Fashion Commentary

I was driving through the Purdue campus today while a mass of students were attempting to go to class/home. Usually while I am driving through the Purdue campus, I notice the different fashions that are occurring for the season. What better place then a science/math/technology based university to check out the fashions for the season? Thats why I was very surprised when I saw a kid wearing a My Man Mitch t-shirt. I was shocked. Even I know that was SO yesterday. Who would be caught dead in this type of political clothing? When did this clothing style go out? Like, over a year ago? Seriously. Even I wouldnt be caught dead in this; and I accidentally wore a 2003 Democrat t-shirt (like, I totally forgot there was no major election in 2003). Obviously I do not have a good judgment of political attire.

Now, I also saw some middle-aged farmer-type person wearing a W with a slash on his shirt today. Now THAT is in style. That is the thing to be doing: speaking out against the current political party. Since we are in the middle of presidential elections it is in to wear anti-politician t-shirts. This guy should be giving the college kid some lessons.

However, after driving a few miles, I began to rethink my current position on the college students clothing choice. At first I couldnt believe anyone would be caught dead in this green and white, characterless shirt. But then I thought maybe he was trying to go retro? My Man Mitch shirts were totally in before the election and members of the Republican Party were allowed to wear this shirt after the elections since they came victorious. But six months after the election the shirts began to fade out. A year after the election people just didnt wear the shirt anymore. So you never saw the shirt since. However, now that we are two years after the election, the My Man Mitch shirts could be totally retro. Its the new tie-dyed. Amazing. After a while I thought this walking fashion foe-pa was actually a hidden fashion genius. So what did I do when I got home? Well, I didnt put on a My Man Mitch t-shirt: because I didnt have one, and wouldnt be caught dead in it before the election, and especially after the election.

Coffee Talk

I'm sitting in an (un-named for security) coffee shop right now working. An older guy just came in and asked the worker if Christy was working. The worker informed him that she went to Russia for a while to visit. The older guy promptly asked if she was a communist. The worker assured him that Christy only went to Russia because she could speak Russian. The older guy continued to tell the worker that his family has lived here for over 200 years: buried in the same cemetary as a matter of fact. The older guy doesn't much care for hungarians, russians, germans, and uh, ukrainians. I think that was the list.

Europe - London Day 5

My last day in London. At this point in the trip I am seriously thinking about getting a live-in job. Everyone in the city of London seems to think this is a good idea or this is the way I feel.

Jen and Vikki and I wanted to see a West End show. So because of great organization we departed at noon to try and find a matinee for the afternoon. I wanted to see Billy Elliot. I felt it was appropriate because it was the one movie I remember seeing when I was in London the last time. Seeing the performance would complete a circle and I like creating circles. When we got there the matinee was sold out. I was sad. Its supposed to be really good. So instead we went to Marry Poppins. Our seats were alright and cheap.

Afterwards Jen wanted to go to a museum, and Vikki was lassoed into this evil ploy. Not me. I split and went to a record store to buy the Artic Monkeys CD. I had heard a little of them before my visit to England, but they were a pretty big hit in the country. So I wanted to purchase the CD. So this is exactly what I did. I then returned to the hostel.

I forgot to mention that before the Marry Poppins show we ate at a pub and found this flyer that included a self-guided pub crawl. If this crawl was completed we got a free tshirt. Im a fan of free t-shirts. So we grabbed a hand full of flyers and the three of us were going to round up a group of hostel visitors to attend this self-guided pub crawl. So I was now on a mission.

I got back and met Enrico and Luca again, and he offered to make us dinner again. So we went to Sainsbury and got some food. He made a meal for the three of us. It was good. He didnt think so. But it didnt matter cause we thought it was good. Afterwards we attempted the process of going-out. We had eight people rounded up but didnt leave until 11pm. This means the pubs were closed. This means no free t-shirt for me. I was pissed. Not really. But I was really sad. Instead we went to the Walkabout again. This night lasted until 3am, when we finally left. I felt good. I think we all felt good.

We started making our way to the bus. On the way we found a guy holding a Subway sign. Enrico REALLY wanted Subway. So, along with a British guy and Caribbean girl we found, we made our way to Subway. I got a sandwich, not knowing this would be my last meal until the flight the next day.

We rode the bus home.

We went to bed, so we could get up in two hours for our flight.

Europe - London Day 4

Our second to last day in London or more positively, our first full day in London. The day started out slow and we didnt make it out the door until late. I guess we were feeling the burnt out section of the trip. Regardless, I was happy to be in London.

Anyway, I thought we should go to Abby Road, so we took the tube to St. Johns Wood and walked to Abby Studio. I dont think Jen was too impressed and got a picture of the road for her mom. But she refused to do the in-famous walking picture that everyone does. I opted out of the picture just because Ive had several. But, I think Jen missed out. We got back in the tube and headed to Edgeware Road because I know the market there is kinda low-key, and we wanted a market. During the trek I walked by the theater we use to have class in which isnt interesting to anyone. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I dont know why I tried to open the door, I didnt really want in. There was nothing of use inside for me nor Jen. But I tried the door, and some guy came out to talk to us. He told us that no shows were occurring until school was in session, but he insisted that we check the website for when the shows do come to the theater. He then brought us inside I tried hard to find a slip of paper with the website listed. It almost became awkward. We just wanted to leave. So we finally did after some lady began telling us what was going on after September.

So anyway, when we left the Cockpit Theater: it as time to meet Rachel and Jordan atCovent Gardens. We basically went to the Covent Gardens stop and chilled outside the station until they arrived. It seemed to be a popular meeting spot because there was a ton of people waiting for something. Either they had friends too, or they were waiting for the arrival of someone important, like Christ. But I never found out because Rachel and Jordan arrived and we had to leave fast. We found this underground pub that sold pizza. This is where we ate. They stuck us in the corner booth, probably to keep us away from the regular people. They were sitting at regular tables. We sat right under a skylight, which Rachel commented about it being a breeding ground for perverts. I kind of had to agree. It was a sidewalk skylight.

Anyway, we ate pizza and then went to Hagan-Daz in Leicester Square. Then we had to depart.

After this, I forgot what happened. I am thinking we went back to the hostel. You see, the previous day an Italian guy had offered to cook us a meal. So we got there and waiting patiently until he arrived, but he wasnt there at 8 so we got something to eat at my favorite kebab place. When we got back the Italians had arrived and cooked a great meal. So I felt bad that we didnt wait longer. But they still wanted to go out that night. I was all over that. I love to drink. Not a lot. I dont think Im an alcoholic. But I also dont think Im addicted to caffeine. You be the judge on all of that.

So that night we went into Piccadilly. Jen stayed at home. Fortunetly it was raining. I was really looking forward to walking around the entire city of London looking for a place to drink while it was raining. The problem was it was after 11pm, which meant a lot of places have ceased serving alcohol. I directed the group of us to the Walkabout, which we spent some time just hanging out and people watching. We then took the night bus back to the hostel. I slept.

Europe - London Day 3

I awoke in a bad mood - probably because I was getting burnt out. So I moved really slowly this morning. After finally getting ready, Jen and I went to the Oxford Story, which was a cheap amusement park ride inside a visitors center. It basically told the story of the unviersity. Rachel and Jordan suggested this - noting the best atributes were the chessiness and the smell of urine. We didn't notice the smell too much, and actually the ride gave a good background to the founding of the unviersity. Afterwards I bought a souvineer map in the store.

We then headed back to the hostel so we could catch the next train to London. Rachel was thinking about meeting us there that night, but I couldn't get a hold of her. So we just went to the station, and then back to Paddington. Oddly enough, some lady was attempting to get tickets for teh train when we were. She was also from Indiana - West Lafayette. Which was cool. We sat next to her on the train.

When we got back to the hostel, they decided to put us back on the sixth floor. Which sucked. But we made up for it by going to the south bank and taking a walk. This was fun. Just people watching, and street performance watching. We walked through the Tate Modern - whcih I'm not a fan of modern museums, per-se. But the Tate uses the idea of space pretty well. So it is fun to walk around and experiance the museum as a whole. We then wandered across the pedestrian bridge and then looked for a tube stop. It was back to the hostel.

We went across the street for some cheap Indian food that a flyer was being distributed for. So we got it take-away and ate it at the hostel. While doing so we met some Italian who said he would make food for us tomorrow and we could have an Italian party. So we were excitied about that. Afterwards, we asked our roommate to go to a pub that I had gone to in the past. It was a small band venue that was a good Indie Rock sight. Kara and I frequented the place all the time. I even found the pub right away - which never happened when Kara and I looked for it. She usually had to find it. This was also the place that we heard a band that Kara swore she had heard before. I thought she was crazy - until I heard their song on a commercial a few weeks later while I was in the states. I decided that the pub must be good since the small bands playing here were fans to a deoderant company.

Anyway, three bands played at the pub this night, and it was fun. I had some drinks and the bands were good. The last one seemed to be the bigger of the three. Afterwards we went to McDonalds and I had a cheesburger.

Then we went home and went to bed.

Europe - Side-trip to Oxford

So yesterday we went to Oxford for the night. We got up and checked our big bags in the luggage room so that we would only have to take a small bag on the trip. The train only took an hour from Paddington station, so it was pretty easy.

The people we were visitng were two kids I randomly met in Bejing this summer. I was getting on the subway and they came running after me 'cause I was white. (It was exciting to see white people). They needed directions and I was a white person with a map - it was perfect. We ended up talking for a long time and then I accompanied them on their way to the silk market, since I had nothing else better to do. That is how I know these people.

Now we were going to visit them in Oxford for the night, and I was kinda excitied. When we arrived in Oxford we left our bags at the hostel and grabbed something to eat. That is when I gave Rachel a call and Jordan answered saying they were on their way. The only problem is I don't understand cell phone converstaions very well - expecially someone with an accent. Therefore, I coulden't tell if they were going to the hostel or going to our restauarnt. So we left and went back to the hostel - they weren't there - so we went back to the restuarant - they were there. So now we had to go BACK to the hostel to check in. That's when we discovered that this was the wrong hostel. So we had to relocate to our correct, reseerved hostel.

Now it was time to have fun. We first went to Christ Church - part of Oxford University. Jen and I took a tour - the same one that I took when Lindsay visited me in London. Except last time the reception hall was closed. So I was pissed when the reception hall was closed this time. I couldn't believe the luck. Which is why I was happy when some guy came and removed the sign when we were getting ready to move on. It was perfect - except the hall wasn't as great as I was expecting (probably because I built it up so much over the last two years of not being able to see it). But it was still cool. We finished the tour and found Jordan and Rachel again. We wandered a little and had a milkshake in a cafe in the old city castle. We then wandered some more until I decided to take a shower back at the hostel.

When we were done with the showers, Rachel came up with the idea of going out to their home town of Thames. We thought it was a good idea. However, the busses to their park and ride parking lot weren't running anymore so we had to take a taxi to her car. Then we drove through the English countryside to Thames, and looked for a place to have dinner. By this time it was 9:00 and everything had stopped serving food - except for the Asians. So we ate Chinese (kinda appropriate since we all met in China). After dinner we got some drinks at a small pub, until they stopped serving at 11pm. I had a Pims, which is some kind of Sprite and alcohal. That's all I know.

After that we went back to Oxford to go out, but Jen was tired so we dropped her off at the hostel. I had to follow her in because we only had one key for the room. We exchanged the key and then we parked the car in a free lot. That was when I discovered that I didn't have the key. So we walked back to the hostel and attempted to stand in the street yelling up to the third floor for Jen. This just didn't work. So we decided to settle in at a pub a few storefronts down. Rachel and I got a drink, and I browsed the pub for someone staying at the hostel. I thought I saw the guy that checked Jen and I in, but I wasn't sure. (At this point, Rachel and met a friend - Pam), and Pam volunteered to approach the guy and ask. Sure enough, it was. So I had entrance into the hostel. We drank.

Rachel and Jordan left at 1:30 (Rachel works night shifts right now, so she had been up for 48+ hours) but I sat around with her other friends until the pub closed at 2am. That's when the hostel worker let me into the hostel. Another employee let me into the room (so I didn't have to awaken anyone), and I wen to bed.

Europe - London, Day 1

Today we left Prague.  I gotta say the hostel was one of the best hostels since the beginning of the trip. Lots of fun people; and lots of good socialization amoungst crazy happenings.

So we got up early and left the hostel.  Fortunetly they put breakfast out early and Vennessa was still up from going out the previosu night.  So we had an overall good fairwell.  Our taxi driver took us to the airport.  I automatically assume that taxi drivers don't speak English and this upsets Jen.  But oh well.  This is what I believe.  I can't go against everything I believe. 

So anyway, we got to the airport three hours early to make sure security wouldn't be too bad and we could check the things we wanted to check.  I read online that the UK was allowing one checked bag with most things allowed.  But I didn't want to get screwed.  They probably aren't cool like they are in China.  In China they just plane side check the stuff you aren't suppose to have.  Not in western society. 

But getting to the airport wasnt worth the effort. Security was more laid back then normal situations in the USA, and getting the tickets was easy too.  So we wondered the airport until the flight left - an hour late.  The airport was crazy set up.  You went through the passport check right away, but didn't go through security until you borded the plane.  Which I assume is why the plane was late. 

Anyway, we got to London - and it was cloudy.  So I felt like old times.  We got the tube towards Central London, and I demanded to get off at Paddington, even though there were closer stations.  So I had a ceremonial walk to our original place of residence in London.  This annoyed Jen, I think.  But it felt good to me.  It is all about me, right?

We finally found the hostel, and checked in.  We then walked to the kabob place that I always ate at when I lived there.  Then we ate in the park.  Afterwards we did long needed laundry and then walked over to a pub that had some live singer. 

Then I went to bed.

Europe - Prague, Day 2

First full day in Prague. Jen and I began the day exploring the possiabilies of the metro. We walked to teh train station and bought a day pass. We then continued to the "Old City" which is the traditional walls encompassing the old city and the cathedral. However, the line to the cathedral was rediculously long. So we decended the hill and walked through the city. We basically did a walking tour of the west side of the river, which included all the government buildings and the embasseys. However, it wasn't very grand like most government areas would be considered. WE barley reconized the parlamont building when we walked by it. It was nestled in the tight, winding streets. We then continued through town and across the Charles Bridge. It was lined with bonze statues of different religious heros of the past. After getting across teh brige we arrived in the town center. It was a bustle of activity - tourist activity. So wse joined the tourist to watch an astronomical clock chime on the hour. Basically, all tweleve aposoles peeked out a window and overlooked the square. I dont think they were the real ones though. I cant tell for sure. It was far away. Anyway, at the end so trumpet statue blew a pathetic horn. It was rather humorous.

Anyway, we continued back to the Old Town because we figured that the lines would be shorter. We were correct. We bought tickets for the cathedral and took a quick look. By this time I was burnt out, hot, and ready to go back. But I perservered and saw the crypt and climbed 285 stairs to the tower. It was a great overlook to the city. Afterwards we headed to another building that I forgot the name of. I twas basically a place for people to gether in the medevil days. Gathering people are good. Before had we ran into Quiten and Wendy from the hostel who invited us to a concert that night. We thought it would be fun. After we were completey burnt out, we took the tube/bus to the hostel.

I got ready, and when Wedy got back she offered to make Jen, Venessa and I dinner. We thought we would let her. But we also volunteered to go get some stuff at the market. This attempt was pretty much a bust. Venessa and I went to the market but coulen't find carrots or garlic. So we decided that carrot soup and garlic soup powder would subsitute rather well. Fortunetly, we found some canned carrots, but the garlic powder would have to do. On the way back we say a fresh food market - of which we decided not to tell Wendy and Jen about. But later we went back to get some mushrooms.

After eating our pasta, Quiten arrived at our hostel. You see Quiten was pretty proud of himself because he found some amazing hostel the he swares is the best place he says. It was called Sophies hostel. In fact, Wendy was even going to cancel her nights at our hostel and move across town - except they were booked.

Anyway, the five of us continued to the town square to see this concert that we thought was free. Upon arrival in the square we discovered that the concert was not free and was instead in a church. We still attended, and it was prety fun. I'll blog later what they played. But it was pretty amazing just listening to it in the church. Afterwards we wanted to go out. That was until we heard the astrological clock chiming. No one else had seen the clock, so we dashed over to watch it. We missed the show. But we did find ice cream. We then began looking for a place to go out, until we found a McDonalds. Wendy had to use the bathroom, so we waited. Then we found some modern art sculpture made of toliet, facets, and what-not. It was by an American modern artists. We were proud. So we took a picture in front of it. After the picture, we discovered the clockw as going to chime again. So we made our way back to the square. There was a massive croud waiting the arrival of the disiples. This inlcuded two drunk frenchmen singing french drinking songs - which i did not know exsisted. The clock chimed. Everyone waited. But the desiples never appeared. Everyone was quite angry and disappointed. I feel we were cheated.

Oh well, we continued to go and drink. We searched long for a place. I had a map and had put some dots of places I read would be fun. We slowly wondered to the places, debating on other places en route. We finally found my dot, and nothing was there. So we continued to some music bar that wasn't serving that night. We finally found a coffee shop and had some drinks until they closed. It was fun.

We took a taxi back to the hostel and slept.

Europe - Prague, Day 1

I'm slacking on the journal entries, so I've decided that I will go in and fill in the gaps later.

Yesterday we left Vienna and setteled into Prague for three nights. It was a crazy trip. The train was OK - until I realized no circulation was occuring in our car. It was hot enough as it was, so by then end of the four hour train ride I was convered in sweat. So it didn't help when Jen and I decided to walk from the train station to our hostel. We decided it would be too hard to find change in Czech money and it would be easier to walk. Two hours later we thought it was a bad idea.

First off, the train station was pretty well into the first tring suburbs. So it wasn't exactly a pleasent walk along busy highways. But we made it to the river - but crossing the river enabled difficult. We had to first cross under a creepy underpass to the other side of the road, then another underpass to the south side, then another underpass to the west side. It was like taking a four leaf clover - but as a pedestrain. I talked about how I stabbed several people the last time we were in an underpass so creepy people in the underpass wouldn't bother us. It worked.

When we emerged from the underpass and crossed teh river, we made our way down a road we thought the hostel was on. Twenty mintues later we secound guessed our decision. We asked some locals, but they had no idea where the road we were looking for was. So we began wondering random streets looking for a road on our map. No luck. By this time, Jen could barley walk (bad foot and a backpack twice her size). So I left her in a square while I checked out the entire block for a road. No luck. I finally stopped in a hotel and she finally gave me a map of the location of our hostel. We were a block away - the road name just changed three times. So we found our hostel.

Upon arrivial, it seemed like a cool place (even though we were really far from teh center). A New Zelander was sleeping in our room, and we all decided we were hungry. We went and ate at a pizza parlor in a basement somewhere. It was good. And cheap. Prague is cheap.

We got back to the hostel and I debated going out. So we took showers and hung out in the lobby to see what would happen. Instead of going out we played sheraids - of all things - with a Canadian, American, and French maybe? I dunno. It was fun. We talked to the Canadian afterwards. It was fun. But we went to bed.

That was day one. Prepare for day 2....

Europe - Vienna (Quick Stop)

Jen and I had decided the day prior that we woudl cut our Budepest trip short and take a river boat to Vienna (which was half way to Prague). So we got up and headed for our boat to at 9:00. We walked to the port and arrived in plenty of time to depart.

The boat ride was enjoyable, even though I slept through over half of the trip. The best part was when the lady announced we were going through a lock. The people from Florida (who had a New York accent but appeared to be from Mississippi) missed this annoucement, so they were suprised when teh boat stopped. Fortunetly their daughter investigated and found that we were between two walls. This majorly perplexed the four adults. So they went upstairs to investigate themselves. When they emerged they were completey confused at this point. They coulden't understand what was going on. Jen was nice and explained it to them, which made them excitied. They had never been in a lock system before! This was amazing all the sudden. We sat to the side and listened to family describe how the lock worked. Afterwards we all went back to our seats. They were pretty amazed because when else will they be able to go through a lock? What they didn't know was they could do it again at the end of the trip. This actually pissed them off, because we were going to be an hour late. (Although they were confused on our arrival time).

After departing from the boat, Jen and I found the metro and took it to the hostel stop where we wandered the area until we foudn teh hostel. After settling in we went to central Vienna. We decided we should at least see a little bit of the city. We discovered the city was pretty amazing. It was VERY clean and VERY pretty. We went to the central square and then walked over to a fountain we could see in the distance. Then we walked over to another fountain near a church where we bought some drinks and chilled by the fountain. Very fun. We returned to a full room in our hostel. One French, two French Canadians, a Mexican, and a few Itallions. We talked for a while until the whole room turned in for bed failry early.

Euroüe - Budepest

Jen and I took the night train to Budepest. A twelve hour ride, and I got yelled at for having beer by an armed guard. I just assumed that Hungry was more liberal then the states. He did let me finish it, though. Most the backpackers on the train had beer, too. So I dont think I was much at fault. However, we got a compartment to ourselves, after the couple got off in Slovokia somewhere.

We arrived in Budepest and found our hostel. It was hidden away from things. It actually onlz had two rooms. But it seemed cool. We departed and decided to explore Budha. Budepest use to be two cities - Buda and Pest - So we went to the west side of the river to Budha, which had the old city walls and castle. We basically crossed the bridge and wandered the area for a while. We stopped and had a meal, an expensive meal.

We were still debating when we were going to Prague. We found a boat that went up the river to Vienna. I thought it would be fun. But if we did that it gave us only one night in Budepest. We went ahead and did that 'cause the boat sounded like fun. But it totally cut our trip to Budepest in half.

Anyway, we walked to the terminal and bought tickets. Then we went to the Hungry Paralement.

----Im running out of time, will finish later----

Europe - Krokow, Polland

Jen and I are sitting in the hostel doing nothing right now. We are taking a train tonight to Budepest - 12 hours. So I thought I would update you on Krokow occurances.

After arriving from Berlin at teh Krokow train station, we relized that the station was a pretty big mess. The hostel was a twenty minute walk from the station, but it took us fifteen minutes just to find an exit to the station. Afterwards we found the hostel, which required a four flight climb to teh reception. It seemed like a nice hostel: lots of people, clean, and fun. But they had screwed up a lot of people's reservations, so Jen and I were seperated. Which I didn't care too much. When I went up to my room, I met a kid from Atlanta and he was about ready to eat. So the three of us went began looking for a restaurant. It was almost 8 byt his point, so a lot of places were closed. We found a restaurant which I would assume is very Polish; and fortunetly Poland isn't as international so some people don't speak English. I peronally think this is a lot more fun. We ordered our meals through pointing and guessing. I ended up getting a big turkey dinner with vegtables and a huge bowl of soap. (I didn't order the vegetables though).

Anyway, that's not excititng.

After getting back to the hostel, I wanted to check out the night scene a little. So we wandered so a neighborhood square that was pretty fantastic. There were tons of bars ranging from gothic to jazz to western. We decided on one that was pretty dark, but had a red tone to the place. Jen and I sat on a couch and had a beer. Well, I had a beer. Jen doesn't drink beer. I hate that.

Then we turned in for the night (see previous blogs for night adventures).

The next day we wandered the city. We first went south to the square we went too last night. Then we walked furtehr south to the former Jewish ghetto. I guess it use to be a seperate city of its own. We checked out a museum for the area and then went peaked into a couple of temples before walking to the Old Town Center. This area is basically everything inside teh old town walls, which still exsisted in some areas. During our excursion we popped into a few churches but couldn't see much because it was Sunday.

Krokow is a big tourist destination because it use to be the capital of "really old" Poland, and it wasn't bombed during the wars. So a lot of things are still entacted. The central square had tons of activity, including a guy with an Elvis marienette(sp?). Jen and and tehn went to the train station to try and find a train for the next day to Budepest. The only train was a night train, so we decided to drop a night in Budepest and spend an extra day Krokow. Good with me. So we got night train to Budepest and headed back to the hostel.

When we got back to teh hostel Jen and I both had to switch rooms (scheduling conflict again). But that was cool with me 'cause there wouldn't be "rukus" in my room that night. Then we hung out waiting to see if people would want to go out. We couldn't find anymore so we continued to the square we went too last night. There was a rock concert occuring on top of a building inside teh square. I won't lie, it wasn't the best thing ever. So we found a bar and had a drink. Well, I had two because I finished Jen's drink. We then found another bar in a small courtyard and had another drink.

We went to bed.

The next day was pretty chill. We got up a little later and took a tour of an abandoned salt mine in outter Krokow. It was pretty impressive. We desended 180 meters into the ground and toured different chamebrs. There were several salt statues and a lot of church chapels. One chapel was huge and had regular services. There was also a ballroom and a spa (salt is good for your lungs, apparently). All underground.

After the tour we went back to the hostel and spent the day walking around. That night we ate at a coffee shop that we visted earlier, and then did some grocery shopping for our night train. Then we returned to the hostel for a few hours of relaxation.

We now get a 12 hour train ride in an hour: headed for Budepest, Hungry.

Europe - Krokow, Polland (Reflection)

We're getting ready to leave Krakow, Poland, but I haven't caught up that far on my blogs yet. But I will backdate my Berlin Blog so it will be like nothing happened. Anyway....

I have a short story to tell. It is a story about a hostel. A hostel in Krakow, Poland. Now: I haven't seen the (dumb) hostel moive yet, but I have been told that the movie exsists in two parts. The first half is a porn, the secound half is violence. Well my experiance deals with the first half. Before reading, remember this is my first experiance like this in a hostel (and I've stayed in 30, plus probably a hundred), so don't get freaked out.

It was midnight, Jen and I got in from "out" and I nesteled in my bed. I was the only one in from being out, in our hostel room. Jen was in a different room, so she didn't deal with this incident: only an angry Canadian. I can usually deal with the rukus of people coming in at night, however, tonight, I was awoken by the lights turned on and a mass of sixpeople entering the room stoned drunk at 3:30 am. It took them forever to settle in, but they finally did - except for two of them. Lets just say it wasn't hard to tell what was going on five feet from me. It wasn't hard because a lot was occuring. I'll spare you the details. But I did want to share some lines:

- Guy: "Oh no! Sorry! I haven't done this in a while."
- Girl: "Tell me your name! Tell me now!" (Repeat twenty times)
- Girl: "Oh! I hate it when I get a rash!"

Anyway, I was pissed 'cause this continued on for two hours. But it does make for some good stories.

Europe - Berlin (Day 1)

We got up in Amsterdam to catch a train to Germany. We had two options, first go to the station Mathias was departing from and then going to Berlin. Or just go directly to Berlin. We could only meet up with Mathias if we got to the train station on time. Unfortunetly we couldn't meet this deadline so we had to buy tickets directly to Berlin. So we took the ICE to Berlin and waited at the main station until Mathias arrived. We were only an hour before his train so we just chilled at the plateform until he arrived. I found him and Lori and we headed back to the hostel to check in. Afterwards, Mathias took us to a beer garden in Tier Garden. What we didn't realize was this woudl take us through some shady woods in central Berlin. Jen and I were scared that this was planend and we would have to use or defensive methods. Fortunetly we were too intimidating, so we got out safely. Instead they took us to a part of tiown that had severl prosituted hanging out. But it was actually a fun place to drink outside and talk. We left and returned to the hostel - and they retunred to Lori's apartment.

Europe - Amsterdam: The Rest

After landing in Amsterdam Jen and I spent the day exploring the city on foot. It was basically a walk around. There isn't much to say about the trip itself. This is the second time I have been in Amsterdam, but the last time I was here on a Sunday morning with my dad's cousin. Since I didn't have family tagging along this time I could go crazy.

And not really.

We began our walk along a walking tour according to my Lonely Planet. But we soon departed on our own path and ate at a small restaurant along one of the ring canals. Then we continued our walk to the Red Light District were I insisted on seeing the part of the district that surrounded an awesome church. I find this weird. We did take a tour of the church, though. Afterwards both of use were getting kind of tired, so we headed back to the hostel to officially check in. After that, I broke down and took a nap. I shouldn't have, but it did energize me. So Jen and I left and had dinner just south of the hostel in a young part of town. We walked back to the hostel and had some drinks in the downstairs bar. It was happy hour, so it was packed. We then headed to bed.

The next day I wanted to go on the Heineken Brewery Tour. Actually, it wasn't the Brewery anymore. It was just a visitors place. But I didn't care. I got 3 free drinks of beer and Jen gave me her free drinks, also.

I then went to the Van Gogh Museum a little tipsy.

That night we went out with a kid we met from Minnesota and another guy we met from London. Chase wanted a hash brownie. It was his one goal. So we basically went to the red light district. What more could you want - prostitutes and pot. So we got some drinks and Chase got his brownie. We missed the last tram to the hostel, so we enjoyed a night walk back to the hostel.

Amsterdam's a good city. The one thing you notice are all the bikes. Its almost comparable to Asia. The bike lanes are a given on all streets. The bikes themselves are awesome. They all look like they are ten years old, they all are one speed, and they have a rack on the back tire to carry things. Oh, and they all come equipped with bike bells. Pretty awesome.

During this time I was trying to get a hold of my friend Mathias. We were able to talk on the phone and decided that he was going to be in Berlin that weekend. So, the next morning Jen and I departed for a train to Berlin.

Europe - Part 1, Amsterdam

I finally left the county. Too many things were happening, and the best way to take care of that is to just leave the country. So Jen and I flew out of Indy on Monday headed for DC. They were trying to stop my, and we say on the runway for an hour in Indy and another hour in DC. But after they let us off the plane, a small sprint enabled us to catch our plane to Amsterdam. We just made it.

I was out for a good portion of the trip. The flight was shorter just because it didn't compare with the flight to China. It seemed like we were landing in no time. I even got to watch Friends with Money - twice. I had no idea what the movie was either.

We departed the plane and found a train into the inner city, and then took a tram out to our hostel. After dropping off our bags we took a four hour walking tour of the city. This made me really tired. I wasn't going to take a nap - but I did. My body thinks I'm dumb. So I'm not really thinking right now.

Which is why this post sucks.

Boston - Part 1

Having surgery on your brain is never an excuse to give up a trip to a wedding. So three days after surgery I flew out of Indy for Providence. Looking back, the only way I persevered was due to the caffeine IV I received the day before in the ER. The doctor told me it was important to drink lots of caffeine. I didnt want to do this, but I had too.

Our flight was sometime in the evening, so Scott picked me up in Lafayette. Like always I gave Scott a twenty minute buffer on the meeting time. I cant remember a time Scott was actually on time. I told my parents that I didnt need to be dropped off at the original meeting time because Scott is never on time. Right after that, Scott called to tell me he was almost to Lafayette. Amazing. He was early. So we ended up getting to Indy in enough time to stop by McDonalds; one of my many visits of the trip. We then drove to Carins where we met Kyle and my friend Erin. Erin is really cool and likes taking us to the airport.

We got to the airport and got on the plan. I didnt have any daggers this time, but they still searched my bags anyway. They always do.

The kid behind me on the plane had an amazing flight to Chicago. On descent intoChicago he saw both the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower. So, it was probably the best flight into Chicago Ive experienced. Kyle pointed out that he was really going to get confused in Las Vegas due to all the national treasures located there.

We were now at OHare. I hate OHare. This is the seventh time this year I was at OHare. Three of those times were catastrophes. Upon finding our gate, it was the same gate I had spent many stressful hours worried about my cancelled flight to San Francisco. We lucked out and the plane took off on time and landed on time inProvidence.

It was now 11:30.

I wanted to stay in a hotel. I just have surgery three days ago. So we found a taxi and told him to take us to the cheapest hotel. He then began rambling, and eventually we found out that he was trying to rationalize a taxi ride to Boston. Supposedly it would be the same price as getting a hotel room. I didnt ask him if we could sleep in the taxi when we got to Boston at 2am but I believe that was the flaw in him plan.

He dropped us off at a Motel 6 and we slept.

The next day went uneventful. We woke up; we took a taxi to Providence; we rode the train to Boston; and we walked to our hostel in the Back Bay. While they were getting our room ready we took a guided tour of the Back Bay. By guided I mean Kyle read descriptions out of my tour book. One would assume we would get lost on this kind of tour but we didnt. After the grueling tour we helped ourselves to a nice lunch at some hippy joint. I hate hippys. They smoke weed too much. And their liberal.

We checked into our room and we met our roommate. From Chile.

We then took a walk around the Boston University area and Fenway Park. It was pretty interesting. Not anything exciting though. I was looking forward to the nighttime. We were planning on going to a jazz club down the street, but we decided to leave before the jazz due to the price of drinks. Instead we went to a pizza joint and drank cheap pitchers of beer. I felt good by the time the place was closing. That was when some kid from LA approached us and said he was staying at the hostel. He wanted to go out. So we agreed and went to a bar down the road. We drank more before heading back to the hostel for some sleep.

The next day I wanted to go out by myself. I needed me-time.

But then I saw Ramon our Chilean roommate - before I left so we headed to Central Boston to look at Quincy Market. Then we wandered down the Freedom Trail to Paul Reveres House and the Old North Church. We then continued to walk across the bridge to Cambridge until we decided that was dumb and we headed back to the hostel. We met Kyle and Scott and ate at the hippy café again. Even though I hate hippies. Afterwards we decided to go out. Kyles new friend Carla joined the four of us. We went to the Middle East Bar. They were going to charge us my life to get in, so we opted out. Ive paid too much for surgery to have my life taken. We walked back to the hostel and went to that jazz club again. It was fun.

Before going out we went to Harvard. It was cool and all.

The next day I went to Brookline to see what was up with their city. I had sent them a resume a week ago. I then came back and took some me-time I had wanted the day before. I wondered around the south side of Boston and through the Theater District. It was cool. I guess. I saw Benjamin Franklin and some other famous people. They were dead though. Ive visited them before, so it wasnt a life-changing experience. I did buy some extra t-tokens because I like transit.

That night we went to some bars, again.

Kyle, Carla, and their friend Tracey went to some Hip-Hop jam session. Scott, Ramon, and I opted for a lower-key, druid hangout. We went to an area where artsy people hung out. I dont like hippies, but I handled them for tonight. We went to a live-venue place. There was a big cover, but we lied and said we just wanted to go to the bar. So they let us in free, even though they saw right past our evil lie. The band was Carbon Leaf-esque. I like Carbon Leaf. They rock. After that we walked down this deserted street and found another bar. We went into the basement, and I think there were a lot of druids hanging out here dancing to druid music. There were aliens on the wall, and they were watching the dancing druids. We found a nice druid, and he gave us some beer.

We left and caught the last tube to the central-city.

In our car was a drunk German. He talked to us about Indiana, and I told him I was going to Germany soon. He said that was cool. We got to our transfer and switched trains. In our new train was a Bostonian originally from Florida. He had two friends one fromArgentina and one from China. We talked to them because the train wasnt moving. It took an hour for the train to move. But it was entertaining to talk to the people. We werent sober anymore, so it was OK. The train finally left and we arrived at our destination for some sleep.

The next morning we prepared for departure and caught the train to Providence.

Our friend Ramon was on this train. He said hi, but we had to get off. We walked to our accommodations for the night before going to Geoffreys Café. Sarah would like this café because she thinks I should spell my name with a G. She wont be happy to know that people who spell Jeffery with a G are slightly retarded. It took them five hours to get the credit card machine to work. Then they recommended a place for us to take Craig that night. We later found out this was a lesbian bar.

We headed back to the hotel and Scott was surprisingly hungry.

We went to a food court and I had horrible Chinese food. It made me sick. But Craig came and it was better because we went to Westminster Street for some outage. We found a folk band and the nice bar tender charged us a lot of money for beer. We left and went to the bar Geoffrey had recommended. The bouncer told us the roller derby had been cancelled and rescheduled for the following night. Fortunately some of the roller skaters were still around watching roller skating on a big screen TV. I enjoyed watching the skaters. I also knew Natalie would be proud of us for taking Craig to a lesbian bar. She told us to make sure Craig behaved. Afterwards we walked to a district near Brown University. I wont lie, I was a jerk at this point. But, oh well.

We went to bed.