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...