Gotta ride a camel before you meet your maker.

Old Rick Steves episodes are pretty fantastic, I must say. All of these tourists in early 90s clothes. Awesome.

Anyway, since I am currently doing nothing better and Lena has made a request, I suppose I should do a Europe summary post of things I've learned. I head back to LA in less than 2 weeks, so no better time than now.

Bullet points will have to suffice, otherwise this entry has the potential to be 40 years long. I know, ridiculous.

• Poland was incredible. Because Warsaw was approx. 99% destroyed during WWII, it is new and shiny and completely rebuilt in the old style. Buildings with beautiful colors galore. Krakow was one of my favorite cities of the trip, because it has a little of everything. Old World charm and university students coexisting happily. Unlike Hungarians, the Poles are still happy to be Polish after years of occupation. A much more upbeat place.
• Germany was... Germany. I dunno, everyone knows so much about Germany, it's almost not worth recapping. I had a ton of fun. Munich was another of my favorite cities, because it's spectacularly clean and has tons to see and do. Dresden I loved as well, because basically the entire point of the city is art. It's centered around 2 huge museum complexes, one for the old and one for the new. And like Warsaw, it's almost entirely new but rebuilt how it was before the war. It's still being rebuilt, actually, because after the war was Soviet occupation and then a period of economic troubles that just recently allowed for state building projects. There's something to be said for looking to rebuild a city exactly the way it was before a period of hardship. It seems sort of naive, like putting things back how they were will undo the trouble, but it's also really touching and shows sort of a pride in the identity of your ancestors.
• Paris was pretty great, especially since I had someone else to really explore with this time. I love the French way of life, because it's like that of Americans but with a widespread appreciation of the finer things, basically. Good food, high culture (and low), enjoyment of current trends in fashion etc etc. Also, Kate and I had a really good CouchSurfing host. I can't really speak highly enough of CouchSurfing. It's something that I think everyone should try, at least once. Some people are weird, but others are fantastic, and that's what's really worth experiencing.
• Ireland, I'd have a really hard time talking about. It really meant so much to me to finally be able to go there, a nation that's fascinated and entranced me since I was young. It's the place of my ancestors, to a certain extent, and the place that my family credits for our most notable traits (wit, lightheartedness in the face of adversity, ego haha). It was honestly and truly like going home, as corny as it sounds. I think the Irish people are absolutely the nicest in the part of the world that I've been to so far. It's not hard to believe that they would help strangers in need without a second thought. Hey, any nation whose favorite pastimes are talking and drinking is tops in my book. I would love to (and probably will) live there in the future. North or south, it doesn't matter. The political situation is stable, for the time being, and people really do just want to heal. They're tired with the killing and fighting and are really trying to live their lives in peace.
• Going back to Edinburgh and getting to show it to Kate was super nice. It's a fantastic city, and everyone should go there.
• London is stressful and will be forever. It's too big and too crowded to really be enjoyable. I guess it's sort of like LA. A good place to visit, but I would go crazy if I actually had to live there. It's best in small doses, which is a shame, because omg the museums.
• And the USA- Lena is wrong. The arctic AC in stores is probably one of the greatest things about this country haha. The first step into a store on a hot summer day is one of the things I live for.

So yeah, that's a lot in a condensed manner. After all that traveling, NJ has stopped feeling like home. I think that's the biggest change. I've said again and again I don't really feel like anywhere is "home," because I'm comfortable everywhere. Here, now, this really feels like my parents' house for the first time. It's somewhere I can visit, but it's not where I live. I know that I definitely want to get a Master's, and I have a general idea of where I'd like to go to grad school. LA, Boston, Ireland or Scotland. Beyond that, it's up to the school and scholarships.

Now, I am excited to get back to SC. I miss having people around me at all times. I miss drinking until I'm stupid, honestly. And I miss learning. Basically, I miss being a college student.

Getting started is always the hardest part.

Let me tell you a story. It's not an exciting story, but I feel that it's sort of indicative of much of my life.
I've been in Budapest for a week today. Our train to Warsaw, a night train, was leaving tonight at 10pm. Come 8:30pm, I looked at the ticket. The following conversation ensued:
"Hey, Lena, this ticket says 20:00. The train left half an hour ago."
*blank stare*
Yes, we managed to miss our train after spending the entire day in the apartment, doing nothing but packing. Obviously, life wants me to run out of money and starve away to nothing. Fortunately, we went to the train station and were able to get tickets for tomorrow morning's train (at $10 more than we spent before, but you do what you gotta). That's one less day we have in Warsaw and possibly dropping a city later on, but it's also a valuable life lesson learned: always check the ticket haha.
Other than that minor mishap, the time in Budapest has been fun. It's not really my type of city (large, dirty, decaying, incomprehensible signs in a foreign language), but I can see why people choose to study abroad here. The nightlife is basically never-ending, and there are lots of opportunities to live in a degree of splendor for an affordable amount of money. The baths are really nice, and the buildings would be super impressive if there were any degree of upkeep. Unfortunately, it seems like both the Nazis and the Soviets destroyed much of the pride of the Hungarian people in their nationality. Years and years of brutal occupation will do that, but it's hard to find redeeming qualities in a city like this when the people seem perpetually downtrodden. Still, maybe in 10 years, a new generation completely untouched by an occupying power will change the mentality here.
We've taken a couple of day trips: one to Bratislava, Slovakia, and the other to Eger, a small town in the wine producing region of Hungary. It rained both days, of course. Bratislava was a very nice place, well-kept and tiny. Eger, also tiny, had a lot of cheap wine as a definite upside. It was also clean and cute, in a Baroque way. The Hungarian countryside isn't generally all that nice, dotted with Soviet-era apartment blocks and crumbling, make-shift train stations. I don't know, I guess I'm just more contented in places that let me lead my typical American, charmed life, without reminding me how horrible people can be to others. I also appreciate people with a resiliency of spirit that the Hungarians just don't seem to have. I'm used to the Irish way of dealing with problems: make a joke and move on. There isn't a lot of laughter on the streets here. If you go to the baths or some other place for leisure, sure, people enjoy it. But day to day life seems to be more about straight up survival than just being happy to be alive. It's much, much different than Scotland.
I'm probably being unfair, but Eastern Europe is definitely not somewhere that I see myself ending up. Slavic stoicism is not my style. I expect that this will be one of those trips that makes me grateful that I grew up where and how and when I did.
Also, I am learning patience. I have to, otherwise I would DESTROY someone.
Time for bed, as I now have to wake up early in the morning and actually catch a train. Word.

Anywhere but here.

As my last post was sort of depressing, or at the very least highly emotional, this one will be upbeat and cheery. I am mostly over all of that blah blah blah nonsense, and I have a fantastically relaxing vacation to talk about! I spent the last week of April in Zurich, Switzerland and the environs of Lake Como, Italy, and have plenty to talk about- day by day, because there has to be order (it's the Swiss way). This will be long and probably minutely detailed. But hey, Lena asked for it.

April 22- I spent basically the entirety of this day in transit. First, I had to get from Edinburgh to London by train. I then had to get from central London to Luton Airport by both train and shuttle bus. I then got to sit in the airport for hours (because I overestimated the amount of time that would be necessary to get through security etc etc [it turned out to be, oh, 10 minutes; seriously, Luton is awesome if you have no need to feel remotely safe or secure haha]). Then onto an easyjet plane (my favorite European budget airline), which requires walking across the tarmac since they don't get real terminals. The flight from London to Zurich was only slightly over an hour, which is nothing to someone accustomed to 6 hour flights (and 4+ hour train journeys). I got to Zurich safely and soundly, the airport there is very shiny, passport control is very easygoing, found Stacy. Stacy is a good friend from high school who goes to Northeastern and is currently working in Zurich for 6 months on co-op. We hopped on a train to downtown Zurich, then on a tram, then on a bus (all of these trips took maybe 25 minutes in total), and then reached her apartment. It was fantastic. Very clean and Ikea furnished, thanks to her apartment-mate (Gerry, a 31 year-old, fabulously wealthy, regional manager of one of the largest banks in Ireland). We stopped at a McDonald's on the way home to pick up a salad, as, like most stores in Europe, Swiss stores close early by American standards. There ensued the most complicated exchange I've ever had at a Micky-D's, as apparently neither cashier really spoke much English, and neither Stacy nor I speak German. You may assume that McDonald's is the one safe place to easily eat wherever you go. You'd apparently be wrong. Had dinner, caught up a little, went to bed.
April 23- Stacy, as it was a Wednesday, had to work. I woke up, and we had breakfast together, as we did almost every morning that I was there. She left me a ton of maps and sightseeing suggestions, as well as a Zurichcard, which, once validated, was good for all of the public transportation and entrance to some of the attractions in Zurich. Fucking awesome. I spent my day riding the trams, because I loved them (sort of similar to Boston's T, to which I am also very attached), and seeing a couple of museums and art galleries. Zurich has a staggering number of art galleries, I assume because of the fantastic amount of wealth that the city enjoys. Stacy and I met up for a late lunch (which we also did every day that I was there) at a cafe, and I got to try some Swiss food. I spent the rest of the afternoon at another museum, this one for design, where I saw one of the most interesting exhibits that I've ever seen, about different ideas of utopia expressed through design. For dinner, we went out for fondue and raclette, basically the most famous Swiss foods that there are. Delicious. Home, dealing with a minor crisis involving our hostel for the upcoming weekend in Italy, relaxing, bed.
April 24- Stacy, to work. Me, walking tour of the city, as guided by some pages from a Rick Steves guidebook. Zurich has a couple of really gorgeous churches, as well as interesting stores and historical places. All of the pictures posted on my Facebook of Zurich are from this day. I know that it looks mostly overcast and dreary, and it mostly was while I was there, but the city was still beautiful and so clean. The sun did eventually come out, so I got to Chagall's stained glass windows in the Fraumunster properly illuminated. I was also harassed by a middle-aged Italian guy on holiday, something that would become a theme (the Italian part, at least). I ran into him twice throughout the course of the day and had to make up some really lame lies as to why I couldn't hang around and help him "practice his English." He probably hated me. I failed to care. Anyway, I saw more of the city, utilizing both my two good legs and various types of public transport. I took a water taxi out onto Lake Zurich, so I got to see the city from water as well as land. Zurich isn't really a place to spend any substantial sort of vacation, but I think it would be a charming place to work and to raise a family. After another delicious lunch, which involved eating a dried beef on pretzel bread sandwich (this description does not do it justice) at the intersection of the two rivers that run through the city, I went to see the Kunsthaus, or art museum. I spent hours and hours there admiring the collection. They had a small but impressive collection of Cy Twombly works, and the rest of the modern art collection wasn't too shabby either, so I was thrilled. After that, a dinner at home. Packing for the weekend, drinking gin and tonics, and watching Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle until 2am. As we're both from NJ, pointing out the inaccuracies in that movie and getting a craving for White Castle sort of necessitates the watching of the whole thing whenever it's on TV. Bed.
April 25- Wake up (me in time to get a shower and leisurely prepare myself for the journey ahead; Stacy, not so much) and catch a 9:06 train to Como, Italy. We brought breakfast for the ride, which consisted of Birchermuesli (new favorite breakfast) and beer. Okay, the beer wasn't breakfast. More a morning snack. When we reached Italy and got off the train, we realized that we actually had no idea where our hostel was in relation to the train station or the rest of the city. We were going to leave our bags at the station and explore, but, in true Italian fashion, it was impossible to figure out what the fuck the sign for left baggage was actually telling us to do. Also, during the course of this futility, the ogling by Italian men started. Haha, oh yes, my favorite country in the world. And man, do they love me an obscene amount. Stacy and I decided to go walk around the city with our bags, in the hopes that we would maybe stumble upon something useful. Como isn't terribly large, and there's a huge lake to orient oneself with, so we had little fear of getting lost. We wandered around Como for about an hour and then decided that maybe we should head back to the train station and attempt to find a map, as we didn't really know of any other way to find out where we needed to be. Went back to the train station (which, of course, was uphill) and located the main piazza on a map on the wall. Back down to the city. Next to the Duomo we found a tourist information booth, where we got all sorts of useful brochures and approximately 3 copies of the same map, one of which the woman working the booth used to direct us to our hostel. At this point, we were hungry, and it was still too early to check in. So we went down to the lake front and ate paninis. Eventually, it was late enough that we could check into our hostel, so we trekked along the lake in that direction. Upon arriving at the hostel, the woman at the front desk informed us that there was a phone message, possibly for us but she couldn't really understand. The message turned out to be Ilana, the friend from high school that we were meeting, saying that she couldn't make it that night. Ilana goes to Johns Hopkins but has been studying in Bologna all year. Okay, fine. The lady at the front desk is nice, and she allows us to only pay the price that members of Hostelling International (which we are not) pay, since we still have to cover Ilana's no-show. Stacy and I head back to Como and have a nice dinner of wine, pizza, and Caprese salad. Over the course of this weekend, I become impressed by how much Italian I actually know. I definitely know at least enough to feed myself, if not enough to be completely polite about it. Of course, we get gelato for dessert. We head back to the hostel, drink half a liter of wine, play Uno and mock the other travelers for awhile, get showers (partially in the dark, as the bathroom lights are on a motion sensor which doesn't extend into the shower stalls) and go to bed.
April 26- When we wake up, we aren't really quite sure what to do, as we think that Ilana is still going to meet us but God knows where. We check out of the hostel, as we're supposed to be staying in a different town for the next two nights (where we would have stayed all 3 nights, but they claimed to not have room for us on Friday when we called to confirm, hence the confusion mentioned on Wednesday night). We went to the Villa Olmo, right next to our hostel, which had a brilliant exhibit of Viennese artists going on. Spent some time in there, strolled around the villa's garden and park, still no word from Ilana. We head over to a beach that we saw the day before, take out some chaises that are leaning against a wall, and nap in the sun for about half an hour with our bags. It would have been longer, but some guy comes over and asks us if we've paid, and we have to play the dumb American "oh we didn't know- mi scusi" card. While walking back along the lake to the city, Ilana calls and says that she's on the train and will be in Como in about 45 minutes. Stacy and I effectively kill time, head BACK to the train station to meet her, and do so, after a little confusion. Stacy and I have seen pretty much the ENTIRE city at this point, between yesterday and this morning, so we head back to grab a quick lunch and get on a ferry to Menaggio, the town where our next hostel is. Lunch was paninis again, but this time we opted for a place with a grill cart and no menu. We ordered our food and paid, and then had to fight the throng of people around the grill to actually get the paninis made. Basically, we had to order twice. Italian efficiency at its finest. That took about 20 minutes, not even kidding. Fortunately, my Italian skills came in handy again, and we got delicious sausage paninis. One of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten. There was a French market down by the lake that Stacy and I had resolved to do shopping at the day before, so we hit that before getting on our ferry. We bought 2 bottles of wine (one for Gerry, one for the train ride back to Zurich) and about a pound each of Haribo candy. The ferry ride to Menaggio took about 2 hours, so we got to see a lot of the towns on Lake Como en route. Got to Menaggio, found the hostel. The owner was a guy in probably his 30s with a plaid shirt and tattoos. My type of place, and the view from our room was fantastic. Headed down to the center of Menaggio (which is a town of one piazza, so not much of a center) and had more pizza and a liter wine for dinner. Gelato for dessert. We then spent the remainder of the night on the hostel's balcony, drinking another liter of wine. I love Italy.
April 27- We bought a day pass for the ferries, combined with a ticket to the gardens of the Villa del Balbianello. Basically, we spent the whole day riding the ferries and stopping at whichever towns we chose. We did a lot of chatting and catching up along the way, so now some high school friends also know what a whore I've become haha. Went to Bellagio for the morning/lunch (piadinas this time), went to the villa and spent a good amount of time in the gardens (which we had to do a minor hike to get to) and saw the town of Lenno (not even a one piazza town), and then went to Tremezzo because it looked nice from the ferry. Sadly, Tremezzo had a whole lot of nothing, so we went to a cafe and got a fantastic gelato sundae to console ourselves. We then almost missed what may or may not have been the last ferry of the day (at 6:30pm), despite being positioned on the docks and ready for it (or so we thought). That minor crisis averted, we made it back to Menaggio and walked around some more. We then ate one of the best dinners that I've ever eaten in my entire life, having to do as much with atmosphere as with food. After that was more gelato, and then we decide to shower and turn in without a nightcap of more wine haha.
April 28- Stacy and I don't have to catch a train back to Zurich until 3:30, so we have plenty of time to get ourselves back to Como and its lovely train station. We check out of the hostel after eating our free breakfast (I think free breakfasts at hostels, no matter how small, are one of my greatest joys in life) and take the long ferry ride back to Como. We got back to Como and figured we'd have enough time for a sit-down lunch, but ended up cutting it sort of close because it took forever. However, it was worth it, as we got to sit and eat (more paninis, I have simple tastes) in front of the Duomo (which I studied in my Italian architecture class last semester). We stopped for gelato at what may be my new favorite gelato place in the world (possibly even better than that place in Sorrento, though maybe just an equal) and ran to the train station so Ilana could catch the train back to Milan that left before the one Stacy and I had to get. We hung out at the station and waited for our train, which we then caught and got ourselves comfortably situated in our cabin. Another train ride through the Alps, this one with a bottle of wine to share. We shared the cabin, at the end, with a guy who I could tell was going to be creepy. He started out by asking us if we spoke a variety of foreign languages, all of which I replied "no" to, because I had no desire to talk. Poor Stacy, though, was found out. The guy was from Georgia (the one next to Russia) and could tell that she spoke Russian because of her cheeks. Ilana had been teasing Stacy about her cheeks throughout the weekend (they're cute and sort of doll-like), so this was just delicious irony. Apparently, guys from the Soviet satellite countries just love Russian girls (Stacy was born in Uzbekistan, but grew up in Moscow), sort of how Italian men love me for no good reason (on that note, Ilana said that she'd never seen Italian men in general as interested in anyone as they were in me that weekend [and no, I have no stories, as middle-aged Italian dudes just remind me of the grosser parts of home haha]). So poor Stacy had about 45 minutes of awkward conversation with this guy, who, fortunately for me, didn't speak English. We got back to Zurich and hightailed it home, where we unwound and waited for Gerry to get back from work and make dinner for us. He'd been in Ireland the previous week, so I hadn't actually met him yet. He turned out to be exceptionally nice and an excellent cook as well as being Irish, so I was suitably charmed. Also, he has the biggest liquor cabinet I've EVER SEEN, with approximately 20 large bottles of Jameson's, along with other various and sundry liquors. We spent the night in the apartment, playing the longest game of Uno in history and drinking absinthe.
April 29- My flight didn't leave until dinnertime, so I spent the day doing some random stuff in Zurich, as Stacy was back to work. I took a cable car up to the top of the Uetliberg, a mountain that overlooks Zurich. My camera batteries were dead at that point, so I walked around for a few minutes and then headed back down. Met Stacy for lunch, we bought some Luxemburgerli from Sprungli for dessert and went to a department store cafe to eat a delicious, and awesomely cheap (by Swiss standards) lunch. The Swiss are on the Swiss franc, which is worth about the same as the US dollar, but costs of living are exceptionally high there because of the high salaries and whatnot. A cheap meal is usually about 25 francs a person, and kebabs cost 10 francs. Even at McDonald's, the value menu is about 3 francs an item. But the cafes in department stores are cool, because its all self-serve cafeteria style stuff, and the prices are really good. After lunch, I basically just rode public transport around until it was time to go back to the apartment and pack up my stuff. Stacy came home, changed, and we headed for the airport, after picking up some sandwiches for a quick dinner on the train from the local grocery store. We got to the airport in good time, and I got through security, in, again, minutes. I wish US airports were so efficient. I flew back to London and made it safely through passport control. Hooray, me. I then had to wait for an hour for my bus into central London, so I sat and had a coffee and read. Got on the bus and made it to Baker Street Station in the pouring rain. Thanks, London. I had arranged with a friend from SC who's studying in London to stay at her place that night and take a train back to Edinburgh the next day. I had to use a bus to get from Baker Street to her flat. I HATE the buses in London. Sure, they're iconic etc etc, but they are not fucking user friendly. They're actually goddamn impossible to navigate if you don't know what you're doing. Sadly, the Tube basically shuts down after midnight, which is what time it was. So I got on a bus that I knew would take me in the right direction (with what I later figured out was actually a ticket for the Tube, but that's neither here nor there) and proceeded to ride it all the way to the end of the line, missing my stop because it wasn't called what I thought it was on that side of the street. I had to get off the bus, run across the street (and almost get hit by a cab), and catch another bus going the opposite direction. It's a good thing neither of the drivers checked my ticket too closely, because, not only was it a ticket for the Tube, it was a single ride ticket. I have more problems in English-speaking countries... Anyway, I finally made it to Ella's flat, after a couple of wtf am I phone calls, and she kindly let me in so we could go to bed.
April 30- Ella had scheduled an appointment to get her hair cut at the beauty school (where they charge only 5 pounds but take 3 hours), so I didn't really see her. I took a shower and sat in her room and read all day, because it was raining, and I didn't really feel like exploring London in the rain. She got back around 1:30, and my train was at 3:30, so I opted to just head to King's Cross and let her study for upcoming finals. I stopped at Sainsbury's (a grocery store), picked up some provisions for the train ride, and made it to King's Cross. They decided not to post which platform my train would be at until about 5 minutes before the train was due to leave, so that made an exciting mass of people all running for the train at the same time. It was an uneventful ride, and I made it back to Edinburgh and back to my flat with the sun shining. Sort of Edinburgh's way of saying "welcome back, and, by the way, I'm way better than London."

And by now I'm sure that you're all throwing your hands up in surrender, so that's all the blog post I've got for now. Expect another one next week about final thoughts on the British educational system, how sad I will be to be leaving Edinburgh in a matter of days, excitement about summer travels (possibly with an itinerary), and news of a drastic haircut (incidentally, the most expensive one I will ever have had in my life, haha).

Ta. Hope you're happy, Lena.