Current Kitchen Catastrophes in Praha and The rest of my Spanish Adventures

Before I continu with spring break... I shall inform you of the current happenings here in Praha. Got back to lovely weather, meaning cold and rainy. However my dear Lauren is here with her friends from London so all is well with the world...almost. Yesterday we went on the new Europe free tour of Prague,only my 4th time touring this city. I should be hired since I knew everyhthing they said considering I just took a bazillion midterms on the very subject. Also got to watch the half marathon for a while.

New goal- come back to Pragye within the next 3 years and run the marathon here.

After that we got some food, came back and I tried to organize the apartment a little before heading out for a fantastic dinner and dessert. We headed over to Václavské náměstí to meet up with a friend from Madrid and we found a cute cheap little bar for some vino before turning in for the night.

Woke up in the morning... absolutely not like p diddy (ok bad joke) and found that the power was out in my kitchen, meaning the fridge had not been on for a while as my frozen veggatables were basically cooked. Luckily I had nothing in the fridge but my roommates did and it basically smelled worse than... I can't even think of a comparison. Still isn't working so we currently have an extension cord running from the fridge to my room... welcome back to Prague!

Anyway back to the calm and working electricity country of Madrid. Day 2. Began like any other day in Madrid. I woke up, grumpy, woke everyone else up and went down to breakfast in pajamas to find everyone dressed and ready for the day. We had breakfast with some people form the hostel we had met the night before and then got ready and headed out. The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. (nothing like the current rain in Prague that is beginning to come in through the open window...)After getting a little lost (good thing the city is small as we ended up on the opposite side as intended) we made it to Plaza de Mayor... a gorgous open plaza with tons of small resturants and musicians.


We then explored the indoor market that was right next door which had beautiful fruits and seafood displays and the most delicious looking chocolates ever. If only I had money/ any sort of income at the moment!
Then we made it to the royal palace which was huge and so nice to explore. There were tons of gardens and fountains to sit by and we even got in and were able to see a peacock behind the palace. I think the amazing weather we had made everything more beautiful and perfect than you might originally think. It was so enjoyable.


After hanging out in the palace gardens for a little we went to see a bascillica and then back to the plaza for a lunch of paella and sangria. Did we ever tire of eating the same thing every meal? Absolutely not. Then we got churros and headed back to the hostel. The boys wanted to Siesta so I went out and did a little shopping and got more coffee....I was finally beginning to feel like myself again with normal coffee to drink. and went back the hostel to catch up on my blogging and some fuhbooking. After their nap we went back to the park to take some pictures and explore a litte more, the found a nice little place for some... yes tapas...

and then we were going to go to this bar where you can get free tapas with drinks, haha yes overdoing it a little with the tapas. However it was closed so we wandered around till we found an outside place and got some drinks and bonded more, which I wasn't sure was possible, but it was. And then decided to go back to the hostel and hang out there for a little with everyone. This is the point were one of our new friends pointed out that I had used my converter to plug in my camera charger even though there was an american plug right next to it. my bad. I went to sleep early since we had to get up for our flight early and I was so tired.

SO the next morning was quite interesting. I woke up with the worst pain in my stomach, and after throwing up in the bathroom for a while I literly felt like was going to die. For those of you who don't know me, I never get sick. Ever. I was so weak I couldn't even carry my bag and could barley walk down the stairs. Hot mess. We made it to the metro where all hell broke loose. I felt really sick and so Chris managed to get me a plastic bag to throw up in.... however the bag had a giant hole in it. I wont go into details and luckily it was only stomach acid, and luckily people on the metro were really nice about it, but I would like to never talk about it again. I just felt it was something you all should know. I decided it was a kidney stone because this sharp pain kept comming back throughout the entire day, but my nursing skills (and common sense) told me I was severly dehydrated and so once I drank some water and ate an apple I was a little better. Done with that part of my life.

SO that was the end of the Espana escapades. African Adventures to follow!

Get out the mapas for some tapas... Barcelona Day 2 and 3/Madrid day 1

I would like to begin with 2 seperate things:
1. I can not even tell you why my last post stoped in the middle of a sentence. It didn't do that when I was writing it.

2. I'mmm back! Back in the Praha. Made it home from Africa in basically one piece, plus three mysterious brusies, some intense sunburns, and minus half my stomach contents which are back in Madrid.... that will be explained later. But yes.. reporting live from my bed in Prague.

Ok so day 2 of Barcelona began cold and only got worse. SUCKED! we ate hostel breakfast and then went on a tour of some archetecture by Gaudi.... and it was really interesting, his buildings are so crazy and there are so many strange details. When I marry my rich doctor/chef husband maybe I'll have him build me a house like Gaudi's. ( yes I have been intercontinentaly traveling today and am basically beyond tired).
After the tour we went to a small place to grab some sandwiches, or long pieces of bread with cheese and meat melted on... so good! Then we decided to take the metro up to a park that was designed by Gaudi for a residential neighborhood, however he was the only person to ever live there, definition of epic fail. But it is the coolest park I have ever been to hands down. There are huge building things at the entrance but they have no sharp lines or angles... kinda reminded me of candy land like houses. If there were houses in candy land that is. Once you walk in there is a giant two lane staircase and in the middle are fountains and plants and sculptures of everything and anything. and you can explore this huge park and there are cave like things and pathways. It was so much fun just walking through and exploring everything!!!!!


ok hopefully there is a picture right here. Im trying new things... branching out if you will.
After the park we went to the park we went to the area of the city called Born and went to the picasso muesum, which I really enjoyed. I ha never seen a picasso in real life and I really like the blue period and the cubism period. And it was a good plan since by this time it was raining. So because of the rain we went back to the hostel and had some snacks and bonded with some people staying in our room, including Ben from Australlia, who I am in love with.
We asked the hostel guy for some good local spanish resturants since we didnt want to go very far. Unfortunately everything he told us was either closed or didnt exist..... but we found a small tapas place that was very good. and had some good ole BP along with many other good tapas.



Afterwards we found a small local bar and bonded for a while until I was tired and we went back and slept.

Morning meant leaving and since it takes us all a while to get things together we got to the bus station just in time to take the bus to the airport and hop a plane to Madrid.
PS. budget airlines are a good idea but they SUCK with bggage restrictions and open seating. I guess its ok since its cheap but I would like to not have to shove my purse in my bag that is already too full.

So we arrived in Madrid and found the hostel no problem. It was actually really nice and the keys were these watch things that opened all the doors and lockers. Pretty neat, and there was an open air atrium which was nice and tropical. I wanted to go to the Retitro, which is the central park of Madrid and quite honestly I think I like it better. We mainly just walked around it, played some pooh sticks, got ice cream, and then ended up in front of a huge statue and a big pool of water where people were boating. It was so beautiful, partly because it was dusk/night.



We walked around the rest of Madrid because beautiful buildings kept popping up all over the place. The weather was sooo nice and everything was within walking distance, so it was throughly enjoyable. We went back and changed, met with some of the other NYU kids that were in Madrid, and then went to get some dinner, which was more Tapas and some amazing Sangria. TAPAS ARE AMAZING by the way. sooo good. After dinner we found the other NYUers again and went to an Irish pub for the night. I know... Irish pub in Madrid, but it was where everyone was so we went, and it was pretty fun. Afterwards we walked around for a while, and by a while I mean that we didnt get back to the hostel until about 4am. Sleep never felt sooo amazing.

So I still have another day of Madrid and then Morocco to catch up on, but this week is going to be crazy because LAUREN is here!!!!!!!!!! But I'll try to get it all done before I leave for Dublin!!!

Hola de Madrid!!

Spring BBBBreak!!! Found some extra time during siesta time here in Madrid spain so I think I´ll begin recording my journys in Barcelona. (warning there might be extra misspellings this time as this keyboard doesnt even make sense to me)

Arrived in Barcelona friday night and somehow, with me,the directionally challenged cant even get to work without getting lost,We found our hostel pretty easilly. It was pretty nice, 16 dorm room with communal bAthrooms but free breakfast and we got to keep our towels...which i know sound weird but I now have a beach towel that says tropical dreams on it from Barcelona! So we headed out and found a local small tapas resturant nearby. It was really small and we sat at the bar and shared some tapas which were absolutely amazing....especailly bravas patatas, which are potatoes with spicy mayo stuff on them. basicallywe have them at every meal to follow so I´ll refer to them as BP. After dinner we decided to head to city center to check out the main street and most importantly the BEACH. SO BEAUTIFUL. we walked along the water (mediterrian sea) and touched the freezing cold water and just enjoyed the fact that it was warm enough to not wear a jacket/it was above 30 so it was a heat wave. yay for being back in the west! So we ended up walking around until 3am and headed back to sleep.

best part about the west.....COFFEEE. coffee is everywhere.especially at the hostel where I came up with the brilliant solution of taking 2 cups to the table instead of having to get up a million times to refill. i know... genius.

So we went to the beach... and were basically the only people in not only shorts but bathing suites. The sky was a little overcast and it was actually a little chilly but it was so relaxing to finally just lay out on the beach and not do anything. (except a cartwheel or 5). we went walking along the beach and found some awsome climbing things and playgrounds and just everything in general was intriguing. (sorry no pictures.... no way to put them up)For lunch we found A nice outside kebab place and enjoyed some more amazing food.

Then we had a BRILLIANT IDEA to rent bicycles for 2 hours and ride around the city.It was the best decision ever and was so relaxing and such a great way to see the city. We rode through this really interesting park with tons of foundtains and waterfall things, saw parliment,saw their arch de trimnpuh, which we later learned was not the right arch when we ran into it at the end. We went north to this amazing cathedral designed by >Guadi and is incomplete and just enjoyed riding around in the sun and warm weather.

note.... not much has changed. I burned like crazy all over my face and random patches on my legs... what a hot mess. I suppose its just good that
another note- my current song obbsession- takin back my love, just came on.its a sign.

So after bike riding we sat for a while and then headed back to the hostel to change for some dinner....which we didnt end up getting until 9pm. which is i guess normal spanish dinner time. We went out for paella, tapas and sangria, which was again amazing.ill just mention that everything
This keyboard thing is really frustrating me at the moment so

The Pre-Spring Break Post

Well my bloggy followers spring break is here and Im ready to go! flight takes off at 6pm, and I have nothing packed, not many plans, and no idea how to get anywhere in any city. Who would have thought that planning spring break yourself was going to be so difficult! I remember back to the days when mommy would plan all the vacations. Now I understand why they created travel agents.

I guess I should explain the pictures. Its almost Easter here in Praha and that means interesting holiday celebrations that are certinly not normal to anyone who hasnt lived here. Easter is the day when men in Prague carry around sticks with ribbons (aka whips) and hit women they find attractive. In return the women are supposed to give them easter eggs. Now are we supposed to just carry around a basket of eggs all day? where do these eggs come from? can they be pink and plastic? so mnay unanswered questions. Anyway they hardcore decorate the streets here. this is a tree in old town square... see the little chicks in eggs? so cute. and there are so many stands set up all decorated with the orange and yellow streamers. I love it! So excited for Easter here. well the monday at least, Easter sunday will be spent in Ireland which is the MOST EXCITING THING EVER!

So St. Patricks day in Praha.... very different. People are much more quiet and reserved. There are soooo many tourists which is interesting. We went to this one irish pub and I think we were more Czech than the bartenders. It was fun though. I love st. patricks day so just being in the "irish" atmosphere was exciting.

On note of the tourist thing... its become high travel season and everywhere is sooo crowded! and I definitely do not enjoy it. It takes twice as long to get between the 2 NYU buildings trying to make your way through the crowds on tours and taking pictures. Its really funny because technically Im still a tourist... kinda. But I get so annoyed with all the tour groups. I guess maybe Im no longer a tourist? Another thing I noticed is simple things here have become soo normalized. When you first arrive in a country that doesnt speak your language, everything sounds very strange and you listen to all of it. Now I hear conversations and it is still really intriguing to liten to and try to figure out, but for example hearing tram stops called out, I dont even notice anymore until I get to my stop. Its as if I am hearing it in my native language. Going back to NYC is going to be very difficult!

I'm gonna keep this short so I can go pack for some HOT times in Barcelona, Madrid and Morocco! Im not going to be able to write but Ill give massive updates when Im back! Na shledanou!!

The Procrastination Post

Current time: 6:25 pm. total movement for the day: not much.

I have so much work that I need to get done this weekend, including my important research project (about AIDS!) that is due the day we gat back from spring break. Also practicing Czech (not that my fluent self needs that much practice of course). Today I have officially slept till 12 (which in America is 6am so its almost like im getting up really early), did the dishes, ate breakfast at 3, did my czech homework( working with declentions- which suck if you haven't taken latin) watched some movies on megavideo- so watching 60 minutes then waiting an hour before you can finish them, and somewhat working on my power point. I got out of my bed maybe twice. SO this is me, being lazy in Praha, reporting from my bed.

This week was pretty crazy with school work. I had a midterm paper due on tuesday,and tons of reading. The weeks always go by so fast it amazes me. Thursday I have the day off and I may have gone a little stir crazy. I got a lot of work done, cleaned the kitchen because it was dsgusting, and turned up the heat and tried on all my summer clothes while singing loudly to the music. I love when the apartment is empty (even though I continued after everyone got home).

A couple of my friends here have people visiting so friday we went to go to the castle, however after trying to find somewhere for lunch it was dark and cold so we decided to just go back and get ready to go out that night. We took them out to some places that were new to us and a really nice music bar in an old medevil basement that used to be a favorite. Then we got some Smažený sýr and headed home on the night tram. It was a LONG but great day....leading to my overly lazy day in my bed.

ps. I miss the radio in America. Sometimes I can stream in an old radio station from home, but it usually only lasts for 10 minutes. Im over being frustrated about these things. Not over the fact that there is no coffee. 1st thing im getting the minute we touchdown in USA.

I might be a little excited about the thought of comming home. I know I will hate it once im there and not in prague anymore, but having hommade food from mommy sounds soooo amazing. And actually haveing an income again. and the warm weather of summer.

Ps. I just read an article and hear so many stories about people writing bloggs and getting jobs from them in magazines or online publications. When Im called I'll let you all know. (those places looking to hire, I can try harder on my spelling!)

One week till spring break and I am so ready for not only the beaches of Barcelona and the food of MOrocco, but the break of school work and computers and everything. However still havent booked places to sleep yet, a slight issue but im sure it will work out somehow. (?)

haha now I dont really want to write anymore. guess its back to the AIDS project. But before I go-- shout out to my one loyal fan Brittnie! Thanks for following the blogg and dont worry, just tell your parents you need NYU to survive and hopefully they will let you come! PS. love how you spell your name!

Ill post again before I leave for the Spring break!

So If you have a date in Constantinople she'll be waiting in Istanbul" My Turkish Weekend

What is there to say about traveling to Turkey? It's beyond amazing? A life experience that I wish everyone could have? A trip that you will be guarenteed to never want to leave from? All of the above.

I have been living Abroad for officially for about 8 weeks now and things that I never expected are becoming normal things. I get up in the morning, make my disgusting instant coffee and turn on my computer... forgetting that Im even in Europe. The fact that google comes up in Czech doesn't even phase me anymore. Every city I have traveled to so far; Berlin, Krakov, VIenna, Bratislava, all European countries, are amazing, yet begin to not feel like a vacation but a road trip from say manhattan to Brooklyn. (not that Im comparing those places, its just they are all very simillar.) However, traveling to Istanbul was exactly the opposite and an experience like no other. Hnads down my favorite vacation ever through my 20 years of life. Ill start at the beginning, but beware, I'm telling you EVERYTHING.

Plane ride to Turkey: Turkish Airline. Hands down best airline I have ever been on in my life. They handed out menus for the complete meal that we got for a short 2 hour flight. If only America was so hospitable. So on the way there we had kidney beans with a piece of cheese, Beef burger with sauteed eggplant, potato gratin, a fresh roll, crackers and butter, the BEST almond cake I have ever had, and a cute water container. Also a drink, aka a 187mL bottle of turkish wine (thats right free alcohol on flights in Europe) and turkish coffe and tea and nuts. Talk about service. I took the fork for my collection.

After landing and taking out a million dollars from te ATM (not really, its 1 turkish lyra to 65 cents) we were able to find the metro and get to the hostel. Note- the Turks are soo friendly. We couldn' figure out how to work the metro so the guard helped us buy them, give us change and maps how to get to our destination. Everyone was super helpful and so friendly. We hadn't even left the airport and I was in love.

When we got off the metro, it was the most beautiful weather and such a calm serene setting. There were PALM TREES!!!! We started walking towards the hostel and saw the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. I can tell you they are beautiful, but it will never be good enough to just describe these structures. It was unlike anything I had ever seen and it was such a surreal feeling seeing these buildings, things you read about in school but never ever dream of actually seeing. We made it to the hostel, family room!!! We had a private room with 2 bunk beds that were falling apart and a nice communal bed. Plus the bathroom consisted of the toliet being in the shower as the shower was the entire room. and lots of mold. but it was nice! haha.
It was midnight by this time, so we just explored a little by our hostel and found this amazing street full of little resturants and bars and cafes. Everything was lit up and people were outside and everyone just seemed so content. Also- there are so many stray cats. Stray cats in Istanbul are like Squirrels in NYC. Crazy.

In the morning we got up really early and went to the roof for the hostel breakfast- which was a traditional turkish breakfast and not one of my favorites: a plate with olives, cucumber, tomato slices, a hard boiled egg, and a roll with butter and honey. and the most amazing turkish cup of coffee. I love turkish coffee!!!! After breakfast we headed back into the area where the Mosques are and found an old Byzantine stone that was known as the center of the universe, which is the place where they measured all distances from on the roads throughout the empire, including the silk road. Then we went into the Hagia sophia... which was expensive but sooo worth it. It was absolutely beautiful. A lot of it was covered in gold and there were beautiful mosaics covering a lot of the walls.
OMGZ I forgot the best part. Our first full day was friday which is the Holy day. During the prayer time, a bunch of times throughout the day, the MOsques would sing the prayers over loudspeakers so you could hear it throughout the entire city. It was so beautiful and a GREAT change from the cathedral bells I hear every single day here in Prague.

After the Hagia Sophia we walked through a garden with palm trees to the Blue Mosque. We went in the courtyard but couldn't go into the actual mosque because services were in session.

We then decied to walk towards the grand Bazzar and the spice market on our way to the water. We got a little lost and ended up in areas that probably were not the safest for obvious tourists, but finally made it to the Bazzar and walked through. It was insane. So many people and crowds, people yelling out things in turkish trying to sell to you, cats, everyhing. We made it through, deciding to come back later and spend all the money we had, but never made it back. Instead we found the spice market. The most amazing place ever. so many spices, candies, teas in containers all over the place along with potter, scarves and basically everything you could ever want. It was so hard to walk through and not buy anything.

We finally made it to the sea side (or the strait side as we were on the Bosphorus Strait) and began the tasting of the amazing street food Istanbul is known for. We had a sandwich which is baiscally pita bread with the shaved beef, with lettuce, tomato, pickles sliced in stick shapes and french fries. SO GOOD. I dont know why we never eat french fries on sandwichs before, but from now on that is my thing. Also it was so good and there was no sauce or oil on it... so maybe a litte healthy?

After the eating we borded a ferry and took it across the Strait to the Asia side of Istanbul. Thats right. I, Samantha Strang am able to say I have been to Asia. Istanbul is the only city located in 2 continents. So while here I found an HSBC bank and wanted to take it home to praha with me. We walked around and found a nice little resturant for our second Turkish meal that day, Kebabs, another specialty there. We also tried the special turkish drink Ayran, which is, according to wikipedia, a mizture of yogurt water and salt. It basically tastes like ocean water and spoiled milk and is the most disgusting thing I have ever tried. At least the food was amazing.

So after chillin in Asia for a little we took the ferry back to Europe and went back to the spice market to do some shopping. They are big on barginning and LOVE to try to sell you things. Which after a while can get annoying. Also- they love to compliment you to try to get you to buy things, you wouldn't even believe the crazy pick up lines we heard the entire time there. Sometimes its nice, especailly when they give you free samples of turkish delight, the candy there that is kinda like a gummy but most have nuts in them as well. So good! And I bought a ton of stuff... including some turkish coffee beans and their famous apple tea which is sooooo good. I cant wait to be home to have it!

After shopping we went back to the hostel and changed into some "turkish" clothes... aka I had a purple shirt that reminded me of turkey when I bought it, and went to that cute street around the corner to eat. Everyone stands outside their restuant and tries to get you to come and we found one that gave us a geat deal- free bread and tea, and 15% off of the meal. We sat outside next to the heaters and the atmosphere was amazing. The people that worked there were so friendly and wanted to talk to us the entire time, I think they really enjoy speaking english. I had a really good beef kebab, and we tried the national alcohol drink- raki- which is also disgusting. luckily we had the free tea thing going on. What was really interesting was agian, the stray cats sitting under and around the table while we were eating. After dinner and pictures with the waiters, we found a traditional turkish hooka bar and had some apple tea and waited for the rain to stop. The woman who worked there was really nice and was still in schoool in Istanbul. She sat and talked with us and told us some great places to visit the next day. It was such a low key but amazing night to just sit there and enjoy the culture.

The next day, after our turkish beakfast, it was cold and damp from the all night rain. We went to the Topkapi Palace, but it was full of tour groups and cost a lot to get in, so we took pictures of the outside, and then we were going to go across the strait to the other side of Istanbul but still in Europe to see the Galata tower. But before we made it we stopped at the spice market again and bought more things and then stopped and got those amazing sandwhiches again! Then we took the long cold windy walk across the bridge and walked uphill for a million years and finally made it to the tower. We paid to go up and had a beautiful view of the entire city. It was so interesting to see the built up city and then on hills throught were tons of Mosques all over the city. While we were up there is started to DOWNPOUR. SO the 4 of us, under 1 umbrella, slowly walked to a little dessert shop we saw on the way and went in. Apple tea and chocolate rasberry cake made me feel better about all the rain. It was soooo good. and the apple tea of course was amazing!

Afterwards we started on the long walk back across the bridge, through the market and back to the hostel where we got ready for the turkish bath.

Traditional turkish bath... definitely an experience. First they give you a locked room in which you change into a towel that they provivde, which is pretty small so we all wore our bathing suite bottoms.Then the women and men are seperated and we were led into this cave like room where it was very hot and damp. you sit there (naked, except us americans who kept our towels on the whole time) and pour this warm water all over your body. it was actually really relaxing. After about 20 minutes of that you are taken to a room and lay down on a slab on top of your towel. They splash water over you and then scrub your body with a rough scrubbing pad, which hurts but it was nice to get all the dead skin off. Then they take a pillow case like thing that is all foamy soap and spread it all over your body, then massage you and rinse. then you roll over and they do the front, which is interesting, especially being topless. After that they shampoo and massage your head which feels amazing and send you back to the bathing room to rinse off. Then they give you a dry towel and blanket and send you into the common room where everyone is sitting around a heater thing and they give you APPLE TEA!!! overall it was a definite interesting and traditional experience, and Im glad we were able to do that, even if it was a little strange.

Then we went to get dinner and was sold at the place that offered us free tea and bread and free dessert. More friendly staff (we were sold to the owner for camels... great) and some strange experiences (the one played American music on his laptop and left it on our table while he was working outside) but it was a good dinner and good baklava for dessert.

The next morning, after realzing that we were an hour ahead of Praha and so had been waking up an hour later than we thought, we headed out to the square and went into the Blue Mosque, which was beautiful, of course. Then we went to see the Hippodrome. Note- on the map they gave us it said the hippodrome was way far away and we would need to take the metro to get there. luckily we asked because that was the NEW hippodrome and the old one, the one we wanted to see, was just behind the blue Mosque. It was really cool... some old Byzantine ruins and an egyptian tower. And the weather was really nice so it was enjoyable. We headed over to this chicken kebab place we saw the day before and had lunch, which was amaizng, and got free tea and apples. The waiter really loved us... giving us his cell number and email and we took a ton of pictures with him....and Im totally emailing him!

After that we went to get our luggage, and sat in the gardens between the two Mosques until we had to go to the airport. Also tried this hot drink which was milk honey, cinamon and a bunch of other things, but was so good!

The plane ride home was agian enjoyable, being served chicken, polenta, the roll andcrackers, hot veggies, and HUMMAS!!!! and some chocoate moouse.

It was the best trip I have ever taken in my life and I definitely miss it already. Although it was nice to be back to Praha, who knows when or if I will ever get back to Turkey. I definitely reccomend splurging and going to Istanbul! (not COnstantinople!!)

"Good thing I brought My Compass" Weekend in Bratislava and Wein!

I send out an apology to my readers for not writing. It has come to my attention that I am also in the Czech Republic to study and bring up my GPA,and so blogg writing must be placed on the back burnner so to speak. Ill try harder, but it's been a nice change from nyc to get more than 4 hours of sleep a night. I'll try my best!

Speaking of burning... I lit a wrapper on fire in the microwave last night. As in there was a flame I had to blow out. Just another day in the life of Samantha.

So last weekend we went on a double city/country trip. I'll just start at the beginning...
Destination 1: Bratislava, Slovakia. It might seem strange to you all in American to want to go to Slovakia/you might not have even known it existed. It does. And its a very nice town. Not much to see but for 24 hours its a nice relaxing destination. We got up and took an early morning bus... a nice short 4 hour trip and landed in the heart of Slovakia. After struggling to find our hostel, a common theme in every trip that we seem to not be able to fix, we were able to go and find somewhere to eat. Unfortunatly service in this country, and basically any country over here, is not too hot. It took forever to get both an order placed and then our food. The food was ok, but not for everyone( we had a problem with a fatty ham sandwich) but they did give me a huge glass of strawberry juice, my new favorite juice and America better adopt that idea before I get back. We then headed over to Staré Město... which there seems to be one in every city we go to (ok Praha, Krakov, and Bratislava) to check out the "sights". Basically we just walked around and took pictures because the buildings were beautiful. PLUS the weather was so nice, low 50s, and so it was more than enjoyable. The town was pretty dead, not that many people at all, but it was very enjoyable. We saw the castle, and walked across Nový Most which crosses the Danube river. For some reason I was really excited to see this river... maybe because of the waltz. We also went up in an observaion tower and had an amazing view of the entire city.

By this point it was around 5pm and we had seen everything. We did a little shopping and ended up at a really classy lounge and shared a couple bottles of wine and some really interesting nuts. A nice little bonding time. We then headed over to Slovak Pub which was reccomended by our hostel (Hostel Blues... beds=not so comfortable). The food and atmosphere was amazing and we had the best perogis (well not better than Poland but they were pretty good!) We were all petty tired so we went back to the Hostel and after an unfortunate curtain episode and some loud Americans late into the night, went to sleep.

In the morning we somehow woke up super early, and fixed that with a visit to Bagel and Coffee (and Story). I WAS SO EXCITED. I should mention they also had Bank and coffee-- aka a bank and coffee shop in one. America- Are you listening??? This is the best idea ever. SO i had a legit bagel and cream cheese which was so good, and of course coffee. Unfortunately Europe still has not caught on to brewed coffee... but its the thought that counts. We took some more touristy pictures and headed over to the bus station for our next destination. Overall it was a great 24 hours and the perfect amount of time to spend in Bratislava. Why go? Well can you say you have been to Slovakia? Plus it used to be a part of the country I am currently residing in, and with the huge emphasis on the past here, I think it was really interesting to see the "other" part of the former Czechoslovakia.

Wein. AKA Vienna Austria. No this is not where the Sound of Music took place, and no, the Alps are not in Vienna unfortunately. We took a really nice hour bus ride into Vienna, found our Hostel (even though the directions we finally looked up were driving directions and not very helpful) and began our next day of exploring. We honestly had no idea what to look at. We headed over to Stephanplatz, or the city center and figured we would just find something important.

Basically, old times square. Complete tourist trap. Tons of stores (including a claires) and all those street preformers. I was a little nervous, hoping that all of Vienna had not become this. There was a beautiful cathedral- St. Stephen's in the town center. I had a small map that had a couple outlines of bigger buildings, so we decided to see what they were. We found St. Peter's church, which was beautiful,Saw real Roman ruins at Michaelerplatz, and then hiked over to the other part of the city and found this HUGE buiding. Apparently, after 20 minutes, we found out it was the Imperial Palace. It was so beautiful. There was so much grass and trees in the courtyard and it was a nice change from snowy Prague. After that we saw so many buildings, Museums, and castles. Accidently walked into the Parliment building and saw the Athena statue out front. There was a great view from the front and the building was magnificent. We kept seeing new castles pop up in the horizion, and followed them to find even more. We saw the Rathaus castle, which is where the city council meets, and so many more. We also found this winter carnival which had an ice rink and and ice skating path around this huge plaza in front of a castle. We stayed for a while and got Krapfens- which are basially a fried donut filled with something. We also saw the University of Wein and just the many buildings and things around the city.

We tried to find somewhere for Wine, and ended up in a crppy diner with a cheap bottle of wine and horrible service. Left in a hurry and went to dinner at this place that was reccomended. the atmosphere was great, the waiters were great, and the food was good. Chicken Schnitzel which was pretty good here. Also- grapefruit beer... sounds disgusting but was actually amazing! We stayed there for about 4 hours and then decided to go back to the hostel. We stayed in a 9 person dorm because it was cheaper... and you could tell. Nasty sheets, and a 40 year old man. Also 1 shower and 1 toliet for 9 people. In the morning we couldn't leave fast enough. We went back to MuseumsQuartier to go to the Leopold museum to see the Artist Gustav Klimt who was as very important Austrian Painter and Egon Schiele, who was his protégé. The museum was really nice and I loved the artwork. Afterwards I made everyone go to see Mozart's house. In case you aren't aware I'm a big music nerd and Vienna is one of the prominate places of composition back in the day. So we saw Mozart's place of living, went inside St. Stephen's which was beautiful, and then had to leave Wein.

All in all I wish I could have stayed longer. THere is more to see in VIenna than I had originally thought. If I am to ever go back I would definitely bring a guide book. **Nerd Alert**I liked just being there because so much that I have learned in my music classes happened in that city, so It meant a lot to me that we went.

Overall it was a great weekend. If anything it was relaxing and the weather was amazing so it was perfect. But now I really need to work on midterm stuff.... I'll try to write tomorrow!