IM HOME

After flying to Paris I spent a quick night in a hostel then ran to Charles de Gaulle the next morning. Thanks to the transit strike it took one hour waiting in line and then an hour and a half on a bus to get to the airport. I arrived an hour before my international flight and ran to the plane just in time. After hopping through New York I finally landed in PDX and now here I am!

Being in my own room with my own bathroom is amazing! I'm now throwing myself into the job search and, fingers crossed, I won't be hanging around the condo for much longer....

Rome

....has been conquered! (kinda) I had three days in Rome. Day one started with the Colosseum (which is just as impressive as I thought it would be). After about an hour of waiting in line I spent a good 30 minutes walking around inside the Colosseum. Right next to it is the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, where the ruins from ancient Rome are. It's really well preserved and really cool to walk through. It's crazy to think that Roman social, economic, and political  life was centered in this little area. I mean they have monuments such as the Tempio di Guilio Cesare, which was built in 29 BC where Caesar's body was burned. Whaaaaat? Then it started to rain and our plans of making it to Vatican City were scrapped. (by rain i mean pour) On day two we made it to Vatican City with everyone else. And by everyone else I mean the thousands of people that came from around the world to celebrate the first Australian person to become a saint. The cool part was that we showed up right in time for Mass, which was given by the Pope. Not so cool was that we couldn't get into St. Peter's church for a while (I guess we had to wait for the Pope to clear out, and at that point thousands of people were there with the same plan as us) Also, I don't know if this is just the American in me, but there were not as many uniformed guards carrying guns as I would have hoped. I mean you have thousands of people in St. Peter's square, along with the POPE, and no snipers in sight. REALLY? I was creeping out my Aussie friend as I combed the crowd every 5 seconds for suspicious people and unattended bags. That's definitely not the most relaxed mass I've ever been to. 

On my last day I woke up early to make it to St. Peters again to actually go into the church. Wow. All i can say. It was definitely worth the 40 minute queue to go inside. There are hundreds of people in there taking photos at any given point, but there are two areas that are private. There are confession booths on one side and you have to ask to get behind the rope to do that. They're open to everyone but that way there aren't people taking photos of you as you confess all your sins. There's also a room strictly for prayer, which I went into for a little bit. Being in there, smelling the weird incense, got me all nostalgic for the days when I would be forced awake on Sunday mornings to put tights on and go to church. As I was hanging out in the prayer room, having a little chat with the big man (please don't let my plane to Paris fall out of the sky) this Italian woman started saying "get out" in a loud whisper angry to this couple behind me. I turned around as she began to say it louder and angrier, attracting the attention of the guard. Apparently this man and woman had tried to take photos in the prayer room, and this Italian woman had taken it upon herself to kick them out. May not sound too funny, but the look on their faces was priceless, and when I saw them later in another part of the church (a part where photos are allowed) they had the same face. Terror. Like we just got yelled at in St. Peters by an angry Italian.     

One thing I am going to miss BADLY are European clubs. Why? For one thing I love house and techno music so much better. In the States they just take the same top 40 songs we hear on the radio all day and put a beat on it. And what do we do? We dance. Oh wait sorry, we grind. Girls dancing in the states seems to be an invitation for guys to come up behind you -uninvited- and put their hands all over you. With the exception of Italy, European dancing is something that you do on your own unless YOU decide to dance with someone else. I know boys, it's crazy, but you can actually dance without us. Yep, you don't always need to sway behind us to the beat. I love that guys here just go for it, they just have fun and go crazy and sometimes look just as stupid and some girls can look while dancing. It's awesome. And honestly, it's hot! 

On a plane to Paris, catch ya later :)   

Vienna & Florence

I had a great time in Vienna, it's such a beautiful city! if you remember, I had met a guy on the train from Nice, France to Barcelona who is studying in Vienna, (a couple months ago) and he invited me to stay with him while I was there. I spent the first day just walking around and taking in the city. I found a Starbucks and drank coffee while people watching outside :) Once my friend heard about this he immediately took me to a proper Viennese coffee house, but don't worry I won him back with a Starbuck's peppermint mocha at the end of my visit. 

Some of the things I loved about Vienna: the city is super clean, people were relatively nice to me, and the opera house shows the operas live on a huge screen outside the building every night for free. They have tons of chairs outside and anyone can come sit and watch a fabulous opera for free! We stopped by one night to watch a little bit of one, and it is such a cool thing that they do that! 

I took the night bus (night bus!!) from Vienna to Florence, Italy, my next stop. I arrived in Florence at 3:30 in the morning, and had already booked a room at a hostel for that night. The bus had been so crowded I was definitely ready to sleep....I roll up the hostel, buzz reception, and wait. After a baffling conversation with who I assumed was the night receptionist (I just kept repeating my name and "I have a reservation") I stood at the gate in silence for a couple minutes waiting for her to buzz me in when an old man in a robe and slippers comes busting out of the door to my left. He starts shouting at me that it better be an emergency because it's 3 o'clock in the morning. (Keep in mind that all of this is in broken English with extreme hand motions) I tried to tell him that not only does it say online that they have 24 hour reception (one of the reasons I even booked them) but I sent a follow up email letting them know that I would be arriving after 3am so they didn't give away my bed. He shouted some more, led me into a room, took my passport, and told me to pay in the morning (again reminding me of the hour) the next miring i paid, got my passport back, and tried (in my nice voice) to tell a different receptionist that they need to change the "24 hr reception" part of their website and perhaps check their business email more than once a week. Strange concept, I know. 

Luckily my trip only got better. :) I went to Pisa, hung out with the leaning tower. I ate bunch of gelato. I got to see Craigy and all his friends who are studying abroad. They made me feel like I was in college again :) I also got the chance to see another travel friend who was studying abroad in Florence. We reminisced about Greece while enjoying the restaurant's all you can drink wine policy for students. Heyy ooooh! Overall it was a great little visit to Firenze that reminded me how great it is to hang out with true friends. 

One 1.5 hour train ride and 55 euros later and I'm here in Rome!! This is my last stop in Italy and I'm going to enjoy it! I just arrived this afternoon and haven't really done much. The hostel is really a camp ground, and my "bungalow" looks like a trailer. But hey there's a bathroom ensuite so I'm not complaining. Also, there is an alarming number of cats hanging out here. We had our bungalow door open to get some air in here when I first arrived, and a black cat jumped up onto my bed and joined in on my nap. (the photo is on Facebook) I swear I don't mean to be such a cat lady but sometimes it just happens. The worst part was that Im coincidentally wearing my cat shirt today, so my roommate must think I'm a 40 year old spinster. Greeeat. 

Tomorrow (Saturday) I'll be taking a 20 minute bus ride followed by a 15 minute metro ride to get down to Rome's city center to start exploring! I plan on taking tons of photos :)             

Vienna

I was so sad to leave Prague today! The city is beautiful & everything is cheap!! I did end up going to spinning yesterday, in case you're wondering. And even though I don't know czech, there is something universal about a so inning instructor yelling at the class to push themselves. I knew exactly what he was saying the whole time...it's also been a while since I did a post-drinking workout, which is different from a normal workout. Not only is it harder to begin, and you want to die a little during, but you also sweat out ALL the alcohol that's still left in your body from the night before. That's the key difference.

I spent the night watching a couple reruns of Glee with my Aussie roommates. Amazing. I can't stop watching the B. Spears episode! I didn't leave Prague until 5pm today, so I had the morning to do laundry (best feeling ever) and walk around the city. For those of you who haven't seen my Facebook, it turns out that Oktoberfest didn't succeed in killing my camera, only the memory card. So I can still take photos without the memory card, but only like 15 at a time. I'll look into buying a new card when I have time, for now I'll just take very few photos and immediately transfer them to my iPad.

The bus ride here to Vienna was uneventful, sorry! I had no trouble catching the metro once I got to the bus station here, and it only took about 30 minutes to get to my home for the next 3 days. An Austrian friend from Barcelona is studying here in Vienna and is graciously letting me sleep at his flat. (love free accommodation!) while he's in school tomorrow (haha!) I'll be wandering around the city exploring and taking exactly 15 photos. Then we'll meet up downtown and he's going to show me where the locals hang out, maybe meet some of them. I do know that aside from the tourist spots I'll be watching The Sound of Music while here. Can you believe my friend is from Salzburg and has never seen it???!! Don't worry I've taken it upon myself to fix that. 

RG 

Oktoberfest broke my camera

So much has happened in the last week!! First off I went to Amsterdam to meet up with Keith and Katie and my parents. I took the night bus from Berlin, which got in a few HOURS early, putting me at a random metro stop around 4am. I ended up walking about a mile to the city center and sleeping in the hostel lobby for a couple hours until my room was ready. The first night in Amsterdam Keith and Katie and I visited the red light district, enough said. Then the next night we rocked the pub crawl. The next day was filled with museums and walking around town with the family.

I ended up going with them to Frankfurt for the night as well, then headed to Munich the next morning. Unfortunately Oktoberfest broke my camera, so I have no photos of my own from those 3 days of amazingness.

Right after arriving we went to the Haufbrau house and pounded back a few beers to start the trip off.

Day 1: Haufbrau tent. People standing on tables chugging an entire liter of beer. Chants. Singing. Prosting like crazy. Just general "festing."

Day 2: we didn't realize that the last Saturday of Oktoberfest would be crazy busy (cause were dumb) and by 10:30am all the big tents were full. We chose a small beer garden instead, and it was a good thing we did; within 30 minutes the place was packed and there was a line at the door. I reached a personal record of 4 liters of beer in one sitting, and I don't think i need to even tell you how obliterated I was. The festing that day was great, and we were all back at the hostel by 5pm to sleep it off.

Day 3: woke up at 6am to make it into the Haufbrau tent. Good thing we were there an hour and a half before they even opened. Not. I think the boys wanted to kill me, since we woke up so early but could have simply walked through the front door at 9:30am and gotten a spot. Keith bought liederhosen, and looked like a champion while prosting all our neighbors.

I slept 15 hours in a row in my parents hotel room after that weekend....

And now I'm in Prague!! I did the free walking tour today (great!) to learn all about the history of the city, and tonight I'm doing the pub crawl. But the best part about this hostel and city is that Pilates & spinning are 3 euros!! So I'm going to go down in about 5 minutes for Pilates, and tomorrow will be some kick ass spinning. THANK GOD because these carbs are getting to me! And even though I'm walking all around these cities, sometimes you just need someone to scream at you to pedal faster while dirty rap music plays, ya know?

RG

in between

I successfully switched hostels, what was it, 4 nights ago? I spent the last four nights on the West End in a comfy little place tucked away in a neighborhood area (although not the nicest area) it feels like I'm living in a little apartment, and I'm able to cook dinner and store leftovers, etc, which is a nice change. I made a meat sauce to go with pasta for about 7 euros and it lasted me all 4 nights. Unfortunately I got sick the first couple days here and did nothing more than sleep and read. Finally feeling better, I spent the last couple of days taking it easy, just walking around to enjoy the sunshine.

Then last night I boarded the night bus to Amsterdam! ( which is where I am now) the bus left at 7:30pm and got in early this morning at 4:30am. It wasn't supposed to get in until 5:45, when I figured I'd only have to wait a half hour for the metro to start running to get to city center and my hostel. I honestly had no idea where the bus was even taking us in amsetrdam, I just figured the central bus station was close to the central train station. I ended up having to walk about 2 hours to my hostel (super fun with a backpack!) and passed out in their lounge area when i finally got in a little after 6am. After being woken up to check in, I went back to drifting in and out of sleep (because although I was supposed to pay for my room at that point, I couldn't go in until 10:30am.) I got into the room, changed my own sheets, and passed out for a solid 8 hours. I woke up, just had a bite to eat, and now I'm drinking Becks in the hostel bar as I finish typing this.  

No plans for tonight yet, but I'll prob meet people here as soon as I put away the iPad. Tomorrow I have to wait in the abnormally slow line that is the Amsterdam central ticket counter and figure out how much it's gonna cost me to get to Munich. After Munich I have Prague & Vienna to visit, then down to Italy to see craigy (&Rome) and thennnnnnn people I'm just about done! Now I know the tentative plan was to stay until December, but my brain is kind of turning to mush over here! The intelligent conversation doesn't exist in hostels, which has been awesome the last 3 months, but I'm missing the real world a bit. I was so burnt out when I graduated, I'm so glad I took time completely off to forget about it. And I think this vacation will have helped once I go home, because I'll be completely ready to find a job and start doing something again. But I think I'm just going to enjoy the last month I have here, spend my money like crazy, then come home!!

You probably won't hear from me again until Oktoberfest!! 
RG 

Alison. 0 Berlin 1

So here I am on day 6 of Berlin...still alive! I'm staying at a hostel that is basically a college dorm: 7 floors of people under the age of 30 & a bar attached. I went on the pub crawl the first night with Genevieve and a bunch of other people that I had just met. Super fun but sadly we didn't last the whole night...we were back at the hostel by 2. We took the next night off, and the day after that I went on the free tour of Berlin. It was a really good tour and I got a little refresher of the amazing history that this city has. The tour went right by the Hilton that we stayed in last time I was here with the fam, and I def got a little sad. As much as I like hostels a nice night in a proper hotel would be AMAZING. I mean room service? A TV? Hell, an actual mattress and sheets that are most likely clean?! 

Since the free walking tour I've had many bar nights around the city, and I actually did the pub crawl AGAIN (since I didn't get to the end last time) and I ended up finishing like a champion around 4am. :)

I have met a surprising 3 people from Portland since I've been here!! One was staying in my hostel, the other two I met in Starbucks :) but this is the first time I've run into other people from Portland! Usually I have to tell everyone I'm from California since that's the only west coast state they know, so it was fun to compare our neighborhoods and talk about our favorite bars. 

Tonight is my last night in the Generator hostel, and tomorrow I'll be in a quiet hostel on the west end of Berlin near the Tiergarden. Like I mentioned before, a place where I can rent a bike, walk (perhaps jog?!) around the park, and actually cook a few meals will be a nice break before Amsterdam.

And sidenote people, sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself over here, so you should comment if you're reading my blog!! Thanks :)

Xoxo RG


 

Berlin

I'm on to the next city!!

I had a cabin all to myself this morning during the first leg of my trip, and shout out to Louisa here, I did some nice Barre 3 moves by getting all creative with the seats. It was definitely missing a little je ne sais quoi without the pearl district wives and their head to toe Lululemon outfits and perfectly pedicured toenails. Unfortunate, but still got a little work out in. 

Now I'm on the second train of the day, this one ending in Berlin.  

For those of you who don't know, the Sadowski family (sans Keith & Katie) went to Germany last summer, making our first stop in Berlin. Although day time trips and chillin with the fam was good, night time activities with Craig were epic. EPIC. And little craigy was just in Berlin last week to relive the good times and have a couple more crazy Berlin nights....so now its my turn! Thanks to Poland being so cheap and the wonderful hospitality of my new favorite Polish family, I've got a little spending money to put towards my alcoholism. (tequila shots anyone?) I'll definitely be taking tons of photos of the now infamous beach bar that was hidden behind a street of normal bars. Seriously, sand in the middle of the city. I'll also be following the graffiti and drug dealers to the warehouse where Craig and I stumbled upon a cute little club that became PACKED around 3am (we were newbies when it came to the hours of after parties in Europe) Again, pictures will be taken as proof that it really does exist. 

It could be the Red Bull talking (I've become more sensitive to that stuff ever since graduating from college and NOT drinking 2 a day) but I am AMPED for the next couple days on an all night drinking & dancing binges. No big deal, but I plan on getting back to a party-till-lunchtime schedule. (just for a couple nights, then it's relaxing prep before partying with the fam) 

The famous Berliner pub crawl starts at 9pm tonight, which gives me the perfect amount of time to get from the train station to the hostel, then shower and get ready to meet Gen at 8pm for some pre-crawl drinking. Rumor has it, this pub crawl has free unlimited drinks (with crawl fee) the first two hours, which leads everyone to drunken oblivion before continuing the crawl. I mean, might as well get my moneys worth right? I wonder if tequila shots are part of that free time....?

In the infamous words of LMFAO, "if you ain't here to party get the f**k out the club" 



  

Poland

I arrived at my hostel in Warsaw around 8pm on Tuesday after a long journey to the homeland. It began with an early morning ferry ride from Santorini to Athens (1am to 7am) that left me cold and sleep deprived. I had a friend from the island on the same ferry, so I had someone to talk to when we were kept up thanks to the fact that there was nowhere comfortable to sleep.

I made it from the port in Athens to the airport pretty easily, and quickly found a corner in the airport to fall awkwardly asleep. I don't know how, but that corner was more comfortable than the ferry and I was able clock about 3 hours of sleep (in 30 min increments of course)
Enough about that, let's talk about Warsaw. BORING. A police man gave me completely incorrect directions, even though I gave him my map to help him point me in the correct direction, so it took twice as long to find my hostel than it should have. Gives me great faith in their police. I went out to dinner (pierogies!!!) with a Madrid friend who happened to be catching a flight out of Warsaw the next day. After spending the next day quite uneventfully walking around Warsaw, I was ready to move on to the northern polish town of Gdansk. (another Madrid friend, Kasia, lives here and invited me to spend some time there with her as my tour guide)

When I showed up in Gdansk on Thursday, Kasia was waiting for me, map and tourist guide in hand. She walked me to my hostel then took me to an amazing little place nearby for dinner. (a huge baked potato with spinach and cheese) We had an early night with just a few beers at a local pub since Kasia had to work in the morning. I spent the next day walking around, drinking coffee and taking photos. (I got a new camera after my old one mysteriously broke) but seriously, I couldn't have gotten luckier with my tour guide!

Kasia's family invited me over for dinner on Friday night, and I spent the evening chatting in English with her father and brother, both trying to practice. After dinner we went to the neighboring town of Sopot, club hopping until 5am. I love that things start so late here, and that parties go all night!

Saturday was an amazing day, one of the best. I almost had to pinch myself. I'm in Poland, making pierogies with a polish family! Kasia's mom doesn't speak any English, so she would give me the directions in Polish, demonstrating the pierogies, while Kasia translated any questions that I had. (is it possible to over knead the dough, what happens when you

use mashed potatoes instead of plums, etc) it was really surreal. As if you haven't already guessed, the Pierogies were the best pierogies I've ever had :) I can't wait to make them at home, finding all sorts of things to put into them.

On Sunday I went sailing with Kasia's family, which was incredible! I know this will come as a shock to many, since I have a passionate love for anything nautical, but I had never been properly sailing before this!

(unless you count laying out on a boat in the middle of Lake Sammamish, which I don't) After sailing we went back to the house for an early dinner, and swear I've gained 10 pounds since staying with them. Seriously. There is always so much food at the table, and it's all so good!! It's a problem...

I'm back at the hostel now in the center of Gdansk until Tuesday. Since Kasia has work during the day Ill be spending the day walking around town and

hanging out. I'm exhausted after my action-packed weekend, and a lazy day like today is exactly what I needed.

Tomorrow morning at 9:30am I get on a train to Berlin! The train ride is 8 hours long and takes me south to Poznan, Poland before shooting over to Berlin. I'm meeting up with my Madrid friend, Genevieve, once I get to Berlin. We overlap in Berlin a couple nights so we'll be partying together before she moves on. My plan is to stay in the party hostel for only a couple nights, then move to a calm one for the remaining week. Since I don't go to Amsterdam until the 24th I'll be in Berlin for over a week. Even I cant sustain crazy Berlin nights for more than a week...Since I've already been there I don't feel the need to revisit everything, so my plan is to relax, maybe rent a bike for a couple days, and sit around reading. I'll need that week off to prepare for the crazy week that starts when I go to Amsterdam!! (for those of you who dont know, my parents, brother, and sister in law will be in Amsterdam, then we're all going to Munich where we will meet up with my other brother. The entire Sadowski family in Munich = chaos that I need to be well rested for) but I can't wait!

♥RG

Goodbye Santorini

Here is my last post from the Greek Islands....Tuesday morning at 1am I will be on a ferry back to Athens, then later in the day will hop a flight to Warsaw, Poland. This month that Ive spent here has been amazing. Ive had relaxing days, hectic days, good days & bad. Ive met dozens of amazing people; some that stay for a couple nights and others that have been here the entire time and will be here after I leave.

I went for an awesome daytrip around the island:climbed the volcano, swam in hot springs, had a fantastic lunch of octopus, swordfish, & lamb skewers, and watched the amazing sunset over Ioa. It also included a terrifying donkey ride, thanks to good old fashioned peer pressure. :)

I've spent countless hours on the beach and by the pool, working on my tan. My family would be surprised to hear that I have not burned, and that I'm actually pretty tan. I'm going to look super bronzed in all those awesome family pics we'll be taking when we're together in Munich.

I've also spent a lot of time on my 4-wheeler. Here on the island it is what everyone drives around. Its perfect to get you to the beach or through town. I loved it when it got me home in 2 minutes after working all night. It also took me to the bakery everyday for a small pizza (all dough) or a cheese pie. Damn you bakery...I've driven my 4-wheeler all around this island: Perissa, Fira, Oia, and everywhere inbetween. Its also thanks to my 4 wheeler that I had to wear the dorkiest helmet all around. Look closely, it has sharks on it. yeah, the jerk at the bike shop gave me a child's helmet with sharks on it. Thanks buddy.

Greece is the most amazing place ever. Tonight is my going-away party at the bar I worked at, and we're all going out for one last crazy night in Santorini before we all get back to traveling...

Working-class gypsy: moving up in the world

    Not much to update everyone with...I have made it through 5 days of work so far. This job is easy and hard at the same time. The first couple of days were easy for promoting because I already had hostel friends that I'd been going out drinking with before I got the job, so they all came out to support me. (which made me look good to my boss, bringing in huge groups of heavy drinkers) but it was a little more challenging getting to know the Greek way of serving and fumbling around with change (yeah, give the foreigner a money bag and expect her to make change really fast when really, she thinks it's MONOPOLY MONEY). But then last night was really slow in terms out amount of people in, which made me feel like I hadn't done a good enough job promoting during the day. It was really hard trying to promote during the day knowing that I had to be back in to work at 9pm, and that Im getting paid the same every day, no matter how many extra hours of promoting I put in. 

In better news (or worse?) my coffee addiction is back! :) 

Since last night was slow, around 1am I got a glass of wine and sat down to chat with a couple (prob about my parents age) that had just come in. They were in town for a wedding, and they were the sweetest people ever! They asked me all kinds of questions about traveling alone and the whole hostel thing. I learned about their18 year old son who's going away to college and the mom is all freaked out about him being 45 min away. I found out that they have been like everywhere, literally. They go to Dubai all the time (cause it's their favorite) and have a house in Spain as well as Manchester. (they're from england) As they left they gave me a 100 euro tip to go towards my travels :) 

I'm starting to look into flights to Amsterdam, maybe meeting up with the family there before heading to Munich. I'm afraid to make travel plans to far in advance in case they decide they don't need another waitress anymore and cut me loose. If they do that then I'll be going up to the mainland right away, rather than waiting until Oktoberfest time. 

But even with my new job, life is pretty good here on the island :) 

Santorini

I got a job!!! I'm waitressing at a bar in downtown Perissa. I promote during the day, which means that I hand out fliers while I'm on the beach or doing whatever I'm doing during the day, then I show up at around 8 pm and stand at the door bringing people in until we get busy and I help wait tables. I get paid a flat fee every day, as long as I deliver and bring people in. Last night was my first night and all my hostel friends came to support me so I had a couple of large groups in there, along with some random people that I picked up off the street too. It went pretty well :) it's not exactly rocket science and it gives me a chance to talk to tons of people, so I'm happy (so far) doing it. I get paid in cash since I don't have a work visa, and they also give me a few drinks throughout the night. I'm going today to look at an apartment, they have tons of studios that you share with someone else and its only 10 euros a night. That way I'll have a fridge and it'll be my own little place. If things go well, I'll be here until the end of September working. Then I'll meet the family up in Munich and continue traveling after that! I've met some really cool people here that do the same thing that I'm doing, so I'm having a lot of fun! Plus it's nice to know that I can live off of what I make in a day, so my bank account will stay the same until I get to Munich. 

I'm headed off to the beach now, I'm going to lay out then walk around and meet some people, try to get them into the bar tonight :) 

I'll post pictures on facebook once I get a little apartment!    

Mykonos & Santorini

How do I accurately explain Mykonos? It's like Cancun,Mexico during spring break. Replace the horny frat guys with aggressive metrosexual Italians and you've got it! I was only there for 2 nights and that was enough...the hostel, or should I say campsite, was like a prison room. Just 8 beds in a hut (if you don't believe me check facebook!) But the beach parties were fun and I really can't complain about my time there. When I left for Santorini I was happy, I def needed some relaxing beach time rather than the alcohol induced rendezvous on the beach that everyone else seemed to be aiming for.

I arrived on the ferry in Santorini to a virtually empty harbor. It was about 9:30 pm and gone were the taxis and buses that I had seen in Mykonos and was expecting here. All the tourist offices and restaurants along the port were closed, and all I could see was one road snaking up from the port into the mountains that surrounded me. I was thinking about how log that walk was gonna be when I was stopped by an old Greek couple who asked if I needed a ride to Fira (the closest town) sidenote: I usually think that when you get into a strangers car you are inviting them to kill you, but have been told by everyone I've met that this is an American problem I have, and people here are nice. Still skeptical, I hop into their car for a ride to Fira to catch a bus to my hostel. Turns out grams and gramps run a hostel in town and wanted me to stay there. I tried explaining that already had one and just needed the ride, but coincidentally that's when her English became "no good." unfortunately my bag was in the trunk so I couldn't just peace outta there when we got to Fira, terrified they'd run away with my bag, so I paid them the rip off rate of 15 euros they demanded and got the hell outta there (with my bag) another 15 euro CAB ride later and I was at my hostel around 11:30pm. This all made me appreciate how smoothly all my other travel days have gone.

I've set up shop here for now. I have a black sand beach within 5 min, the town of Perissa is also 5 min away, and the hostel has a pool! I'm staying for 10 days an negotiated my rate down to 15 euros a night (originally 25 euros) so I'm not having too hard a time sticking to my budget. So far its been relaxing beach & pool days, some drinking mixed in with that as well :) the owners of the hostel are Greek-American, meaning mom is American, dad is Greek, daughter is fluent in both languages and is a lucky 20 year old who gets to escape Michigan and spend her summers in Santorini. It's easy to start to feel like a local around her with this crowd. Tomorrow I'm taking an all day boat tour to the volcano and hot springs and then to watch the sunset. I'm sure I'll have amazing pictures after that! Then for the next 4 or 5 days I'm going to rent a scooter and ride from beach to beach around this island, checking out every little town. THIS is the kind of place I could stay a while. So cross your fingers that someone is looking for a waitress or bar back ;)

♥RG

Mykonos, Greece

Hey everyone!

I just hopped the ferry this morning from Athens to Mykonos (on of the Greek islands) I'll be here for at least a couple more nights, but knowing me I'll probably extend that... :) internet is expensive here, I had to pay 8 euros for a strawberry daiquiri to get an internet password. But I do love those daiquiris....mykonos is the total party island, and the beach I'm on is the cancun of the island. I don't know when the next time I'll be able to get online is, so it could be a bit till you hear from me again. But I think I'll be ok here on the islands. Something tells me with the sun and booze I'll be a happy camper.....

Athens, Greece

I love how cities can be so small sometimes ♥ Genevieve and I ran into about a dozen people from the overnight train from Madrid to Lisbon while we were out drinking last night. Which sidenote: I love how you can get drinks to go and just stand in the street drinking, it's like big outdoor party. I am SO tired of smoky bars so it was a nice change. But anyway Gen and I ran into tons of people we knew from the train, and i love what a vagabond community backpackers have. And, for the first time, met someone from Portland! It was definitely a night of multiple "small world" events. 

I would also like to let everyone know that i made it to the Lisbon airport in one piece. It was actually very uneventful. Soon after I posted my last entry I looked up the metro times online to find out that it doesn't actually open up till 6:30am, so I had no other choice but to take a cab. I didn't sleep, although I probably could have, since I sat in an empty airport after getting to the airport at 5:05 and getting through security by 5:20....the trip only cost me 10 euros, which wasn't as bad as I expected, yayyyy! I weighed my bag when I got to the airport, I totally had weight anxiety. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of traveling with me when I bring my large pink suitcase, it can definitely surpass the 50lb mark....so I usually end up throwing a couple pairs of jeans into my dad or brothers suitcase :) if I don't go over, I kid you not, I am within like half a pound. So with this shaky airline suitcase past you can imagine my unease when tossing my backpack on the scale while checking in. The limit is 33kg, and guess what I was at? 20! Hah! I win! 

I'm trying to keep my flying anxiety at bay while thinking about how excited I am for Greece! I'm staying in Athens for 3 nights, and in that time I'll figure out my next move. I'm hoping the locals will help me pick the beautiful yet affordable islands for some island hopping :) Ill keep you posted, but Im assuming Internet service will be spotty once i head for the islands...don't worry I'll find an Internet cafe so that you know I'm alive. 


I never realized how much I love trains. More specifically, how much I love NOT flying. I'm what people call a "nervous flier." I freak people out with my assumption that I am going to die on the plane. By people I mean my brother Craig, because he's the one who always got the full force of it. During take off from Lisbon to Barcelona this morning I was surprised at how my fear seemed almost intensified since I became used to travel without being up in the air. Plus is was a smaller plane, which I hate because then you feel everything. This second flight's take off was great...I'm almost throwing up from nerves and the guy next to me is saying a prayer and doing the sign of the cross. Thanks for making it worse buddy.

Got to athens, limited Internet, leaving for Mykonos on Sunday (already bought my 6 hour ferry ticket) I'm going there with a friend, meeting some other people I met in the hostel last night who got to Mykonos today. We've booked accommodation on Sunday night, but then on Monday the four of us are going to try to go in on one nicer room. The thing about these islands is that it's so expensive, it's still going to be at least 15 euro for the night when we split it. My only rule is that i won't sleep on a beach. Other than that I'm game for anything. 

Signing off, going to the Acropolis to take photos. There's also supposed to be some good hiking around here, so I'm going to scout it out then return tomorrow morning (before the temperature hits 100...yeah, it's 35degrees Celsius here right now)   

♥RG

Siestas in Lisbon

My day in Lisbon was AMAZING! I got up fairly early, for me, and went out to the Castle of S. Jorge, an old castle up on the hill overlooking the city. After the longest ticket line ever, I got into the castle grounds. It was so beautiful up there, you can see from my photos that you can see the entire city from up there! I spent about an hour walking around the castle and then finally into it (and up it!) it was a super relaxing morning. After lunch I we decided to see the rest if the city by tram (they look exactly like the ones in San Fran) it was like a freaking roller coaster going through the city on that thing!! I though we were gonna break down trying to get up some of those hills. Nothing too exciting has happened today aside from normal sight seeing stuff :)

Now do you want to hear how stupid i am? During lunch I decided to look at my email confirmation for my flight tomorrow, you know, to see what time I leave and all. (remember I'm going to Athens tomorrow?!) well it turns out I was on crack when I made the reservation.. Yep. Cause My flight leaves at 7:39am. Crack is the only reasonable explanation. Why else would I book a flight so that I have to be at the airport at 5;30AM???!! Oh, and the best part is, the airport shuttle doesn't start running until 6:30am. Hmmm I'm a really good planner huh? I think I'm so used to trains, when you get there 20 min before it leaves, that I forgot planes are different. Plus I'm in Portugal. And the metro doesn't run to the airport. (seriously lisbon what's up with that?) so now you're probably wondering what my plan is, seeing as I have to be AT the airport all bright eyed and bushy tailed by 5:30am. I'm Just not going to sleep. I'm still partially in Spain time, meaning I can't fall asleep before 2 am (and yes, I still siesta) so another couple hours awake shouldn't be too hard. There is no way I'm catching a cab from the hostel to the airport, it would be at least 20 euros. So I'm taking the metro halfway, to a big plaza, and then I'll try to catch a cab from there. I'm going to allow myself a lot of time to find a cab, but in case none are passing by when I'm out there, there are a few hotels in the plaza so plan B involves me asking them to call me a cab. This plan is foolproof right? Errrrr let's hope so :) the best part is that it's all going down at like 4:30 in the morning.

If all goes according to plan I'll be in athens, Greece at 3pm tomorrow!

♥RG

Madrid & Leaving Spain for now...

So to wrap up San sebastian....really cool little town, pretty good pub crawl, met some nice people, went on a hike, hung out. I was just there for2 days, and it was a nice break after the craziness of Barc!

So after San Sebastian I took a train to Madrid! I was staying at a pretty cool hostel called Cats Hostel, which had a really cool common room and a bar in the basement. While on the train to Madrid i rediscovered a useful app on my iPad...its a subway app that has like all major city's metro maps! So before I even got off the train I knew where we would be arriving and what metro stop was closest to my hostel. (seriously that little thing has saved me!)

As I walk in to my hostel In Madrid I run into a friend that I met while in Barcelona! It's been interesting traveling alone, and on every train ride to the next city i prepare myself to meet all new people again....so I was pretty pumped to see my favorite Indian friend sitting in the common room! Madrid was crazy....that night i did the pub crawl (su

rprise surprise right?) we went to Kapital, the largest club in Madrid. It was CRAZY awesome. Let's just say the night started with Tequila shots and ended with an hour long journey to find a chocolateria at 6am. (oh don't worry-we did find it) apparently spanish people enjoy dipping churros into chocolate after a late night o

f drinking. We have that in common. We simply refer to this night as "tequila night" when talking about it, and I most definitely met some of the coolest people that night. Hopefully I'll run into them again, and one of them decided to come to Lisbon with me!
As you can see from my Facebook photos, I spent a couple days simply walking around the city, and also took the free walking tour to learn more about the city.On Sunday i went to the Prado Museum to see some sweet Spanish art, which

was cool. Monday I went to another museum with more contemporary Spanish art, also really fun. The museums in Madrid are huge!!

Monday night I took the night train to Lisbon. And no, I didn't splurge for the sleeper car, because I'm poor. It left Madrid at 10:30pm and got into Lisbon (Portugal) at 7:30am, so i Also saved a nights sleep at a hostel! The best part about this is that I made an Aussie friend (tequila night) while in Madrid and she ended up booking a train to Lisbon as well! She's a solo traveler, like me, with no itinerary. After this she's staying in Spain for the rest of the month, but we're traveling Lisbon together for the next couple days.
Full disclosure, I have only wanted to go to Lisbon since They went there on the last Bachelorette. Ali and Roberto danced in the street, and I was sold. Plus obviously it looked like an amazing city, and it is....

Ok people, LISBON IS BEAUTIFUL! I think it's more beautiful than Madrid, which is saying a lot because I loved Madrid. Its not as cleaned up, I don't feel like there are tourist traps around every corner and I don't see as many tourists. It's as beautiful as Madrid without feeling like you're in a big city. It's a European version of San Francisco, with a fake golden gate bridge and all! We had a beach day today, so I don't have many pictures, but I'm going all around tomorrow to take pictures! We went to a beach today in a neighboring town, which was good except Sidenote: I am now burnt like a lobster

after falling asleep on the beach today...I was doing so well with the whole sunscreen thing up until now. At least I put some on my face, but then I smeared it down on ONE side of my neck a little without thinking, so now I look like I have a skin condition. Yeah. It's really pretty, look forward to that in the photos...
Tomorrow I'm waking up early and going exploring! I'll try to post photos tomorrow night when I get back in, maybe during my siesta (which is a habit that is turning out to be reeeeally hard to break.)

♥RG

San Sebastian aka a Ralph ad

San Sebastian

Hello wonderful place! As soon as I stepped out of the train I could smell the sea, it was great! San Sebastian is in North Eastern Spain on the coast up there. It's a beach town with a lot of great surfing. And, fun fact, apparently it is also a giant Ralph Lauren advertisement! But more on that later. The weather is a lot like Portland, which is refreshing after Nice and Barcelona, where it got up to 100 degrees in the afternoon. And by "like Portland" I mean it's cloudy and you can never tell what time of day it is, but yet it's still an ok temp (probably warmer than Portland's cloudy days) and its nice to walk around. 

So you can imagine how happy I was as I walked through town looking for my hostel, passing all these well dressed people clearly on vacation. My kind if clothes, my kind of temperature, and hell I can pretend I'm on a lavish vacation too! (and before you roll your eyes remember that I am in a very strict budget over here!!) I can wear clothes that make me appear moments away from going sailing, and there is nothing I like more than a nice boy in a pair of madras shorts with some loafers. Oh, and did I mention, everyone here is French. It's perfect! The children are dressed like little people (again think Ralph Lauren and j. Crew's kid line, Crew Cuts) I saw little matching boys wearing bright red loafers. Don't worry, I got photos! I have a feeling that many of these well dressed men and batting for the other team, I mean there is no way that THAT many attractive and well dressed guys and straight. I'll confirm this theory later. 

I feel like there is also something i need to clear up about Europe and fashion. When Europeans dress up, they DRESS UP. Like when girls want to be fashionable they go all out and their outfits are flawless. And it's even worse if they're French because they're twigs to start with. BUT the flip side of that is that the other 80% of the population couldn't care less what they wear. I really need to start taking pictures, cause there have been multiple occasions that I have resisted the urge to slap people. Come on, have a little self respect and look in the freaking mirror before leaving the house!! I understand the off day, I love my spandex pants just as much as the next person, but there is no way that THAT many people are having bad days every day. Soooo after getting all excited from the sight of designer jeans paired with lightweight cardigans and embellished flats, you can imagine what I did as soon as I got to my room in the hostel. (which again, thank you iPad for telling me where the hell I am) yes, I pulled out my classic white Ralph Lauren polo to pair with my Hudson's to take a leisurely stroll (to my sailboat?) around the town. For three weeks I have been meticulous about my shampoos and products being in sealed bags JUST IN CASE they happen to leak all over my ONLY polo shirt and get a mysterious black mark across the front. Yes, that would happen to me. Don't worry, i'm going to fix this, and will have photos of me around town looking like all these rich French people. No, correction, these rich French people will be IN my photos because they will recognize me as a friend (thanks to the argyle that I will be pulling off: note to self buy argyle) and immediately invite me sailing with them. 

Oh, and now Im all stressed out because I have to figure out a way to get rich enough to not only buy two vacation houses (french riviera and now San Sebastian) BUT I will have to outfit my entire family in Ralph Lauren. Although I think we all know that last part is going to happen either way. :)

        ♥RG

Barcelona

So what to say about Barcelona? For those who have been there before while under the age of 25 I'll just pause. Yeah. For those who haven't, I'll try to paint a picture with some of my experiences...first off I had to get on Barcelona time. Thankfully was there for 8 nights, so I had plenty of time. I stayed at the famous hostel (a really good hostel chain) called Kabul for the last 6 nights. This is the kind of place that you don't expect to sleep. Turns out i slept a lot, just during the day. Happy hour at the hostel bar is from 10 to 11 pm, and is two for one beers. So for 2 euros you get 1 liter of beer. Sounds like a disaster huh? We would drink until about 12:30am, then the girls would run upstairs so we could put our going out clothes on. Then everyone would leave for the club at 1:45am. The hostel people take the group out every night, they have a different club for each day of the week. When you go out with them it's usually free cover and you don't have to wait in line, so its a sweet deal. The nights that I went out I wouldn't get back to the hostel until about 5am. I would wake up at about 1pm, usually feeling like it HAD to be super early, maybe 10am. Wrong every time. But now thanks to living Barcelona time I understand the whole siesta concept. I would usually go to the beach after waking up, grabbing breakfast on the way. Getting back to the hostel around 5pm from the beach would leave time for a siesta before beginning to get ready for the next night at around 9pm. See what I mean about Barcelona time? They're on their own schedule..

As promised, I did take some cultural days off from clubbing, and got a chance to walk around to all the Gaudi buildings. He's a famous architect from Barcelona that created very interesting and crazy buildings. He died before completing his cathedral, which is the one that every takes pictures of when they're there. I also spent a couple hours in the Picasso museum, which was definitely worth it. It features Picasso's early work, beginning when he was only 15. Since he's from Barcelona, they spend a lot of time talking about how their city inspired him. There are a lot of sketches there too; it was cool seeing his rough drafts next to the actual paintings. It was a really cool museum. 

I'm kind of happy to be leaving Barcelona, on my way to San Sebastian now! I didn't sleep last night since my train left at 7:30am, so I would have had to wake up at 6:00am. I took a quick nap, but didn't really sleep, actually kinda hilarious my roommates were just getting back when I was leaving :) can't wait for my next town!

Things i learned in Barcelona:
1. Siesta is awesome
2. They sell birds on the street, WTF?
3. A vodka/red bull in a club costs 10 euros
4. There is such thing as bad paella in Spain
5. They have 3-story McDonalds, and it's cool to eat-in

    

Into the great wide open

Sorry guys, the hostel here is playing the entire Tom petty catalog so I'm a little jacked up on petty tunes. I never realized how he makes me think of America....

So I'm in Barcelona now! As i mentioned before, it took allll day to get here. We almost missed the last connection which, coincidentally, was the last train of the day to Barcelona. That would have been a fun night...but I got here in one piece, and I found my hostel pretty easily. Turns out it was in a residential area, like an apartment turned into a hostel. Not sketch at all haha...

I spent the first couple days just walking around and exploring, not necessarily going to any of the renowned buildings or museums or anything. I did go see the magic fountain, which is a really cool fountain that goes off synchronized with music every night. But of course the night that I decide to go it is also the opening of the European Olympic games. 3 hours later I finally got to see the fountain in action, and it's def cool.at the hostel, I met a columbian girl who lives In Normandy, France, and is open to let me stay in her spare bedroom for a month, maybe in November, which would be perfect. I can save some money and be in a place to learn French, which is def something i want to do if I have the opportunity! I'll update you on that when we get in touch again.

Today I woke up, grabbed a smoothie, and went down to the beach. I'm def burned, I just got so excited to be on the beach! I came back and had a nice siesta before showering and getting ready to go out. Tomorrow I'm going to the Picasso museum, which I've heard is really good!

I love how late everything starts here! The hostel that I'm staying at now (the apartment one was only the first 2 nights) has a different club each night that they offer free entry for, and everyone leaves the hostel together to go there. They LEAVE the hostel at 1:45am. Yeah. That is why these people need siestas! Tonight I'm going to the pub crawl, then tomorrow I'll probably go out to the club-of-the-night. I had such a relaxing vacation week in Nice, so I'm excited to go out like every night that I'm here! 

I'll write again in a couple days after I've cultured myself a little, to even out my drinking stories. :)          

Au revoir Nice

Today is my last day on the Riviera, I'm heading to Barcelona tomorrow! While I've been here I have: laid out on the rocky beach of Nice, taken a day trip to Cannes, snorkeled in Antibes, had a run in with the French police (turns out they're not as liberal with male nudity as they are female), read a book, and just hung out relaxing.

I definitely want a summer house here when I grow up and become super rich. (don't worry Craig, I'll let your family rent out my house for a discounted rate) it's so beautiful and the people are pretty nice as well. Everyones on vacation, which made it really easy to slip into vacation mode and relax.

Something I have learned in my travels so far: twilight brings people together. Like a week ago I decided to rent New Moon from iTunes, so I downloaded it and everything then I couldn't find it!! I figured maybe you couldn't rent movies on the ipad like you can on your computer. A couple nights ago i was playing around w my ipad and I found it! So me and two aussies I met decided we were going to watch it in the dorm room, so we put the ipad up on a railing and sat in our beds and started watching. Then two other room mates came in, both from Sweden I think, and they sat on their beds watching it as well. Then the Dutch boy from our room crammed in the beds as well to watch it. It was a multicultural slumber party in here thanks to Twilight. Doesn't matter what language you speak, turns out everyone can communicate team Edward or team Jacob.

Sometimes I have trouble communicating where from the states I'm from. Saying "above California" doesn't work, because then people just nod enthusiastically and say oooooh California! They miss the whole "above" part. Then they assume I am used to hot weather, which we all know I am not. I think Oregon should change their state slogan to "Oregon: the state in between California and where they shot Twilight" because thats pretty must how i have to explain it to foreigners.

Alright well tomorrow I'm on a train at 8:35am on my way to Barcelona. The direct train was fully booked so I'm taking 4 different trains to arrive in Barcelona at 10:52 pm. Yes, that's 14 hours of travel. :) but from what I hear it's going to be totally worth it!! Let me me know if you have any recommendations on what to do while I'm there!

♥RG

French Riviera

So I left London feeling like total crap thanks to my cold. (which now that I'm thinking about it makes sense, I did run around Amsterdam one day in the pouring rain in shorts and a tank top) London itself wasn't expensive, but getting in and out of london was the most I've spent on travel aside from my eurail pass. Even with my pass, to get to London the booking fee was at least 100 euros, and they limit the days and train times that eurail passes are good for. Getting out of London, If I wanted to use my pass to leave I would have had to wait another3 days and still pay like 70 euros which I didn't want to wait for, especially since I had booked a hostel in Nice, France already. Bleh. Honestly I just wanted to get out of there!

The train ride was a total of 9 hours down to Nice, and thanks to standby seats and babies I didn't sleep more than a combined 30 minutes. The funniest thing about the train ride though, was that my college french teacher was a couple rows behind me! It is such a small world! She was coming to Nice for a couple weeks to take some classes on teaching French, I guess to stay current. 

Nice has turned out to be exactly what the doctor ordered. I never thought id be so happy to be in a place where you sweat just sitting down in the shade. It's like a detox. My throat started feeling better right away and all my other symptoms disappeared, it was great! I went to the beach for my first full day here, and I posted pictures on Facebook. This place is BEAUTIFUL! I got a beach towel and just laid in the sun for an hour by the sea. Sidenote for anyone who has never been on vacation with me: I have a tendency to sit in the sun for hours on my first day of vacation trying to achieve the perfect dark tan. All that happens is I burn like a lobster and then I'm super grumpy and uncomfortable the rest of the vacation. It's practically tradition. You would be happy to know that I limited myself to an hour of sunbathing, which was perfect because I still ended up a little pink. (this polish skin doesn't understand sunshine) 

Later in the night I went out to dinner with a group of new friends, and then we grabbed a few bottles of wine and went down to the beach. We laid on the beach for a bit and then went in for a midnight swim. No big deal but it was so pretty out at night! On the way back to the hostel I walked past one of THE best conversations I have ever overheard. Ever. There were 3 American guys and 3 French girls. The American guys were just tell the girls what they were studying in school. They said they were computer science majors, and the girls literally started giggling and in flirty voices were like oh you guys are soooo smart that's soooo cool. If I didn't think the girls would have found it suspicious, I would have high fived those guys right there. I mean they weren't bad looking, but they weren't particularly attractive either. And they had girls giggling and flirting because of their computer science degrees. Hahahahaha

So the awesome thing about Nice is that I'm so close to other small beach towns. I can take a short train ride (like 30 min or less I think) to Cannes or Monaco, which is what I'm planning on doing the next couple of days. I don't know where I'm going after this, but I don't think it will be too far away from here!           

Ps: what day of the week is it? Nevermind, I don't even care!

....and on to London!

So Amsterdam....among the things I did while there, aside from walking around and exploring was to visit the anne frank museum. It's really cool, it's a tour through the actual house that Anne frank hid in as well as her actual diary! Since I'm pretty sure everyone knows who Anne frank is and has read her diary, you can imagine how powerful the museum is.

I did visit the red light district on my last night in town, which was crazy. Definitely a must see in Amsterdam....it's so crazy that there are so many prostitutes! There must be a market...but it was def a culture shock.

I'm now in London for the weekend, which has been really fun. I went out for drinks next door to the hostel last night and met some people. I started to get a sore throat on the train from Amsterdam to London, and I woke up this morning feeling really sick... :( I went on the free walking tour today for about 4 hours, which gave me the perfect opportunity to see all the hot spots and listen to some history as well. I came right back to the hostel afterwards and bought tons of water and put on my stretchy paints (duh I brought my lululemons) Im about to take some aleve and read my book until this headache/body ache goes away. Ps I have read 3 full books since I've been here, which is probably more than I read (for fun) all through college. Don't judge me that 2 of the books were Chelsea Handler books :) they're still books!!!!

Tomorrow I'm going to the train station to see when I can get a ticket to Nice, my next stop. From there I'll be ready for Spain :) I'm hoping to feel better enough for the pub crawl tonight, but I may have to put that off till next time...

First impressions of Amsterdam

Ok guys I made it to amsterdam! I got to my hostel, checked in, and then went out to explore...I definitely have some first impressions...

So public transit here is really easy. And free today since they are (still) celebrating 2nd place world cup. Which by the way, i didnt even realize it was ok to come in 2nd or 3rd...and that its something to celebrate. Hasnt anyone ever told them that if you aint first you last?! Anyway, it was free and easy to get to my hostel. I think the Portland strreetcar drivers should take lessons from these tram drivers...Sorry to keep making references to harry potter, but the tram driver must have thought we were on the night bus or something, I almost threw up from the stop and go. But we did get there super fast...

After stashing my bags I went out to explore, basically just following the people and lights. Holy hell let me tell you what I found. And I'm gonna preface this by saying I now love this town and feel more at home than I have in any other city this trip. First off bars for days, with outdoor seating and looooud music. Keep in mind this is a small European street that is flooded with people under the age of 30, probably 80% wearing bright orange. Everyone is clearly drunk or high,wearing very little clothing, and chowing down on burger king. Yes, in the middle of this picturesque bar street, there is a BK (open late of course) with probably 50 people inside and out chowing down on whoppers. The streets were littered with little orange flags and beer cans, and I was offered free shots by multiple clubs as I walked by. How do I say this in an appropriate way? This place was like walking into a frat party at 11pm and realizing that the party is well underway, yet everyone seems to want to you get drunk as quick as possible to catch up. Its an attitude of, "were drunk, but we wish you were too, so come join." People were making out in the street, and I'm pretty sure i saw a woman puke and rally in an alley. These are my people.

Now I may be eating my words later, but these Danish guys look like total bros. Frat boys, and they're all tall. Although I'm only in Amsterdam for 3 nights, I have a feeling this wont be the last time i see this place. I've been here for mere hours and I'm already getting sad about the prospect of ever leaving.

I'll be walking around tomorrow taking tons of pictures :) ps Keith and Katie: get excited!!

Paris Part 2 & the World Cup

So I finally got back to Paris! Since I've been here before, I didn't feel like I had to go to all the tourist spots again, which left plenty of time to hang out. I ended up in a shitty part of town the first two nights thanks to last minute bookings, which ended up not all that bad cause I met some cool people. Instead of rushing from museum to museum, I walked leisurely around Paris with no watch aka no sense of time and no purpose.

Sidenote: I thought I was going to miss my blackberry more, and sometimes I get the urge to send a text, but its also really really freeing to know that no one can get a hold of me and ruin my fun. As if one of my jobs is going to call and ask me to come in, or someone is going to remind me of a school assignment due tomorrow. Nope, not gonna happen :)

I decided last minute that I wanted to watch the world cup game at the Eiffel tower (along with everyone else and their mom). I got in, got a spot on the lawn, and then drank 2 beers while waiting for the game to begin. I sat next to this really nice young couple from Saudi Arabia that were fresh off a cruise and we chatted while waiting for the game to start. Let me tell you a couple things I learned at this world cup thing... 1: spain fans are legitimately crazy. 2: people take this game way too seriously and 3: security really isn't a good as it should be.

About 70 minutes into the game Spain fans got a little bored and decided to light some shit on fire. At first it was the occasional firecracker, which would result in the SWAT team (yes in full gear) to chase them through the place and tackle them. No big deal. Then they started lighting these crazy red sparklers and throwing them over the fence into where I was sitting. There is only one way I can explain it. Remember in Harry potter when everyone was having fun at the quidditch world cup then the death eaters started shooting their signals outta their wands? Yeah. That's what this was like. The first one was like ok, kinda scary that this ball of fire came right at me, but they have good security around here. Oh, another ball of fire? Sweet. Again? This time almost lighting the beer stand in fire? People started freaking out. Then the SWAT team was everywhere. yeah, you would have thought that voldemort was back. Dont worry tho, things calmed down for like 5 minutes. Then, everyone on our side of the lawn started getting up (blocking our view of the screen) covering their noses and mouths, and running away. Hmmm. One more gust of wind and we quickly figured it out: teargas. Those Spanish bitches had our eyes watering and mouths burning as we gave up our spot on the lawn to run to another part of the crowd. I watched the end of the game standing up in the back, and then got to watch Spain fans go freakin crazy when they eventually won. Longest night ever, and in my opinion, that sport is definitely not worth it!

After the game I wandered around the Latin quarter with some people, and ended up in a very familiar bar....turns out Joe and I were there 2 years ago. It made me realize how awesome that trip was, and how that week is how I will always remember Paris. Nothing I can do will ever top it, and I wouldn't want it to. I remember Paris as I saw it 2 years ago: my first time to Europe, by myself, meeting the coolest people from all over the world. It was that week in Paris that made me want to have this trip so badly, and that's when I began planning my return to backpacking. Fun fact: the bar we went to 2 years ago has tons of photos that people gave to the bartender to post up. Most of them are passport photos, some new & some clearly very old. The photo of Joe, signed "Jim bob and maryjane" on the back, is still up there from when we drunkenly put it up 2 years ago. <3>

Frankfurt: the real city of love

So turns out Frankfurt doesn't have much to do.

After watching Germany lose I went back to the hostel and pretty much fell asleep. Good thing I was so Tired, I only woke up s couple of times thinking there was an air raid going on. Turns out it was just really happy Spanish people. If that is what a night of partying sounds like for winning a soccer game while in the opposing teams country, I don't think I could have even handled it if Germany had won....

I woke up at like 6 am yesterday ready to go, and ended up spending the day exploring Frankfurt. Not too much to explore. My new friend and I passed by Germans drink wine from a wine stand on the street at like noon, and of course joined in. I wish I had a picture of the glass, they're not messing around with their pours, he filled the glass all the way to the top! We walked around the rest of the day, joined in at a little kid carnival (they had bouncy houses!) and took a paddle boat out on the water. Sidenote: swans are huge!!!

I had already decided earlier in the morning that I was going to push up my departure day and leave for Paris today instead of Saturday. So yesterday was my one and only full day in Frankfurt, which is perfect cause we pretty much saw everything. It was the perfect day to be outside, it was so sunny and warm!! Just like how Portland is when we actually have beautiful days. Around 4pm we stopped at a corner wine shop and grabbed a couple bottles of rose for the park. Finding a wine shop in franfurt is not hard by the way, they have them on every corner. And I really mean every corner. Everyone has to be drunk on wine all the time to sustain all those businesses. Right? Anyway, killing 4 bottles of wine in a park with cute American frat boy was a great, although very very hazy, ending to my one day in frankfurt.

Now I'm on to Paris!! My train leaves in 40 min and will put me in Paris at 1pm. This is the best vacation ever by the way. Ever.

<3>

Day One

Lesson number one: Navigating German trains is way easier when you're with your German speaking dad. Somehow, still trying to figure that one out, I made it to downtown Frankfurt and quickly walked to my hostel. I'm sweating, my back hurts, and i want to rip these boots from my feet since it's so freakin hot here compared to Portland!! But I did get myself a Becks and Its slowly starting to sink in where I am. Umm Germany!!! Check in is officially at 2pm, and it's only 1:30 here so I stashed my bag in the storage room (where I was pleased and surprised to see a travel pack even bigger than mine) until I can get to my room and change into, brace yourself, SHORTS! Can't wait to clean up and explore-- then watch some soccer! I didn't sleep more than 2 hours on my flight out, so I'm gonna be so ready to sleep tonight. Next time I fly out here I am sooooo paying double for a sleeper compartment thingy. I ended up next to a man going to Greece to visit family who apparently didn't own a pair of headphones, so we all got to listen to his movie all night. Super fun! That brings me back to those sleeper compartments....I pretty much stared at that section with longing for 9 hours. But that's over, and I'm here in the city and ready to go out!! And you know what i realized on that plane ride? Chances are even tho I'm not in Munich, these pubs are gonna have some bomb pretzels! Woooo go Germany!!!

I am so ready for the next 5 1/2 months!

What is a Rogue Gypsy?

Wtf is a Rogue Gypsy and why the hell am I calling myself one?!

Rogue (noun): a playfully mischievous person; scamp; vagabond.

Gypsy (noun): a person resembling a gypsy in a traditionally ascribed freedom or inclination to move from place to place.

Since I just busted my ass to the man for the last 4 years of college (not to mention the 12 years of education leading up to that) I've decided to unleash my inner hippie and celebrate in the best way possible: backpacking Europe solo for 6 months. I'm ready to trade in my pencil skirts and blazers for a headscarf and foreign men. I have no plans and no itinerary. I may have travel companions from time to time (my brother will be in Florance for the semester, and my parents are flying out for Oktoberfest) but for majority of the trip I'll be making new friends in each city. My desire to move from city to city and explore is matched only by my need for crazy foreign adventures with strangers. ROGUE GYPSY

In case you're wondering, I'm officially taking the word rogue back from Sarah Palin, and claiming it as my own.

The countdown begins--I leave July 6th for Frankfurt!! I'm taking a backpack, a Eurail pass, and an iPad. I have less than 2 weeks to tie up all loose ends and pretty much pack my life into a backpack. Although I'll be posting photos on Facebook, whenever I hit a new city I'll be coming on here to update you guys with my new location and new stories :) So make sure you bookmark this shit!

♥RG