I think the house I stayed at and when I think Copenhagen, I think of this canal. It is has beautiful boats and a row of houses all different colors. I take pictures, wander around and finally get asked by some other foreigner to take their picture there, which is great because they can take one of me (that will make my Mom happy).

I take the picture, placing her in a third and the scenery in the other 2/3. She goes "um...its not right I want to be in the middle." I try to explain the rule of 2/3 when taking pictures. In fact, she doesn't want to be in the middle because it completely detracts from the background she is trying to get. She just glares at me and asks me to take another. Then there is a sign in it by her leg, but she choose to stand next to it! What am I supposed to do, magically make it disappear? Finally she gives up and takes mine. I am happy and walking away when it hits me. I am going to be in the center of my picture. dammit!

Oh well, moving on I find the second location I knew I had to find while here. The Little Mermaid Statue. Once there I take tons of pictures and just sit and reflect. It is a beautiful location, the weather is great and the memories are swelling in my head.

A big part of my adventure is trying to figure out what I really want to do with the rest of my life. I have a lot of options, but I need to decide and narrow it in. I can try to find work here in Europe and stay for a year and keep traveling. I can try to get a job in China (great work experience) or teach english in Asia for fun and traveling. I can go back to the States and find a job, but what industry? I know the type of job(s). Account management, strategic sales/business development. This trip has been amazing to sit and think about this, the problem is, I still can't decide what I want to do! I feel like I am walking forward, but I am not entirely sure what towards.

After thinking I keep walking, see a variety of sites (will spare the details, nothing special). Finally I meet up at the Danish train station with the nephews and their Dad. They were downtown as well. Tonight I am staying at Ulla's (about 45 minutes from downtown) and they are as well. We start our trek to her house.

When we get to Ulla's house I am mildly blown away. It is out in the country and has an amazing view (I will update with photos later when I can). The house itself is great as well. It is a square with a courtyard in the center. The entire inside has been remodeled (Ulla's husband is a carpenter). The rest of the night is relaxing and fun. We make dinner (well, they wouldn't let me help....but how do they know I am that bad at cooking!). For dinner Ulla's two sons (20) join us with their girlfriends. Last time I saw them they were 1 or so. They didn't remember me. I was pretty offended, haha.

After a while I crash nice and early enjoying another night of good sleep.

To Copenhagen!

So I got up early (9am) packed my bags and was off for my longest train ride yet (5 hours). I got to the station, got lunch and onto my train no problem. No one was sitting next to me (score), but my window seat happened to be next to the part between windows...so no view.

One of the best parts of the train is I could order Internet for the trip for $15 (which I did). The worst part is I found out about 45 minutes in I get motion sick on trains....damn. It is weird, I don't on planes, I do on trains and often on buses and def. in cars, but only if I try to read something. Since I don't on planes, I wonder if it is the moving scenery next to me that triggers it or the movement its self.

Either way it didn't matter because an hour in a nice Swedish girl (19 or 20) ended up sitting next to me. We sat there chatting about a variety of things. She was on her way to visit her sister in Malmo (in Sweden, across from Copenhagen). Her boyfriend is currently in the States trying to get onto a US minor league hockey team. She really wants to do a trip to the States like I am doing in Europe when she finishes school. I pulled out a US map and gave her the highlights to hit (national parks, fun cities, etc). It was a great way to pass the time.

Now, I am going to Copenhagen to visit family friends. My Mom lived/studied there in college and stayed with a family. They remain in contact to this day (parents at 89 and 93, kids are around my parents age, their children are around mine). We visited them a few times when I was younger, but it was been about 18 years since I have last seen them.

Finally, I arrived at Copenhagen Central Station and was going to be picked up by Ulla. It dawned on me that I haven't seen Ulla in 18 years and she hasn't seen me either, so how do I find her. Oddly enough I get off the train and see a woman standing there and instantly know its her. She notices the recognition in my eyes and guesses it is me. She exclaims that I look completely different, which 18 years of growth tends to do. Ulla looks completely different as well, but what I recognized was her energy. Ulla is one of those people just full to the brim of energy and happiness. That never changes and I saw that right away. She was bouncing around, running over to see me.

We go out to the car and she has some other guests. Her husbands two nephews and their Dad are also in town so they came to pick me up. The boys are 17 and 19 and really nice guys. We take the 25 minute drive back to Ulla's Mom's house where I will be staying that night and have a good conversation about my trip and life so far.

When we get to the house it looks familiar (some of my best childhood memories are from this house in Denmark), but the best thing was, it smelled the exact same. The moment I walked in I was overwhelmed with memories from my last visit. Smell is the strongest sense linked to memory and boy did that prove it to me. It was great. It is a smell I have only have found there. It is so pleasant. In my head that is what I always remembered Denmark smelling like.

Now the Mom (Kirstan) is 89 and she doesn't look a day over 70. She is still fully mobile, cooking and cleaning, tending the garden and doing everything. Her husband was sadly not there, he recently had a stroke at the age of 93 and is fully recovering in a rehab center. He has speak and write and is getting feeling back in his numb side already. Before his stroke, he was working for 3 days in the garden and then went to an Apple Festival in Sweden and was walking up a large hill when he didn't feel well. He said he didn't want to go to a Swedish hospital, so he waited a few days till they were back in Denmark. So he had a stroke and ignored it for 3 days at the age of 93 and he is fully recovering. Amazing. Oh yeah, no memory loss either. Sharp as a tack.

At the house I walk around realizing it looks almost identical still. Same chairs, couch, books, paintings and so on. We have a great dinner, which I called Danish lasagna and some Danish desserts. Ulla and the others left after that and Kirstan and I caught up. She is just an amazing person. Stays up till 1 or 2am each night and lives life to the fullest.

After awhile, she is watching TV and I am reading a book. She says to me "do you like this show, it is one of my favorites." I look over to see which show, it is the Daily Show with John Stewart. That is right, she watches The Daily Show every night. So at 11:30pm, I watched the Daily Show with an 89 year-old Danish woman who laughed at the same lewd jokes I did. It was awesome. I love these people. After that I went to bed while she stayed up and watched my TV!

The Rest of Sweden

The rest of my day adventures in Sweden are not too exciting. I kept wandering through the city. I saw the palace, a museum or too and some great small shops. It was very pleasant, but my overall thought was I spent a day too long in Stockholm. It's a beautiful city, but it has already gotten cold, limiting what I can do in the city. By the last day, I was pretty bored and ready to take off.

Some fun I did have was hoping on a random subway and taking it to its last stop, which was in the suburbs. The suburbs are beautiful. One of the things I love about Europe is how much of nature they keep and build around. In the States we build for efficiency, which is not a bad thing, but I would rather live in an area like I was walking through with beautiful nature perfectly blended into the city and I could even tell this was a mildly lower income area too. A person came up asking for money, I said I don't speak Swedish and they switched to perfect English. I almost gave them money just for that! I mean, come on, bi-lingual homeless people, I can't even compete with that.

My last two nights in Sweden are what were fun. The second to last night I went out with my two new pals from California. We met up with one of their Swedish friends (studied in the States) who lives in Stockholm. He took us first to a true English pub that a friend of his worked at. We sat in a "study" drinking nice beer surrounded by actual antique books. We sat there, got tipsy and argued about religion, politics and all the normal classics you would expect in such a classy joint.

Around midnight we moved onto the club. After wandering the city looking for a good club (lots closed) we finally find one that looks like its got something going on (finally). The age to get in was 23. I was kind of thrown off by this, but then I got it. Their drinking age is 18, so they need ways to separate bars and clubs, so they still have age limits to keep out the younger kids and make it a more deserved location. After talking to the bouncer a bit, which is interesting because to be a bouncer you are a mini-cop, with cop like authority and have to do like 1 month of training and 2 weeks follow-up every 6 months or so, he pointed out that most problems come from younger people and they don't buy drinks (same in the States!).

The club was pretty good, small, but good. They had a celebrity, Eddie Murphy's brother, who I guess is a comedian. He got a section taped off and was bringing all the ladies over there, which was also pretty funny. Thought about getting a picture with him, but decided to pass. More trouble than it was worth. We bought our overly priced drinks and hit the dance floor. We finally met 4 German girls on vacation there and danced with them until about 4am when the club shut down. The girls had a flight to catch (staying up all night to catch a 6am flight) and we, a little more than tipsy, decided to move onto the next club. There were 4 of us. Two of us wanted the next club to be McDonalds and two a real club. After some arguing, McDonalds won. We enjoyed some prized beef patties before finally wandering home around 5am.

The next day was more of the same. The only real highlight was I went to the Erikson Globe (think Sprint Center, but a sphere). It is the worlds largest spherical building. You can take a globe shaped evaluator to the top. Great for pictures.

That night I assumed I wouldn't do much. The people I knew at the hostel were already gone, but luckily for me my handy iPad+case/keyboard caught the attention of a German guy I was sitting next to. After a conversation about it, he invited me out with his other German friends (5 of them in total). We went to a club, a little more low-key one this time, and hit the dance floor, had some drinks. It was a good time. Three of them are working on becoming teachers, one of them is a German police officer and the other does media sales for a newspaper. Best part is, they live near Ravensburg, Germany (I am visiting a friend there later) and we agreed to meet up when I am there and go party. They will show me all the best bars, clubs etc. So I am looking forward to that.

The best part of traveling is meeting new people and then possibly meeting up with them again later. It is crazy to think about that I sometimes meet people for 1 night and I might never see them again or might stay with them a month later, but either way they make an impact on my life and journey. Makes me think about all the amazing people out there I never get to meet, but I am glad I am traveling to find some more I wouldn't have!

Some Thoughts on Sweden

I was most looking forward to seeing Sweden and it really didn't disappoint. It is very calm, but beautiful. Here are some interesting thoughts and things I noticed.

1) They speak English incredibly well. Everyone, fluent, without a thick accent. So much that a homeless woman came up asking for money in Swedish. I said I don't speak Swedish and she switched to perfect, fluent English. I still told her no (you just have to get used to that in Europe), but I got me thinking. What kind of country has its homeless fully fluent in two languages. I am impressed.

2) Swedish people don't have much of a sense of humor. I don't mean this negatively, but it is just true. The guys I was out with and my self kept making jokes and they just stared at us or gave serious answers. We asked our Swedish friend Leo who joined us one night and he confirmed. It just is different than the States, he didn't realize it until he lived in America for a year. We give them credit though, if we had to deal with the winter they have to we probably wouldn't have a sense of humor either.

3) Swedes really are tall. I would say the average height is 1 to 2 inches of the US. Being a short, scrawny guy it was the biggest bummer of coming here. The average female was taller than me. Lame. Definitely reduced my ability to find a Swedish wife. But tall guys, if you want a tall, beautiful, blonde wife, Sweden is the best place on Earth to go.

4) I never met the Swedish Princess that is single. So I never got to convince her she wanted to marry a short, scrawny American. I really had my hopes up on becoming a Prince in Sweden, but I guess I can always come back. I am pretty sure she reads my blog, so she probably just wasn't aware of my interest.

5) People are friendly here, but quite. No one really goes out of their way to talk to you. In stores or anything. People just want to do their thing and move on. They are friendly when you talk to them, but it is clear, unless you know them, they just want to move on to what they were doing, not talk.

6) Stockholm is the fashion capital of the world in a lot of ways. Fashion starts there for the rest of Europe, which is what dictates fashion for the States. I am not sure why it starts there, but Swedish and Germans were explaining to me that it does. Fashion companies introduce and test their new lines there, what is successful moves onto other countries. Europe is usually 1 year behind Sweden, so that makes the States about 2 years behind.

7) Speaking of fashion, the new trend is "vintage american." This means 1950/60's style. The biggest example I saw is so many people had varsity/lettermen jackets. You can also get also clothing from that period, like skirts for cheerleaders, etc. The funny thing is, after I saw the jackets there I started seeing them in Denmark and now the Netherlands.

Sweden Day 2 + Ice Bar

Kicking off day two (a Monday) I decide to hit up some muesums and the palace. Well, it turned out that my plans would fail miserably, because all of those places are closed on Mondays. A lot of shops are closed on Mondays in Sweden. It kind of makes sense when you think about it though. Everywhere is open and active on the weekend, so they need time off.

After my quick failure, I decide to wander in Old Town a bit (small island with the palace and the original starting point of Stockholm in the middle of current day Stockholm. I sit down at a nice cafe, enjoy a traditional Swedish pastry and just bask in the joy of being in a foreign country. I like to sit down and just realize I am living one of my dreams from time to time. Being here feels so normal that I have to take it all in and realize that this last month is not the common in my life, but very, very much the opposite.

After basking enough, I continue on my journey visiting random shops here and there. I eventually end up in a major shopping area. Pretty much a mix of outside/inside mall's. I visit a few clothing stores. I want to see the different clothing styles and what the costs are comparable to the States. Prices are higher, but not that much. The real difference is they don't have the same discount stores we do, like Kohls or Old Navy.

Eventually, I go back to the hostel for some relaxation, which quickly turns into boredom. So I decide to have some fun. I have a 3-day pass for the metro and not a huge clue where the metros go, past away from the city center. So I got to the closest station and get on a metro and just ride it till its last stop. I get off and explore. Bad luck on this try, it took me to a construction area near the harbor. Not good for walking. I get back on and go one stop back. This time it worked out pretty well. I got dropped off in a very beautiful area of the city, explored some nice parks, saw some beautiful buildings and got myself some ice cream. So romantic...good thing I am someone to travel with....damn, just kidding, I love the solo traveling. The cool thing about this area is, the buildings are much more traditional, while in the city center it is a mix of traditional and modern.

After an hour or so I make my way back to the city center and return to my hostel. I had met two American guys from LA travelings around Europe at my hostel the other night. They just finished school and are enjoying travel time before entering the working world. The three of us decide to go out for the night. We convince two Germans we met to join us. We decide on the ice bar, which is pretty close to us. Never been to an ice bar, so it seems like a good idea.

We look it up on the map and head out. After getting to the designated area, its not there. Finally, we find a local Swede willing to help us find it. We find out the ice bar was about two blocks from our hostel, so about 2 minutes instead of the 20 minute journey. But it works out just fine and we make it there.

After the 190 SEK entrance fee (about $28), which comes with a free drink, we enter. We have to wear special parkas and gloves because it is kept at -10 Celsius. The whole place is made of ice. The seats, tables, bar, cups, walls, etc. Now, as far as ice bars go, I think this is a little on the lower side. It wasn't that big and I have seen photos/heard stories of much more elaborate ones, but I feel Scandinavia is the place to go to an ice bar, so no complaints.

Once inside, we notice there are a lot of other English speakers. There are around 20 American college students there that are studying in Copenhagen and are visiting Stockholm. After talking to them, I meet two of them that are from Kansas City. No joke! We talk about the homeland a bit. After finishing our drinks in our ice cups (photos to come when I can upload them) we take off for another bar. We decide to roll with our new American friends.

Well, here is the problem. Places don't like to be open on Mondays. So around 20 of us are walking around the city of Stockholm at midnight looking for a bar to no avail. Eventually we just give up, split up and head home. Except, for my two friends and I mean McDonalds.

While enjoying our tasty burgers I notice some random drunken lady standing behind us awkardly. Using my notice as a preface to talk to us, she asks us if we are going to any more bars, because she knows some that are open. It is apparent she is very drunk and probably on something else as well. We decide to go to a bar across the street that is open. She warns us not to look drunk or they wont let us in (we are all sober). She also says lie about how much we drank to make sure. The three of us guys get asked about being drunk and we say no and they let us in. They ask her and she says yes and gets rejected (ideal for us). It was hilarious though, she failed at her own advice immediately. After about 20 minutes we bounce though and head home.

A pretty casual day, but a good one. Seen more of the city and been to my first ice bar. No complaints!

Sweden - First Full Day

After my rough start and awkward sleep, I was blessed by beautiful weather in Stockholm. It was in the lower 60's and only partly cloudy. Weather was supposed to be in the 50's and a little rainy. I am not really sure where to start, so I just wonder around the city center for a bit.

Finally, I decide I should get a 3-day transportation pass that is good on the metro, buses, tram and ferries. This turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. I couldn't figure out where to get a pass. After a few different people looked at me funny and gave me 1/2 right 1/2 wrong advice I pieced it together and had to go to a connivence store to buy the pass.

After getting the pass I spend the next 45 minutes trying to figure out how the system works. There are a lot of routes and things are not labeled nearly as well as they should or could be. I decide to go to the info center and the nice girl working the desk explains the basics of how it all works. Alright, I am ready to leave the center of the city now.

I decide to go to the island of Djurgarden first. Now, pretty much the entire Eastern coast of Sweden is a series of islands of varying size. Stockholm is divided up between dozens of these islands. Djurgarden is one with parks and museums. I get to the island and first go to Skansen, an out door, living museum. You have houses built in different time period styles and historical shops that show how items were made back in the day. They also have a zoo of Scandinavian animals. The highlight was the brown bears. Got to see about 5 of them. There was a wolf area as well, but no surprise you couldn't see them...but I bet they could see me..

After this beautiful area, I go to one of the famous museums near by, the Vasamuseet. In the 1600's a huge battle ship sunk in the bay of Stockholm on its maiden voyage. In the 1960's they found it, mostly intact and started bring it to the surface (took years). Not it is restored and inside a museum. 95% of the ship if the original material. They searched the bay floor finding random parks and like a giant jigsaw puzzle put it back together. I will say, it was worth the visit.

After leaving the museum, I wander back to the hostel, locate a grocery store and head there. I will say, Sweden is unbelievably expensive. So I decide to buy some bread, meat and cheese at the store and make sandwiches for the next few days.

After returning to the hostel and having a sandwich I end up in the common room of hostel with about 20 other people, just hanging out. People are chatting, on their computers and watching TV (SouthPark, which has no curse word limitations in Sweden, and they go all out). We then watch the Roast of Charlie Sheen, which is pretty funny. The Americans in the room have to explain quite of a few of the jokes.

It ended up being a very chill night, but that wasn't a bad thing. Early to bed to make up on sleep missed the night before.

On to Sweden

Onto Sweden finally! I love to boast my Swedish heritage (1/8), so finally visiting Stockholm, Sweden is one of the planned highlights of my trip.

After getting to the airport - the correct airport this time - I killed the time attempting to talk to a very sweet Swedish old lady who knew no English. We enjoyed each others company even if we had about 6 words we both knew between the two of us.

One of the downsides to discount airlines is they fly into smaller airports. It is one of the ways they keep costs down. So this "Stockholm" airport was really 100km away, which is about an 80 minute bus ride. Honestly, not that bad, only cost about 15 Euros to get to Stockholm city center and I sat next to a nice girl who just got back from being an exchange student. She was kind enough to answer my 100's of questions about Sweden, while I answered things about America and we talked about Swedish and English's weird grammar.

Now, possibly my favorite part of going to a new city is getting there, having no clue where I am and having to figure out the city, the transportation and getting to my hostel. Luckily, once I got to Stockholm, I found that my drop off was very close to my hostel. Unluckily, Stockholm is a series of island and is very confusing to navigate. After about 20 minutes of walking around randomly, I finally got my baring and got to the hostel.

I get there about 10 minutes before the reception desk closes, give me name to the person working the desk and see a confused look, never good. She says, "uh....I have you for 4 nights...starting tomorrow night." I start to argue some sort of error but then remember, I am booked for 4 nights.....tonight would be a 5th...I am an idiot. Lucky for me, they have 1 open bed. That is right, 1 open bed. I take it. By this point I am starving and am going to go grab food after dropping my stuff off, but the kind hearted employee takes pity on me and gives me a free croissant from the desk (it was a big one too). So, all and all a success.

I get into my 12-person room, find the open bunk, which is luckily in a corner away from the door. Here is a tip in hostels. You always want the corner bunk. It is the farthest from noise, other people and the door, which means bright light every time someone goes in or out. I notice that a few of the bunks are still empty, meaning people will be coming back later, meaning waking up for me.

Now this hostel is really nice and the beds are very comfortable, but this was a terrible night for sleep. For starters, the guy next to me snored like a wild boar. But that wasn't the worst part. So the last people to come into the dorm have the bunk under me, great. It happens to be a guy and a girl...sharing it. Well, I won't go into too much detail, but I think you can guess what happened next. Yep, talk about the most stereotypical hostel story and possibly one of the most awkward 10 minutes of my life. That isn't even the worst part. This is around 5am and this couple proceeds to talk in a normal tone till 6am. They had no respect for the people around them. So I was up till 6am unable to sleep because of noise and I couldn't say anything about being quiet because it would be even more awkward to acknowledge I am awake!!!

Finally, I go to bed, only to be waken up at 8 or so by some crazy noise from the room next door (bathroom I think). Not the best night of sleep, but it made for a great story....please be better the next night!

Vienna Part 2!

My second day of Vienna turns out to be one of my favorite in all of my trip so far. It is hard to choose between so many days, but this one is up there, if not the top.

I met Audrey and Alison at 10am and after a scare about being out of bikes, we mange to get 3 good bikes for the day. We also get a discount from our hostel, saving us each 8 Euros for the day.

We decide to go to one of the big attractions first, the Scloss Schonbrunn Palace. Which is the Habsburgs summer home and hunter lodge. It is pretty great because I know it is huge and Audrey and Alison don't know what to expect. We roll up to it and they both explain in amazement at its sheer size. I let them know that we are just looking at the front, essentially standing in the driveway and most of the stuff is on the other side. After a walk through about 1/20th of the amazing garden we come out at the courtyard with its amazing floral designs.

Again, my doctors don't know what to expect and are blown away and that is when they look up the hill. I think the most amazing part of the palace is the views it has. From the palace up the hill and then the hill over the city and palace.

We decide to climb the hill for the view, after taking plenty of pictures are the incredible fountain in the garden. The view from on the hilltop is incredible. You can quite literally see the entire city of Vienna. I just had to plank it.

After our long climb down we decide to get back on our bikes and head to the city center. Alison and Audrey haven't been there yet and I am happy to see it all again. It is a great day for a bike ride, warm enough for shorts, but with a cool breeze so you don't get sweaty or hot. Which is good because we have a few mile bike ride to the city center again and its not exactly a straight line there. On our way to the city I manage to take one or two wrong turns that adds a little length to our journey, but nothing big.

We finally get downtown, park our bikes and start walking. Now downtown is a strange mix of old and modern. They have every shop you can imagine and this is a pricey place as well. While Audrey looks at some gifts for friends, Alison and I pretend we are super rich travelers picking out decorations for our mansion back home, snooty accent and all.

After the shopping we head to the main sights I saw the day before, but am happy to see again.

We finally head back to our hostel, tired but having a good day. We have to navigate some tricky traffic and it makes me feel like a real European biking through a busy city with cars.

We return the bikes, sit down and rest and plan dinner. Finally we decide to get some more beer and snacks at the grocery store near our hostel before dinner. After sitting around and drinking, where I am chastised by Audrey, a small Korean woman, for not drinking enough we head to dinner (where the chastising continues). It is pretty funny though because I can't argue back. She just has really good points. And I know she is just giving me a hard time for fun.

Finally, they have to be up early and its almost 10pm, so they pack it in. We add each other on Facebook and talk about keeping in touch and the funny thing is, I know we will. They are going to try to get to Budapest early enough on Saturday to get lunch with me before I go to Sweden. We talk about all going to Ireland for St. Patties day not this year, but next and even visiting each other in the States when ever I go back. Its funny, but in that one day we all bonded a lot. This is the European adventure and experience I was hoping for.

Audrey and Alison try to convince me to join them on their 8-hour boat tour the next day instead of going back to Budapest (wish I could have) and they tell me that it is funny, because I am the first person they have invited with them the entire time they have been here. They say mostly, people give them the creepy vibe, but when I started talking to them I just seemed genuine and non-threatening (which are both true...I mean look how scrawny I am). It was just really nice to get those compliments though. I try to be a good and legitimate person and it's a good feeling when other people notice that.

The night keeps getting interesting though. After my new friends have left, I am hanging out at the bar (which is pretty packed by now) and I hear, "excuse me, are you from Lawrence, Kansas?" I look down and around to see if I have any Jayhawk stuff on and I don't. I look up and see a mildly familiar face. After fumbling over the word yes, this guy introduces him self as Travis. We were in Student Senate together at KU 1 year. Yes, that is correct. I went to Vienna and ran into a guy from KU at a random hostel that I did Student Senate with. What are the chances? He is now teaching English in Georgia (the country) and is here for a few day vacation. Awesome! I was hoping I would randomly run into someone I knew and now I have checked it off my list only 18 or so days into my trip.

Now back to Budapest for some rest and repacking before Sweden!