Blog- sum up thus far
Well I am two weeks into my six week Europe adventure, and what an adventure it has been! I have been through three main cities in three different countries. Each had a different language and a different lifestyle. I have seen thousands of sites and experienced different cultures of the world.
I have learned more than one could imagine, seen some of the most famous sites in the world and challenged myself. The most important quality I have taken away thus far is that you must always keep an open mind. This has gotten me through the whole trip. It has opened many doors. Every time Kelsey and I got lost, or just off our path a bit, we would always keep going and find one of the must magnificent places. I tried many food items I would never normally eat (This was usually because we couldn't read the menu, but sometimes it was a part of the culture). I ate bacon, sausage, ham, calamari, lobster/crab smear, mushrooms, onions, and so much more. Not that I enjoyed all of them, but I am glad I tried each. I have challenged theses fears I have always had and taken many risks I would never do. In this I made it to the top of one of the world's tallest buildings (with a tremendous fear of heights), I have lived out of one bag for two weeks and have four more with the same bag, I have done things I could never image doing without this experience. In each country I tried to catch onto the language and use it when I could. Although this was not easy to do in three or four days, you can catch onto enough to get you through.
In each city, Kelsey and I found that the best thing to do was to observe other people. This allowed us to see which was the right way to walk on the street, how to eat appropriately, when to leave a tip, how to act within their culture and more.
Well now Kelsey and I have parted ways and I wait for yet another adventure to add to these adventures I have already experienced. Here I come Florence!
I look forward to staying in one place for a bit longer and really get to be emerged in one country and one culture to several weeks.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Madrid
Madrid blog
Madrid was very different from Paris and London. Kelsey and I really didn't know what to expect going into Madrid. Neither of us knew much about it, what to do there, or where to go. Once again we stuck together and pulled out another great trip. Our friend Jeff has lived there for the last six months. He was super nice and hung out with us for most of out trip. Jeff took us on a day trip,to the best/cheapest restaurants, and taught us a bit of Spanish.
Spanish phrases (please disregard my spelling, it is going off sound):
Valé=okay
Salude= bless you
Pardon= excuse me
Hola= hello
Adios= good bye
Many more phrases and terms
Trends:
Meat, meat, and more meat- ham, bacon, sausage, anything with meat
Roller blades
Small cars and motor cycles
High boots
Places We Went:
Plaza de España-- nice little plaza near our hostel
Grand Via-- where we stayed. A famous strip of Madrid
Campo del Moro-- a huge park we strolled thru one day
Cathedral de la Almudena
Palacio Real
These rooms were exquisite. All with massive scale. The size of the rugs astonished me! They took up massive rooms of the place. Also the porcelain room was spectacular ( the whole room was made of porcelain). Each room was so different from the next
Treato Real (we found some really cheap, really good sandwiches here)
Plaza del Sol (marks kilo 0 of Spain)
Main shopping streets ( Calle de Preciado and others known for shopping)
Plaza Mayor
Monastery de el Escorial (a day trip, about 45 mins north, in the mountains)
El Prado Museo-- contained many masterpieces and much more
Museo Reina Sofia-- contemporary art including Picasso and many abstract pieces
Parquet del Retiro- a massive park, would be an awesome place to chill every afternoon
Chamartín
Estadio Santiago Benrnabeu (the soccer 'fùtbol' stadium of Real Madrid)
-on our last night in Madrid it was Real Madrid's last game of the season, so we set out and bought some jerseys and went to experience a true game! They won 8-1!
What we learned-
-things are always different than they appear (food, clothes sizes, etc.). All the food was much different than you would think. Even a hamburger, was not really a hamburger
- Spanish in Madrid is spoken different than what we were taught
-Spaniards will try and help you speak the language rather than go eu and speak English
-once you know how to ride underground trains, they all run the same
- everything tastes and looks the same in every restaurant even if it is quadruple the price
- it is helpful to have someone more familiar with the area show you the way
Madrid was a city full of surprises for Kelsey and I. There are many expansive parks, shopping areas, palaces, etc. Each place was only about a 5-10 minute walk, making it seem a lot smaller than we expected. Such a fun beautiful city though.
Madrid was very different from Paris and London. Kelsey and I really didn't know what to expect going into Madrid. Neither of us knew much about it, what to do there, or where to go. Once again we stuck together and pulled out another great trip. Our friend Jeff has lived there for the last six months. He was super nice and hung out with us for most of out trip. Jeff took us on a day trip,to the best/cheapest restaurants, and taught us a bit of Spanish.
Spanish phrases (please disregard my spelling, it is going off sound):
Valé=okay
Salude= bless you
Pardon= excuse me
Hola= hello
Adios= good bye
Many more phrases and terms
Trends:
Meat, meat, and more meat- ham, bacon, sausage, anything with meat
Roller blades
Small cars and motor cycles
High boots
Places We Went:
Plaza de España-- nice little plaza near our hostel
Grand Via-- where we stayed. A famous strip of Madrid
Campo del Moro-- a huge park we strolled thru one day
Cathedral de la Almudena
Palacio Real
These rooms were exquisite. All with massive scale. The size of the rugs astonished me! They took up massive rooms of the place. Also the porcelain room was spectacular ( the whole room was made of porcelain). Each room was so different from the next
Treato Real (we found some really cheap, really good sandwiches here)
Plaza del Sol (marks kilo 0 of Spain)
Main shopping streets ( Calle de Preciado and others known for shopping)
Plaza Mayor
Monastery de el Escorial (a day trip, about 45 mins north, in the mountains)
El Prado Museo-- contained many masterpieces and much more
Museo Reina Sofia-- contemporary art including Picasso and many abstract pieces
Parquet del Retiro- a massive park, would be an awesome place to chill every afternoon
Chamartín
Estadio Santiago Benrnabeu (the soccer 'fùtbol' stadium of Real Madrid)
-on our last night in Madrid it was Real Madrid's last game of the season, so we set out and bought some jerseys and went to experience a true game! They won 8-1!
What we learned-
-things are always different than they appear (food, clothes sizes, etc.). All the food was much different than you would think. Even a hamburger, was not really a hamburger
- Spanish in Madrid is spoken different than what we were taught
-Spaniards will try and help you speak the language rather than go eu and speak English
-once you know how to ride underground trains, they all run the same
- everything tastes and looks the same in every restaurant even if it is quadruple the price
- it is helpful to have someone more familiar with the area show you the way
Madrid was a city full of surprises for Kelsey and I. There are many expansive parks, shopping areas, palaces, etc. Each place was only about a 5-10 minute walk, making it seem a lot smaller than we expected. Such a fun beautiful city though.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Paris
Paris blog
Paris was quite the adventure for Kelsey and I. We were very lost and confused Americans the first day. We tried to brush up on some French phrases because we thought it would be helpful. Once we got there though we realized French is much harder than it looks and no matter how many times we practiced we still said the phrases wrong.
They have an underground train system similar to London. We were familiar with how to ride this so had no trouble at all finding our hotel. It was a very cute, very simple older hotel we stayed in right in a main area of town, Bastille.
We learned pretty quickly the terms used regularly- from foods to simple phrases like closed or push/pull. Not all the French were friendly and welcoming, but almost everywhere we went they could speech English or at least bear with us as we attempted to ask them a question. We did a lot of observing to see how the culture worked there and what was appropriate and what wasn't.
There were a lot of tourist there from all over the place. It was easy to spot out the Americans and other English speaking people. Most were just as confused as we were so that was always reassuring.
Every place we went took our breath away and made us speechless. The sites and historic locations are beyond massive, with intricate detail. Just mind-blowing. I think we took a hundred photos, if not more, at each location.
Blow are some lists that Kelsey and I made from our whole trip...
French terms that were most useful:
Bonjour= hello
Au revoir= good bye
Pardon= sorry
Excusez-moi= excuse me
Merci= thank you
Parlez-vous anglais?= do you speak English?
S'il vous plaît= please
Jamon= ham
Fromage= cheese
Les toilettes= toliet
Etc......
Trends:
High fashion, dressy attire
Long champ bags
Roller blades
Mopeds/motorcycles
Smoking
Coffee breaks
Crêpes
Public Display of Affection
casual drinks- anytime of the day
Places we went:
Bastille (the area we stayed in)
The Eiffel Tower (we went all the way to the TOP! This is over 80 stories and more than 600 flights of stairs. Scared out of my mind. I almost cried so I wouldn't have to go.)
Musee de Louvre "The Louvre" ( this contained over 35,000 works of art. It would take one person 9 months to view every piece. So we just glanced thru parts of it seeing a Michael Anglo sculpture and the Mona Lisa)
Galeries Layafette (the capitals best known departments store with high-end fashion items)
Place de la Concord (an enormous square with a large tower on the opposite end of Arc de Triophe along Avenue des Champs Élysées )
Walked down Avenue des Champs Élysées
Arc de Triophe (surrounding this arc is surrounded by the worlds busiest intersection, with 12 streets forming at a round about)
Versailles-château and gardens
Montimartre-Basilique Du Sacré Cœur (known for it's best view of the city, minus the Eiffel Tower)
Notre Dame (a massive Gothic Cathedral)
Things we learned:
- if you sit outside, someone is going to be smoking next to you
- all of the machines are in French(which makes it hard to understand what you are getting into)
- no matter what time of day The Metro (the underground train) is going to be packed
- if you act confused, people will speak to you in English
- you stand out like a sore thumb as an American
- all English speaking people find each other- whether this is to take a picture, ask a question, or just to hear a familiar language
- read your tour book before considering crossing the world's busiest intersection with 12 streets forming at a round about. (good thing we pulled out the book, seconds before running across. Turns out there is an underground passage. We had no idea)
-always look up to find where you are going
- stores open late and close early
- there is not true time- stores hours are subjective, trains arrive anywhere between 5-15mins of when they say
-the hardest thing about shopping was not being able to buy something because it was too expensive, you didn't have enough room in your bag, or you knew if you bought one thing you would have to buy 3 more things to go with it...
Paris was definitely far out from my comfort zone! I ate things I would never eat, faced fears I will probably never get over, got around without knowing a word of French, and truly experienced the French culture. It was an exceptional trip!
Paris was quite the adventure for Kelsey and I. We were very lost and confused Americans the first day. We tried to brush up on some French phrases because we thought it would be helpful. Once we got there though we realized French is much harder than it looks and no matter how many times we practiced we still said the phrases wrong.
They have an underground train system similar to London. We were familiar with how to ride this so had no trouble at all finding our hotel. It was a very cute, very simple older hotel we stayed in right in a main area of town, Bastille.
We learned pretty quickly the terms used regularly- from foods to simple phrases like closed or push/pull. Not all the French were friendly and welcoming, but almost everywhere we went they could speech English or at least bear with us as we attempted to ask them a question. We did a lot of observing to see how the culture worked there and what was appropriate and what wasn't.
There were a lot of tourist there from all over the place. It was easy to spot out the Americans and other English speaking people. Most were just as confused as we were so that was always reassuring.
Every place we went took our breath away and made us speechless. The sites and historic locations are beyond massive, with intricate detail. Just mind-blowing. I think we took a hundred photos, if not more, at each location.
Blow are some lists that Kelsey and I made from our whole trip...
French terms that were most useful:
Bonjour= hello
Au revoir= good bye
Pardon= sorry
Excusez-moi= excuse me
Merci= thank you
Parlez-vous anglais?= do you speak English?
S'il vous plaît= please
Jamon= ham
Fromage= cheese
Les toilettes= toliet
Etc......
Trends:
High fashion, dressy attire
Long champ bags
Roller blades
Mopeds/motorcycles
Smoking
Coffee breaks
Crêpes
Public Display of Affection
casual drinks- anytime of the day
Places we went:
Bastille (the area we stayed in)
The Eiffel Tower (we went all the way to the TOP! This is over 80 stories and more than 600 flights of stairs. Scared out of my mind. I almost cried so I wouldn't have to go.)
Musee de Louvre "The Louvre" ( this contained over 35,000 works of art. It would take one person 9 months to view every piece. So we just glanced thru parts of it seeing a Michael Anglo sculpture and the Mona Lisa)
Galeries Layafette (the capitals best known departments store with high-end fashion items)
Place de la Concord (an enormous square with a large tower on the opposite end of Arc de Triophe along Avenue des Champs Élysées )
Walked down Avenue des Champs Élysées
Arc de Triophe (surrounding this arc is surrounded by the worlds busiest intersection, with 12 streets forming at a round about)
Versailles-château and gardens
Montimartre-Basilique Du Sacré Cœur (known for it's best view of the city, minus the Eiffel Tower)
Notre Dame (a massive Gothic Cathedral)
Things we learned:
- if you sit outside, someone is going to be smoking next to you
- all of the machines are in French(which makes it hard to understand what you are getting into)
- no matter what time of day The Metro (the underground train) is going to be packed
- if you act confused, people will speak to you in English
- you stand out like a sore thumb as an American
- all English speaking people find each other- whether this is to take a picture, ask a question, or just to hear a familiar language
- read your tour book before considering crossing the world's busiest intersection with 12 streets forming at a round about. (good thing we pulled out the book, seconds before running across. Turns out there is an underground passage. We had no idea)
-always look up to find where you are going
- stores open late and close early
- there is not true time- stores hours are subjective, trains arrive anywhere between 5-15mins of when they say
-the hardest thing about shopping was not being able to buy something because it was too expensive, you didn't have enough room in your bag, or you knew if you bought one thing you would have to buy 3 more things to go with it...
Paris was definitely far out from my comfort zone! I ate things I would never eat, faced fears I will probably never get over, got around without knowing a word of French, and truly experienced the French culture. It was an exceptional trip!
Monday, May 16, 2011
London
London was quite the adventure for Kelsey and I. Upon arrival Kelsey met this nice man that told her the area of town our hostel was in was known for drug trafficking and was not the safest part at night. He was incredibly kind and used his mileage on us to buy us a hotel in one of the wealthiest, nicer parts of town. We were very grateful to have met Joel.
From there we set off on many adventures throughout London! Although we did get lost from time to time, we always seemed to find our way. Here are some lists of what we noticed while in London:
English Pharses-
Way Out= Exit
Give Way= Yield
Water Closet= Bathroom
Frosty= bitter people
Boiling= hot
Chat show= comedy show
Going to the toilet= bathroom
Trends-
Tights with anything and everything
Boys wear suits
Girls wear blazers
Ankle boots
Bowling style shoes
Kids riding scooters
Places we went-
High Street Kensington (where we stayed and shopped)
Holland Park
South Kensington
Harrods
Wellington Arch (stood on top! Only about 3 stories)
Buckingham Palace
The Queen's Gallery (just glanced at)
Westminster Abbey (even talked to a security guard that worked the Royal Wedding)
Big Ben and The Houses of Houses
The London Eye (this was a massive ferris wheel that you were able to see the whole city from the top of. What a view!)
Gabriel's Wharf (one of our favorite little places we stumbled upon)
Kensington Gardens
Kensington Palace (just walked thru the gardens)
Hyde Park
Tate Modern
London Bridge
London Tower (more like a massive castle! We unfortunately did not have time to go inside)
Tower Bridge
Borough Market (amazing sandwiches we got!)
Charing Cross
Piccadilly Square (a mini Times Square)
China town
Leicester Square (still can't pronounce this word! This area is know for its theaters and entertainment)
Covent Garden (great for meals, we went to this authentic noodle place with one of our friends we met up with there)
Ve Olde Cheshire Cheese (the oldest pub in London. Our friend from home, jophie, took us there)
The Chunnel (brought us to Paris)
Lessons we learned-
Look right! Then left.
Always ask for your check
How to ride The Tube (the train)
Look up at the street names, they helped
Still don't know if you are supposed to walk on the left or the right side of the side walk. They just walked all over.
Lots more....
London was the perfect place to start for us. It was more familiar to American culture and everyone speaks English...definitely a plus. It reminded us of New York Cit at parts. Very city like and a happening place. I could've spent more time there but was excited to start new adventures.....off to Paris
From there we set off on many adventures throughout London! Although we did get lost from time to time, we always seemed to find our way. Here are some lists of what we noticed while in London:
English Pharses-
Way Out= Exit
Give Way= Yield
Water Closet= Bathroom
Frosty= bitter people
Boiling= hot
Chat show= comedy show
Going to the toilet= bathroom
Trends-
Tights with anything and everything
Boys wear suits
Girls wear blazers
Ankle boots
Bowling style shoes
Kids riding scooters
Places we went-
High Street Kensington (where we stayed and shopped)
Holland Park
South Kensington
Harrods
Wellington Arch (stood on top! Only about 3 stories)
Buckingham Palace
The Queen's Gallery (just glanced at)
Westminster Abbey (even talked to a security guard that worked the Royal Wedding)
Big Ben and The Houses of Houses
The London Eye (this was a massive ferris wheel that you were able to see the whole city from the top of. What a view!)
Gabriel's Wharf (one of our favorite little places we stumbled upon)
Kensington Gardens
Kensington Palace (just walked thru the gardens)
Hyde Park
Tate Modern
London Bridge
London Tower (more like a massive castle! We unfortunately did not have time to go inside)
Tower Bridge
Borough Market (amazing sandwiches we got!)
Charing Cross
Piccadilly Square (a mini Times Square)
China town
Leicester Square (still can't pronounce this word! This area is know for its theaters and entertainment)
Covent Garden (great for meals, we went to this authentic noodle place with one of our friends we met up with there)
Ve Olde Cheshire Cheese (the oldest pub in London. Our friend from home, jophie, took us there)
The Chunnel (brought us to Paris)
Lessons we learned-
Look right! Then left.
Always ask for your check
How to ride The Tube (the train)
Look up at the street names, they helped
Still don't know if you are supposed to walk on the left or the right side of the side walk. They just walked all over.
Lots more....
London was the perfect place to start for us. It was more familiar to American culture and everyone speaks English...definitely a plus. It reminded us of New York Cit at parts. Very city like and a happening place. I could've spent more time there but was excited to start new adventures.....off to Paris
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Packing
Packing has to be my worst skill EVER! After packing up my backpack and carry on...shedding some tears over how I couldn't bring Everything. I realize I am in for the adventure of my life.
This is one of those moments where you wonder what you have gotten yourself into. I realize this is going to be the time of my life, definitely the biggest thing yet in my life. I am diving off that diving board for the first time and way scared, but I am going for it!
I will do my best to keep all you followers- family, friends, whoever else- up-to-date on where I have been, what I have done, and the adventures I have encountered. ツ
Love you ALL! Miss you!
Off to bed before A LONG day tomorrow before London.
Jamie
This is one of those moments where you wonder what you have gotten yourself into. I realize this is going to be the time of my life, definitely the biggest thing yet in my life. I am diving off that diving board for the first time and way scared, but I am going for it!
I will do my best to keep all you followers- family, friends, whoever else- up-to-date on where I have been, what I have done, and the adventures I have encountered. ツ
Love you ALL! Miss you!
Off to bed before A LONG day tomorrow before London.
❤
Jamie
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