Preparing for Rwanda

I can't believe I'm headed off to Rwanda tomorrow night. Time has gone by so fast and it sucks that it's already time to leave. Lugano has become home and everyone has become family and these past two months have been incredible. We're all packing now (we have to packed by 10pm tomorrow - we're leaving for the airport at 2am) and it's horrible to watch as our rooms become more and more empty. I know the adventure's not over yet, but it's still so sad to be leaving Europe.

However, on the other hand, I am so pumped for Rwanda. The Rwanda groups is splitting into two small groups, and I'm starting off the in Kigali for the first two weeks to discuss entrepreneurship with university students. I will probably have at least some internet connection because Kigali is the capital and because we'll be on the university campus a lot. The next two weeks, the groups switch and I'm going to Nyamyumba, a small southern village. Here, we'll be teaching primary and secondary school children English, as well as working on agricultural terraces and building houses. The last week, the entire Rwanda group will meet up again and we're going on an excursion to see memorials and national parks. I cannot wait to experience such a strong and unique country. This will definitely be a huge culture shock, but I'm just excited to explore and become more educated.

Here is an awesome video that is making me want to be in Rwanda now!

I'm still terrified that we'll bring too much Western culture with us which will negatively influence the students we will be working with, but I think it's just something I'll have to be super conscious of. I'm there to learn more than I am to teach.

Not sure when I'll be able to blog next, but I'll try and keep everything as updated as possible. If I don't get many chances to blog while I'm in Rwanda, I'll definitely be posting lots when I return to the States on December 10th. I'm already looking forward to being reunited with my family and friends, as well as everyone else here who went through this amazing journey with me.

Sláinte to Ireland!

This was our last weekend of travel before we head to Rwanda and I'm so glad we chose Ireland as our final destination. Although this was definitely one of my more expensive weekends and the furthest, Ireland completely blew me out of the water. I loved everything about everything.

I was also super excited because I hadn't done a lot of previous traveling with some of the girls going, so I was looking forward to hanging out with them. We flew into Dublin on Thursday night and went out to an awesome dinner at a place called O'Reilly's.  Most of us got three course meals. I got potato skins, fish and chips, and strawberry rhubarb crumble with coffee. It was so good and I was so full I couldn't even drink anything that night, which sucked, but we still went to some cool pubs afterwards.

The next day we went out to explore Dublin! We started our day off at a fruit and flower market and one of the vendors gave us free apples (I got a mango!) I swear everyone in Ireland is so nice - Abigail got a free haircut later that day. We walked around the city to see all the cathedrals and castles. The old architecture was so cool and I couldn't stop thinking about how much my architect friend Sasha would have loved it. We stopped to get food at a place called Queen of Tarts which had the best scones and cheesecake I've ever had. Megan and I soon got separated from the group (how typical) and went on our own lost adventure through the backstreets. We found this whole section behind a building covered in crazy graffiti and some guys who were there lent us some spray paint to paint our initials. After some more wandering and a lot of rain we ended up at the Museum of Modern Art and then finally made our way to meet up with everyone else at the Guinness Storehouse.

The Storehouse was so interesting. We learned the "right" way to taste a Guinness...though I just think drinking is the right way to taste a beer, and how it was made and I didn't do it, but some people learned how to pour the perfect pint. At the very top of the Storehouse was a 360 degree window room that overlooked all of Dublin where we got our free pint.

We then went to dinner at a place called The Hairy Lemon. I got shepard's pie with soda bread. Yum. We ended up not going out that night because we had to wake up super early the next day for our Galway and Cliffs of Moher tour.

It was a bus tour and I guess I didn't realize how much time we'd actually be spending on the bus. I thought it would be more like they'd drive us there and we could get out and walk around on our own, but it was more sitting than walking, which I was kind of disappointed in. I don't regret doing it obviously, but I don't think I'd really do a bus tour again. Our first stop was lunch in Doolin. We went to Doolin pier and the view was incredible...It felt so good to be near water again.

We saw some cool castles and some creepy ancient tombs...kind of cool, but I'm not into the whole graveyard, cemetery type thing. We finally got to the Cliffs of Moher and let me tell you, it was breathtaking. It was so windy and cold, but I loved every minute of looking over the cliffs and taking lots of photos.

So close to the edge!

We got back to Dublin pretty late and went to get Thai food and then pub hopping! The pubs in Ireland are so much fun - good beer and awesome live music. I think that's what I loved most about the pubs, the music. I wish we did more live music like that in the States...and I've decided that the only song that should ever be played is "Galway Girl." Got myself plenty of Guinness and had such a fun night. 

The next day we did some more wandering and shopping around the city. Kirsten and I had a fun little spontaneous adventure (if you follow me on any form of social media you know what I'm talking about) 15 minutes before we had to catch our bus to the airport. I love doing crazy random things like that. 

Seriously, Ireland was the perfect way to end my adventures in Europe. As cliche as it sounds, I know this whole trip has made me grow and mature so much, and it's not even close to being over yet. I'm heading off to Rwanda in two days (holy shit!), but I'll definitely do another post before I jet off again. 

La Vie en Rose

This is gonna be a long one, so step one, turn on some Beirut (maybe "Nantes" or really any song from the album "The Flying Club Cup" since it was all inspired by Paris), or even better, Louis Armstrong's version of "La Vie en Rose." Step two, read away.

If you recall, I went to Paris a few weeks ago for the Jimmy Buffet concert. We were there for less than 24 hours and while the concert was incredible, I was unimpressed with the city so I wasn't really looking forward to going back again. But I'm sure glad I did because Paris this time around was so much more than I expected.

We flew in Thursday night and didn't really do anything because we got in so late, but totally random! - This Australian guy I met at Oktoberfest three weeks ago was staying in the bunk below me in our hostel. How crazy is that? Such a small world.

Friday morning we got an early start. First, we went to Notre Dame. The architecture and stain glass windows were so cool. We walked around inside the church and initially I thought I would sit down and say something. I've never felt very comfortable in churches, but here I felt okay. I wasn't going to pray, just sit and think I guess. But by the time I had walked around a while I felt like it wasn't my place to do that. Not like I didn't belong, just like it wasn't the place for me to sit and think to a God I don't believe in. I was a little discouraged because I thought feeling comfortable in a church for the first time was maybe part of me growing and maturing. But then I realized, I don't need a sacred place to do that.  I can find whatever it is I'm looking for anywhere.

After leaving Notre Dame, we went to the lock bridge (or so we thought). Apparently there are many. We ended up taking a lot of pictures on one of the smaller ones, but finally made it to the real one. Although I wonder how many of those couples who locked their love onto that bridge are still together, it was still cool to be in a place where so much love was felt at least at that moment, if not forever.

Somehow Martha, Graham, and I got separated from everyone on the bridge so the rest of the day we spent just the three of us. We headed toward the Eiffel tower and it took us forever to get there because we kept getting distracted and I'm glad we did. We found this huge chalkboard and spent 30 minutes or so just messing around. Then we climbed under a bridge out over the water. And then we ended up in some sort of outdoor art gallery/festival. I love just taking our time, wandering and exploring. We finally got some lunch and made it to the Eiffel tower. It had been overcast all day and when we first got there you couldn't even see the top, but luckily the skies cleared up soon after and we decided to go all the way up. The views were incredible, take a look:

We took forever up at the top and shared one glass of champagne (it was so expensive!). We didn't want to leave but eventually had to because some people were going to the Jay Z concert. Me, Martha, Shannon, and Maty didn't go to the concert so instead we went out to dinner. I tried escargot and it was actually really good - it was a lot of garlic and butter yum! Then we went to bars and I got a little drunk oops.....

The next day we went to the Louvre and I was pretty mad at myself for being so hungover. I couldn't really enjoy much because I wasn't feeling too good. I was that pretentious little shit (sorry Mom and Dad, couldn't think of a better way to say it) who consciously decided to not see Mona Lisa. I saw her in passing from the back of the room, but I just don't get the big deal around her and there were so many other paintings that were way cooler that don't get any attention at all. There was an artist in the next room that was painting a copy of a painting and that was awesome to watch for a while.

The art on the wall behind Mona

Then we went to lunch at a cafe nearby. I got a banana split, which did a nice job curing my hangover! Afterwards we went to the Arc de Triomphe, which was incredible and then the Champs Elysees to get macaroons, which were delicious! I got pistachio and coffee and I really wish I had gotten more because they were so good. We then went to Montmartre and Katie and I got separated from everyone else, but we had planned to meet everyone at the Eiffel Tower at 8 to see it sparkle. Katie and I walked around for a while and ended up at an awesome restaurant that specialized in mussels. Some of the best mussels ever. We got crepes after and headed back to the Eiffel Tower.

Homiez at the Arc de Triomphe

Macaroons for days

We were late, but met up with Jaclyn, Leah, and Adrianna and watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle at 9. It looked so cool lit up and even cooler when it sparkled (which it did for 5 minutes every hour). After laying in the grass for a while we decided to go up. This was my second time, so I went up 669 stairs twice and came down 669 stairs twice....so many stairs. The views were even cooler at night. You could see the Arc de Triomphe lit up in the distance and the river looked so pretty. We ended up staying up there for a few hours (we saw it sparkle two more times) and headed back to our hostel around midnight. Perfect way to end our weekend in Paris.

Get Busy Living!

I knew this weekend would be a crazy adventure, but I was pleasantly surprised by everything Interlaken had to offer. I was excited to see more of Switzerland because Lugano is basically like living in Italy and Interlaken proved to be different yet still awesome.

The weekend started out Friday morning with the first glimpses of snow! It rained super hard Thursday night (we had to run to dinner during a downpour and all showed up soaked) and so the next morning all the mountains in the distance were covered in snow. Even on the train to Interlaken I fell asleep and when I woke up (no idea where we were) everything was covered in snow! One of the perks of traveling through the Alps this time of year!

We got to Interlaken in the afternoon and I immediately knew I loved the place. The air was so crisp and although we expected to have rain all weekend, the weather turned out to be perfect. We started out with some shopping on our way to the hostel. I finally found the present for my dad I had been searching everywhere for and we all bought some chocolates from a Swiss chocolate store, it was so good! We spent most of the day walking around, taking pictures, just figuring out the town until dinner.   We got Thai food from a restaurant a few buildings down from our hostel, which was awesome because I've been really homesick for food and I'm obsessed with Thai food.

That night we went to a club called "Metro," which was a converted metro station that was located underneath our hostel. There weren't a lot of people there that night, so it was basically just us, but we just danced and had a good time with each other. We didn't stay out too late because we had canyoning (and some people had skydiving) in the morning!

Canyoning was absolutely insane! It was freezing, but totally worth it. The group that went was me, Christine, Brooke, Anna, and Graham. We wore a wet suit, two wet suit jackets, wet suit shoes, and a life vest and I couldn't feel my body afterwards. We canyoned for about 2 hours, but even though I was freezing, I could have continued all day. We jumped off rocks, repelled down a 30 foot cliff, swung on ropes, went under ice cold waterfalls, and slid down rapids. All of us are pretty athletic so we didn't really have any problems, but some people in our guide group were struggling a bit, but it was pretty intense. I banged into rocks a few time, so I have some good bruises. Graham took his GoPro, so I can't wait to see the footage. I really want to try to find canyoning in the States or at least do similar stuff like white water rafting with everyone again. The motto of Outdoor Interlaken (the company we went through) is "get busy living" and that's definitely what we're doing throughout this trip.

Our canyoning group at the very end 

It took me forever to warm up after (and I think I'm getting sick again ugh), but after a few hours I could finally feel every part of my body again. We went to dinner at an Irish pub and then went to the same club again. There were a lot more people there that night, including our canyoning guide. 

The next day a lot of people went home early, but some of us (me, Megan, Anna, Lyndsea, Graham, Brooke, Christine, and Ali) stuck around to go to Gimmelwald (which is apparently listed as a place everyone needs to go before they die).  We took a train to Lauterbrunnen, which was a cute town up in the mountains. We ate at this comfy cafe, where I got the best tomato soup of my life before we started the walk towards Gimmelwald. The walk was gorgeous. There were waterfalls, sheep, cows, the cutest houses, fields, and the snowy mountains in the distance. It has been a while since I've seen so much grass (there really isn't a lot of grass in Europe) so that was super nice. A few of us took a little nap in a field and it was just so relaxing. It took us about 2 hours to walk a 30 minute trail, but we finally made it to the cable car that would take us up to Gimmelwald. 

Lauterbrunnen

When we got to the top of Gimmelwald, the view took my breath away. No words.

We ate outside overlooking the mountains - fondue!! So good. I wish we could've just sat up there all day, but we stayed as long as we could until it started to get a lot cooler as the sun set behind the mountains. 

Interlaken is now tied for my #1 favorite place with Cinque Terre. Both places were so relaxing - there was no rush, no pressure to see a bunch of touristy things - we could just take our time and inhale everything around us.

My Thoughts on Blogging

I have always kept a journal/blog for as long as I can remember. I literally have things I wrote from middle school - what can I say? I'm a journalism major, I've always loved to write. I like the rawness of being able to express yourself through the manipulation of language. However, I haven't really liked anything I've written on this blog. Nothing I post sounds like me or seems to reflect who I am and who I am becoming through this experience. I feel like I am simply stating things we've done day to day without successfully conveying my emotion or personality. It's really annoying, but I just haven't had the time to go through and rewrite things the way I want to...and after so much time goes by, it doesn't even seem right to do so. I think it has to do with the publicity of it all - my parents have given my blog link out to family friends, I post the link to everyone on Facebook. Everything else I have written has been private. I think having my words, my feelings, out in public has blocked me from being able to actually sound like myself.

From now on, I'm definitely going to try to write more like me. Though I know that will take more time and effort. But I think I'll like it better when I'm able to look back on my blog and actually recognize myself.

Prahaha

Prague was one of the places that I was most looking forward to visiting and it definitely did not let me down. After an uncomfortable 17-hour overnight train (we thought we booked a sleeper car, when we actually didn't), we arrived in beautiful Prague around noon, checked into our hostel, and wandered around the city.

Old Prague is amazing - from the cobble stone streets, to the architecture, to street musicians and craftsman on the Charles Bridge - I loved every moment of it. We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant which was so good and later went to a bar crawl. Even though I didn't make it through the whole crawl (I'll explain in a moment) it was still a lot of fun! We met a lot of really cool people from all over the world. Somehow though, Krissy, Graham, and I (who were in a different bar crawl then I was) met up and lost both of the bar crawls and ended up wandering the streets of Prague trying to find everyone. No luck though...we ended up at a weird bar/art gallery which was pretty funny to find the pictures of us standing next to random sculptures the next day. It sucked that we didn't finish the crawl, but it was still a fun night.

The next day we did all the touristy stops, which were all worth it. First, we went to the Astronomical clock tower which had some of the coolest views. It was nice to see the bird's eye view of everywhere we had been walking. Then we went to the John Lennon wall, which I don't really know why it's there, but it's this wall that people graffiti and draw on, and I just love that concept of being able to see the expressions of hundreds of people who have been there before. I left my mark too, of course. Afterwards, we went up to Prague Castle, the largest ancient castle in the world. On the way up to the castle we stopped at this lookout and saw some of the most gorgeous views. There have been quite a few moments on this trip that literally take my breath away and this was one of them. It was so surreal looking out across all of Prague, I could have spent all day there, but we had to continue on our way up to the castle. Unfortunately, we got there after it was closed so we couldn't go inside, but even the outside was awesome. It's crazy to the see the skill and detail from the 9th century.

Astronomical Clock

View from the clock tower

Writing on the John Lennon wall

"People will kill you over time and how they will kill you is with tiny, harmless phrases like 'be realistic'"

One of the best views I've ever seen

 Prague castle

Sunday, we spent all day walking around and doing a little shopping. Prague has definitely become one of my favorite places ever, so I bought each of my family members a little Christmas present here because I just wish they could've seen Prague too. I know my siblings would have loved it - I miss them so much! We ate lunch at a Czech restaurant. They were really rude to us, which sucked, but was actually quite refreshing. As an upperclass, white American, I don't get a lot of prejudice against me, so it was kind of weird, but in a weird way, I also liked it. It was also interesting, as this was the first place we travelled to where the language barrier was extreme. In all other places we could get by by knowing a little of the native language or people just spoke English. However, in Prague it wasn't like that, which made it more difficult to communicate with anyone, but I appreciated the change and actually feeling like I was completely submerged into another culture.

We took another long train ride home - again we thought we booked beds when we didn't (we really need to figure that one out) - but I have come to really enjoy the train rides, so I didn't mind too much. Besides, Prague put me in such a good mood, nothing could bring me down anyways.