Meet Me On A Boat In Stockholm
July 5, 2009 at 4:46 pm | Posted in abroad, travel | Leave a commentTags: abroad, boat hostel, hostel, Stockholm, Sweden, travel
London has been fabulous so far but Europe has a plethora of cool places to visit and I gotta hit up as many as I can in my time across the pond.
I will cross Stockholm off my list next weekend when I go visit my buddy Erin Forster in Sweden. Erin is spending three weeks with her med school program working with doctors in Umea but has worked out a little time to spend with me in Stockholm for the weekend!
We booked a pretty awesome hostel that is actually on a boat! I had no idea but Stockholm is actually made up of about 14 large islands connected by bridges and waterways. The pictures I have seen look gorgeous with the water and outdoor green spaces and a lot of old awesome architecture.
I speak approximately zero swedish, but supposedly most people speak english so I am hoping getting around won’t be too tough. And I hear the Swedes are a tall bunch so perhaps I can find a tall, hunky, viking-looking type to sweep me off my feet!
At Home in London
June 13, 2009 at 10:44 am | Posted in London | Leave a commentTags: abroad, England, London, luggage, Nutella, tea, travel
Not exactly a full English breakfast, but this had to do for a sustenance before trekking across the city to check in for my internship program.
I spent the last two nights at Encore West London hotel with Mallari, another girl in the program. We had quite a journey from the hotel over to our housing this morning. EasyJet’s bag weight limit of 20 kg (44 lbs), which seemed a curse while trying to pack, served as a blessing as we walked through subways, up and down stairs, ran after metro trains and stalked the streets of London between subway stops. Mallari, hindered by Delta’s cushy 2 bag/50 lb limit, looked like the quintessential overstuffed American tourist. I helped her as much as I could climbing in and out of metro trains and fortunately we ran into some friendly fellows in London each time we came face to face with a daunting flight of stairs.
The goofiest girl I know from North Dakota!
We made it a few minutes before check in time began and now I have officially settled into my living quarters at Nido in London!
My room, which I share with one other University of Dreams participant, has two single beds, two closet/cabinets, two desks, a teeny tiny bathroom and a mini kitchen with a fridge, stove top, microwave and (thank goodness!) a teapot. As a spoiled student-athlete at UGA I never had to share a room before, so sleeping and living in such close quarters for the next eight weeks will test my patience and flexibility for sure. And my ability to block out snoring, which I have just been told by my roomie is a likely possibility.
I will post my tales from the last week in Spain later this weekend because I now have full Internet connection. Skype with me too if you please!
The Mad Hostel
June 9, 2009 at 5:23 pm | Posted in abroad, travel | 2 CommentsTags: beer, drinking, hostel, Madrid, travel
Beware of spewing beers when drinking from the vending machine.
In Madrid with my brother. The hostel advertised a bar in the commons room. It is a vending machine with 1 Euro beers in it. Me encanta Espana.
Hola From Barcelona!
June 5, 2009 at 11:52 am | Posted in abroad, travel | Leave a commentTags: Barcelona, friends, Kelley, Llavaneres, Mataro, pay it forward, train, travel
As I write this I am sitting in the gorgeous home of Kelley’s au pair family in the beautiful coastal village of Llavaneres, Espana.
I arrived yesterday morning after a nine hour flight from Atlanta to Barcelona , a 45 minute train trip from Barcelona to Llavaneres, a quick bus ride from the train station to the town center and a ten minute (uphill) walk to the house. Quite a journey but I have already met some amazing people and had a few funny encounters.
Free wine on the plane? Yes please, I will take two.
I flew with a few UGA swimmers who are competing in the Mare Nostrum meet this weekend so it was nice to have them as my buddies for the flight. A good thing they were there too because being the organized genius that I am I managed to leave all directions Kelley had e-mailed me for taking the train from the airport to her town in my house at Athens. One of the guys saved the day and I was able to give her a call from his phone and have her talk me through what I needed to do.
The challenges were not over yet though. Once I got to the train station the kiosks to buy a ticket did not accept any of my credit cards. I had no euros on me because Kelley had told me it would be easiest to just buy it with a card so I would not have cash to be stolen with me.
So as I stare at the ticket kiosk, frustrated and lost, a worker from the station comes up to ask if I need help. We try my cards again and none of them work still. But I think I must have just looked so downtrodden and disillusioned with my first experience in Barcelona that she did the most amazing thing. She takes out a train ticket and just give it to me and tells me to use it! I could not believe it – this woman was an angel. I had nothing to give her in return I told her, and she said no, it is a gift. So my bad experience in Barcelona turned into a positive one and now my duty will be to “pay it forward” and pass on the good karma!
On the train to Barcelona from the airport I chatted with Thomas, a young Delta employee from Cincinati getting his pilot’s license. He decided on a whim the day before our flight left to come to Barcelona and was planning on renting a bike and cycling his way though Barcelona sampling all the food there was to be had. It sounded like the perfect adventure to me and made me briefly consider a career in Delta on another airline to subsidize all my travel.
Today, my second day in Spain, Kelley and Ricard (the 2-year-old Kelley watches) took me to Mataro, the city next to Llavaneres. Kelley suggested seeing Mataro before Barcelona since it is bigger than Llavaneres but much smaller than “The City”. We shopped around for about an hour and ate churros before heading back to her town. Everything in Spain closes down from 1:30 p.m. to about 5 p.m. for the large lunch that is traditional in this area. Kelley said it takes some getting used to because if you sleep in until 10:30 a.m. (like I did this morning) then you have to hustle to even get anywhere to see it all before it closes down.
Kelley and Ricard having some fun at the playground.
Kelley has the weekends off of work so we plan on visiting some of her friends in the city. My excitement to see more of the city and the area grows every time she talks about it so I will surely have great stories when I next get to post.
Ciao for now!
**I will add pics to this post soon…my computer is not getting the internet at Kelley’s house.**
Update: Pics added…enjoy!
The Brits Finally Decided I Wasn’t A Terrorist
June 3, 2009 at 5:04 am | Posted in abroad, travel | 2 CommentsTags: abroad, Spain, travel, Visa
After 6 weeks, three trips to Atlanta, $750 dollars and two Visa denials the United Kingdom has granted me access to their wonderful country for eight weeks!
I recieved my passport back just yesterday morning, cutting it a little close to my departure date for Spain within 24 hours, but I like to live on the edge.
I have been waking up and going to bed a few hours earlier to adjust to Barcelona time but I still think I will be exhausted once I get there. I am not worried because I know my excitement will carry me over! Now if only my excitement could help me learn Catalan so I can speak the language of the place I am going. Also, I was told everyone there is small and tiny. I am looking forward to being the tall awkward American girl, who probably looks lost and confused. Excellent.
I am heading to Spain for a while to meet up with my friend Kelley and my dear brother, then off to London for the summer for my internship with International Collective. I will give updates as soon as I have access to a computer again!
Cool People Doing Amazing Things (and blogging about it)
January 17, 2009 at 7:09 pm | Posted in friends, travel | 2 CommentsTags: abroad, family, friends, travel, writing
Countless hours of my life I spend imagining, wishing, lusting even after my friends’ boldness and adventures.
Kelley, who doesn’t speak a lick of Spanish, packed up and moved to Spain for a year as an au pair.
Bejan, a self-proclaimed “amatuer” cycylist, bravely conquered the 1700 miles between Denver and San Francisco on a solitary two week bike ride.
And, I am proud to announce that to the ranks of “living a fascinating life” comes my brother! Adam, craving Spanish immersion and life in a new culture, has already had to navigate a few curve balls in his travels and differences in living patterns. I think his semester in Alaconte, Spain holds nothing but great stories, so keep up with his.
My most recent thrill consisted of finishing Twilight within 24 hours, and deliberating on which cake with boiled frosting to experiment with. So I guess when my life starts to get as unique and life-changing as these people’s, I will write about that instead.
Leaving On a Jet Plane
November 19, 2008 at 4:40 am | Posted in travel | Leave a commentTags: intern abroad, travel
I have never had the opportunity to study abroad. Training for 50 weeks out of the year does not really lend itself to galavanting through the jungle in Costa Rica, or pub crawling through Amsterdam. The only time I have been abroad was to Ireland when I was 15. Ireland was quaint, unassuming, gorgeous and picture perfect as my whole family drove the southern coast from Shannon to Dublin. We stayed for two weeks, but not in a single town for more than 2 days.
I love my family, but knew that the four of us six foot Americans looked as touristy as they come, asking for pub grub with maps of every castle within 80 miles sticking out of our back pockets. I decided to avoid the feeling that I don’t quite belong, I would just have to, well, belong.
My goal is to live abroad after I graduate in May. Perhaps six weeks, perhaps 12 weeks, hopefully more. Several programs offer internships abroad in my area of interest (public relations/event planning), and the biggest barrier right now is financing this little idea of mine. But I really feel like I would get so much more out of living somewhere; delving into the everyday workforce, getting around the city on my own, trying new food, experiencing the nightlife. Boy does all that sound corny and cliche or what?
My new hairdresser told me last week, “You will never regret the travels you go on and things you see because no one can take those away from you. Those are things you will always have.”
I agree, so beg (probably a lot), borrow (student loans here I come), or steal (only as a last resort), I will be on a plane to SOMEWHERE come May.
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