Poland Day 1: Auschwitz (pictures to come)

June 15: So this morning, I overheard the plans of the roommates and decided since they had already figured out the logistics, I would go along to visit Auschwitz. I've been to the Holocaust Memorial in D.C., I've been to places like Omaha Beach, and I've heard all of the stories about the history. Nothing compares to walking through the gas chambers where millions of people were misled into believing they were going to get a shower. Nor does any of it compare to standing outside of the ovens used to dispose of over 2 million bodies.

Backing up, I hopped the bus in the morning, got to Auschwitz and was unhappily surprised to see food and souvenir kiosks outside. It seemed a bit disprespectful to me. However, I quickly went inside the compound and paid for my tour. It started with a video explaining the basics of what happened for anybody who wasn't familiar with it, then a walking tour through Auschwitz I, and Auschwitz II-Birkenau (the bigger of the two camps, about 3km down the road). A little factoid: they got their names from the city they're in: Oswiecim.

First step was through the gate: it read Work sets you Free. This was surrounded by electrified barbed-wire fences. We then went through many of the buildings where people were to stay, saw the beds, rooms, facilities, etc. Without too many details: the process tended to go something along the lines of people would arrive, be forced to strip down for a "shower", be gased by a chemical known as zyklon B, and be disposed of. This consisted of shaving their hair to sell as raw material for fabric, removing gold teeth, sorting all of their posessions, and then burning them. However, this took too long in the ovens, so they would make piles in the woods to get the job done more quickly. How, HOW was this kept quiet? The point about shaving their hair etc. was to explain part of what we saw. When the camp was liberated, they found tons of human hair, over a million sets of shoes and clothes, piles upon piles of eyeglasses, toothbrushes, prosthetics, etc. Basically anything that could be salvaged, was taken and stored. It was crazy to walk through the halls of these things and think that each shoe, each pair of pants, each comb belonged to someone exterminated there.

Well, it wasn't over. I then made my way over to Birkenau, which was the setting of Schindler's List, with the railroad track, etc. This was where many of the "scientific experiements" took place. They were testing poisons on children etc. Here, the process was a bit different. It was mostly the same as above, except that as soon as the people arrived on the trains (up to 8,000 per day), they were sorted into those fit for working, those worth experimenting on, and everyone else. Everyone else was killed like at the other camp. I'll stop with the gory details, but the experience was surreal to be walking in this place.

Well, then it was back on the bus to head back to Krakow and catch some sleep to get ready for the next day.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road? Poland Day 0

June 14: So what's the best way to get to Krakow? Get there any way you want, but you probably don't want to follow me. To begin with, I was running late, but wanted to get a gift for my friend who is letting me stay with her for free in Denmark later this week - so I got a box of Neuhaus chocolates.

I just made it to the train, but then the train was running a little bit late. Also, I apparently filled out my ticket wrong and had to convince the person validating them that I wasn't trying to cheat them out of 4 euros. Then, because the train was late, I missed the bus to the airport meaning I had to grab a taxi. Ugh.

All was fine with the flight until I realized that while I thought I had all of my hostel information and directions written down as I usually do (with more information than I'll ever need), I had nothing more than the hostel name... oh yea because I had forgotten my map on the floor in my room. So I'm sittting on the bus that runs between the airport and the city center with a bunch of Polish people.. and I started to get a bit nervous. All I knew was that it was going to be nearly 11 pm by the time we arrived and that my hostel was somewhere on the opposite side of Krakow from the bus station. So - I started talking. I heard some Americans and thought they might have a guidebook. They didn't, but they told me to talk to the Polish guy behind them.... the guy who spoke no english and just looked at me like I was crazy.

It turns out that while he spoke no english, he understood... because about a half hour later he handed me a telephone with his son on the other end who offered to have a friend look up the hostel and get me directions. Fabulous! Well, when we got to the bus station, they also realized that it was on the opposite end of town and insisted on giving me a ride. Well, they were nice and the son was cute so hey.. why not. ;) I ended up getting a free tour around Krakow by night and a ride to the door. I did end up saying goodbye to that box of chocolates that I bought earlier in a last ditch effort to say thank you. Anyways, I made it! And I was greeted by my roommates: 4 English and 3 Irish guys. Oy... it's going to be a long trip.

Prague Calling

June 8-11: Well I finished exams and studying and am now on a last minute tour of Europe. I flew to Prague on Sunday without too many issues. The problems started after I landed. I got to the city and it turns out that my directions weren't so great. I was walking towards a castle instead of a church, and probably would have continued had I not met Alexander from Belarus. He was walking and looked as innocent as I was so I started a conversation and managed to spend 2 hours walking around lost in Prague. FINALLY I found my hostel which turned out to be in a little quaint lane off of the old main square. It was cute and quiet and perfect. I then spent the last hours of the day wandering around getting a feel for the city. The day was over, but the life at the hostel wasn't, and I met quite a few people, learned about accounting in the UAE, and learned how to play Euchre with some guys from Purdue.

In the morning, I got up and took a walking tour to see all of the different types of architecture in the city, as well as to find out a general overview of the city's history. Then it was walking around a bit more, and hanging out in the old square. They had set up some big screens to show the EuroFest 2008 soccer games, so that was fun. Later that night, my friends showed up, and we met up to go check out the Charles Bridge, where we just sat for a while taking pictures, watching boats come in, and enjoying the lights of the castle. Then... it was off to bed.

On the 10th, we spent the better part of the day touring the castle/palace and everything that it included. There was the Vitus Cathedral, the Golden Lane, the National Gallery, etc. It was beautiful and took us up until about 4 or 5 o'clock to get through everything. We decided to go visit the castle gardens, but apparently took a wrong turn and found ourselves hiking on rickity wooden planks through a mini-forest about 30 feet straight up from the road. Well, we finally made it back to civilization after about 45 minutes of wandering and decided it was time to try a Czech beer: Gambrinus. It was fabulous, even better than the Belgian beers. Then, we wandered the city some more, spend some more time at the Charles Bridge, stopped by a little music place on the river, and turned in for bed.

In the morning, I was enjoying the outskirts of the city, just wandering around people-watching, etc. Then I headed off to the airport to head back home to Brussels. Hopefully the next post will have more historical/interesting information and maybe even some pictures. Don't count on it though - my camera has decided to stop working and I don't really have the cash for another one. We'll see what I can work out.

Studying by the Seaside:Oostende and Bruges

So the past 2 weeks have really been filled with studying, writing papers and taking exams, but I'm nearly finished!

May 21: I had to take advantage of my location. I have been studying in my room so much lately that I decided to take a break. There was a train in the morning that got me up to Oostende, which is Belgium's largest seaside city, by about 11. It was beautiful and definitely had a very nautical feeling. After walking around town a little bit, seeing the cathedral, and the main monuments, I took some time to relax and study on the beach. A word of caution: no matter how long it has been since you've walked along the beach, never forget that the sea can create some surprisingly large waves. Now is the time where I add in another hour of studying while I waited for my jeans to dry. :0)

Well, I didn't stay all day because I was meeting up with my bible study group in Brussels that night and I wanted to check out Bruges again. If you've been following the blog, you probably know that I went there a few months ago, when it was a bit chilly. It's like whole different place now, filled with markets, beautiful flowers, and bikes galore. I'm glad I got a chance to see it again. After walking around for a bit, it was back for another Wednesday evening in Brussels.

How much do you think we can see in 10 hours?

May 3-A Whirlwind of Germany: After arriving at the airport (No security guards searched me this time), we picked up the car and started driving towards Koln. Well, as it turns out, driving from central-ish Germany, to Belgium, to northern-ish Germany, and then starting to head south again on one tank of gas is kind of risky. Soo... we were driving on the autobahn, and the car starts flashing that we will soon run out and.. there's no gas station in sight. Enter panic. Haha.. eventually, we found a station, but just in time. To make matters worse, the pump wasn't labeled, and my friend had pulled up to one that was for filling diesel trucks. Well, we were only driving a diesel car, and so the volume of gas that came out at once kicked back and got all over him. I mean, looking back it's kind of funny, but at the time, I was like what the HECK are you doing?

So eventually, it all worked out and we made it to Koln. This was the quickest trip yet. We literally parallel parked, walked to the cathedral, read a little about the history, took some pictures, walked back to the car and left. The short background is that contruction began in 1248, and took more than 600 years to complete, but it has the largest facade of any church in the world. It was hit by something like 12 bombs in WWII, but stayed standing. That's a pretty nifty church.

Our next stop was Bonn, the former capital of Germany. As whirlwinds go, this was also a pretty quick stop. We got to the city and the first thing we visited was Beethoven's house. We didn't have time or money to take the tour, so we checked out the foyer, the courtyard and then jokingly took a picture of a poster so we could tell people we had been inside. Then, we grabbed some quick lunch at a little kiosk. This was another chance for me to prove to Germans that while I have the blond hair and blue eyes, I speak about 5 words of German. None of them enable me to order a bratwurst and beer. From there, we decided to head off to the next city, but discovered a problem. We couldn't find the car. Oyvey. We wandered around for 20 minutes before a stroke of luck led us back to where we had parked.

Then, we had probably my favorite part of the little trip to Germany. We drove along the Rhine river, looking at castles and beautiful forests the whole way. Eventually, we made a bee-line for Trier: the oldest city in Germany. It was founded at the latest in 16 BC. In the first century, it was conquered by Romans, and so most of the architecture there looks pretty similar to my pictures from Italy. The entrance to the city, Porta Nigra, is one great big stinkin' cool arch. There's also roman baths, an old amphitheater, and other ruins that made me question which country I was in. Without overloading you on history, a couple other interesting sites were the Constantine Basilica, the Trier Cathedral, and the Palace of Trier (Don't ask me who the guy on the steps is. I don't know). Finally, it was back to Belgium for me.

Nessie? Is that you? Scotland: Day 2

May 2: Ahh... the morning of my first ever, organized bus tour. I don't know that I'll be taking one again, but it wasn't too bad. Anyways, that's jumping the gun. We booked it online, and had nothing but a confirmation number and the name of a bus stop to meet at... that and some hope that it was all legitimate. Turns out, that's just how they do it there, and we hopped on the bus around 8 in the morning.

I was headed to the Scottish Highlands, and I was going to enjoy every minute of it despite the group of 7 or 8 really loud, obnoxious, chatty, 40-something Italian guys sitting behind me. :) Well, we're riding along hearing about all of the old Scottish folklore, and there are just these amazingly beautiful views. I don't really know how to explain it other than it was beautiful. Well, our first stop (and a few of the others, as it turns out... since we drove right past Stirling Castle.) was not so amazing and historical or breathtaking or anything. It was a coffee shop. On the plus side, I did get to meet Hamish(left) the highland cow. He was the cutest critter I've ever seen. Him, and some more of the thousands and thousands of baby lambs along the country side. Did you know that Scotland has more sheep than people?

Anyways, we continued, and along our path was the William Wallace monument, as well as Doune Castle (the one from Monty Python), and the bridge you have to cross to get there. Well, we continued on past beautiful vistas hearing things about Silkes, Mermaids, and other folklore. Drove through Glen Coe, Loch Lomond, and all of those other fabulously Scottish places. Little language lesson: Loch just means Lake. Glen just means Valley. Who knew? Eventually, we stopped for a restroom break at a place offering about 17 different free samples of Scotch whiskey. Hey, you have to experience the culture, right?

Then, it was off for the last leg up to Loch Ness. Along the way, we stopped at the Hidden Glen. It has some history of a massacre that was partially prevented by a boy having a premonition and telling everyone in his people to flee their city and hide in this glen. (left) But yes, it's true, I had hopes of seeing Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. No such luck. After wandering around it for a while, we all hopped back on the bus, back towards Edinburgh.

On the way, we stopped to just enjoy some of the scenery and took a little hike through some forested area with a small waterfall. Along the way, we saw this absurd bridge. Apparently, it was built right after the collapse of another bridge in Scotland, and they wanted to be extra careful to make sure it would continue standing. The name of the guy who designed the bridge that collapsed? Botch. Ever wonder where we got the expression a Botch-job?

Ok, we were finally back in Edinburgh by around 8pm. We grabbed a quick dinner and headed to the station to catch the last train to the airport. Apparently is was the 40th birthday of someone, so we were "serenaded" for about an hour by a bunch of 40 and 50 year old drunk Scotsmen. There's an experience I won't quickly forget. Finally, we were at the airport, where I managed to sleep for about an hour. Bummer. We took an early flight back to Weeze, or at least that's what they tell me. I fell asleep on the plane before we even got off the ground.

Bagpipes? Scotland: Day 1

May 1: So a very old friend of mine just finished his tour in Iraq and was supposed to be stationed in Germany again. He was, but then got orders to leave for Washington very shortly, so we planned a quick trip to catch up before he left. He drove to Belgium the night before, and then we left this morning at about 5am. We drove to Dusseldorf, Weeze actually, to the airport. This part was actually kind of fun for me because everyone assumed I was German... you know... even when they decided to search me and I had no idea what they were saying. Apparently I had a paper clip in my passport. Jolly good. Oh, and they took my shampoo. Sometimes I hate security checkpoints.

Well from there, we took a quick flight to Glasgow, Scotland, and quickly hopped a train over to Edinburgh. Of course the first thing we see when walking towards the hostel was a guy playing bagpipes. This is really the one country that I've been to where most of the stereotypes we have were proven to be almost true. It was AMAZING.

So we checked in to the hostel and headed off to Edinburgh Castle(top left and right), which had some just breathtaking views. It's built on top of Castle Rock, which is an extinct volcano. Ignoring the fact that it was something like 11 pounds (22 dollars) to get in, it was really interesting. There were something like 30 exhibits throughout the castle going through everything from the Royal Scots museum, to a War Museum. That was pretty interesting as they had recreated some scenes of PoW holdings, and had a lot of artifacts from different wars including weapons, uniforms, etc. The picture on the left is a re-creation of the sleeping quarters for PoWs. You could also go into the oldest part of the castel, a chapel, that dates back to the 12th century.

From the castle, we headed down the "Royal Mile" of Princess Street that pretty much hosts most of the important things in Edinburgh. As we were wandering, we made it to the Scottish Parliament. After seeing someo of the other Parliament buildings throughout Europe this one was less than impressive. It looks like it's either trying to create a plaid motif on the front, or that its decorations are left over from the 70s. From there, we checked out the Queen's Palace. Unfortunately, we could only look from the outside since it wasn't open to visitors any more that day.

Then, it was off to try some Scottish food. We went to a place where they served things like the "William Wallace Burger", but opted for something a little more traditional: Sausage and Mash. :)

Finally, to end the first night in Scotland, we walked down the other side of the city, to get a different view. You could still see the castle, but just from a different perspective, and there were some beautiful gardens along the way. Again, there were quite a few bagpipers along the way, so I insisted on taking another photo with one before heading back to the hostel to catch some sleep before an early morning.

Ardennes

April 26: So let's just establish that when I get stressed and busy, I forget about things like a blog. :) Therefore, you will all get an eyeful as I attempt to catch up on the last month or so. As promised in the last blog I went to the Ardennes! This is the nature-y forest area in southern Belgium (and parts of France, Germany, and Luxembourg) where people tend to go for hiking/camping/weekends away.

So my church was offering a long day trip down there for a conference on ministering to Muslims. I figured what the heck, why not? We went down, had a short lecture, a delicious lunch, another short lecture and then spent the afternoon hiking walking through this quaint little area. It was beaaautiful!

Wait... she's studying?

April 20: Well, I've gotten quite a few questions about whether or not I'm actually going to school in Belgium. I assure you that I do in fact have class. I just think most people aren't too interested in what I'm studying, but I'll give you a little rundown just so that you believe me. :)

-International Business: working on a case study of corporate international expansion methods.

-International Financial Management: currently managing an online worldwide steel company learning to hedge foreign exchange risk and currency exposure. My teacher is president of Indosuez bank of Luxembourg and is on the board of directors for many other large banks in Europe. Patrick Zurstrassen: Look him up. He's pretty cool.

-Corporate Social Responsibility: We have lots of speakers from the corporate sector presenting different aspects of CSR, and I'm working on a case study about the (un)ethical practices of Gap, Inc. in relation to (Product)Red.

-International Accounting Standards: I'm studying under the president of the Brussels Stock Exchange. Basically I'm just learning about the differences between GAAP and IFRS, and doing a case study/paper on the International treatment of Goodwill. (Exciting, right? :-p)

-European Public Affairs: We have alot of conferences in Brussels at different parts of the European Commission with members of the WTO, lobby associations, etc. I'm working on a case study of a recent nutrition regulation passed by Parliament, and researching lobby activity.

Ok, so after reading that, you probably have a decent idea of why I haven't talked too much about the school side. It's just not as interesting as Barcelona and Budapest. Classes finish the second week of May, and then exams start in June. This means the stress is finally starting to kick in. Anyway, the pictures are just some generals of my trips to the European Commission: the signs and flags of the european union, the Berlaymont building, and part of my European Public Affairs class and our teacher.

Oh yes, and yesterday, I went to Les Serres Royales: the royal greenhouses. They're the queen's gardens at the royal palace(upper left) in Brussels. They're open for about 3 weeks per year and they are absolutely beautiful. We spent a few hours there, and then walked around the city over to the Atomium. It's the magnified structure of an iron crystal built in 1958 for the world's fair. The first idea was to build the eiffel tower upside down, but that was nixed. It was only supposed to be around for less than a year, but is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a 109 meter tall iron crystal this year. Crazy Belgians.

Oh and of course.. waffles. Seriously. There's something about these things. This one is a little fancy with the strawberries and whipped cream. Usually, they eat them plain.

Next week: the Ardennes!

Barcelona Day 3: Adios!

April 1: I made it to the walking tour this morning! It explained the history of the neighborhood I was staying in, particularly the life of the Jews in Barcelona. Just like everywhere else, they had it pretty sucky. They weren't allowed to live in the city, so instead they had their own walled area in the gothic quarter, where they were self-sufficient. Other times in history, Jews would go outside the city center to live on Montjuic ("Hill of the Jews"). Other interesting things about Barcelona's history: they speak Catalan, not Spanish. However, under the rule of Franco, Catalan was forbidden to be taught, spoken, etc. When his reign ended, the culture kind of exploded, replacing all of the Spanish signs with Catalan, showing extreme Catalan pride, etc.

After the tour, I decided to just wander down to the port. I was walking around Barcelona for probably an hour and a half before making it down to the harbor, where I stopped for lunch and watched some small ships come in. Then, it was off to the beach. Seriously, we're missing out in MN. Anyways, I just layed down in the sun and took a siesta for about an hour or so, before I had to head off to meet my friend Maria. She's from Barcelona and we had planned on meeting up, but as it turned out, we had some other friends who were also in the city, so the 5 of us just ended up shopping the big streets for a while.

Here's another story that will probably make you question my sanity. When I made it back to the hostel, I looked up the night bus schedule, because my hostel runner recommended that I not walk to the bus station alone at 3 am. Well, that was all well and good, until I found out they don't announce the names of bus stops on the night buses. So, I sat there, hoping I would recognize something. Well, I didn't, and finally the bus was empty except for me. Oops. I went and talked to the driver, and he was really nice about it and insisted on dropping me off at the station. My own personal taxi! Seriously, I never knew those few words in spanish would be so useful!

I was still about 45 minutes early for the bus back to the airport, and the inside of the bus station was closed for the evening. There were alot of people around, so I wasn't too worried, and I found myself a nice bench to camp out on until my bus arrived. While I was waiting, this guy named Philip came and sat down next to me. He was from Ghana, and got the opportunity to come to Europe a month earlier. Now, he was headed to Norway to find work as a sailor. He never finished school, and was really interested in hearing about how to go to college. Anywho, the bus came right on time, brought me to the airport, I flew home, and took the train back to LLN where my spring break adventure came to an end!

Barcelona Day 2: Tour de Gaudi

March 31: So I missed the tour of the Gothic Quarter waiting for my friend to shower. Oh well. We decided to visit Park Guell instead. It was designed by Gaudi as a high class housing district because it was away from dirty factories, and had great views of Barcelona. The intention was to have something like 50 or 60 glamorous houses designed by Gaudi for the rich. There's a gorgeous courtyard, community buildings, etc. but the plan flopped. I think they said they only sold something like 2 of the plots of land and Gaudi bought one of them. Later, it was bought by the city and turned into a public park. Despite it's failure of a history, it is beautiful.

The walk to the top first leads you to the point of 3 crosses. It's quite a hike up there, but worth it. It's incredibly calm and peaceful, again with a great view of the city. From there, you hike down to the planned residential area, which looks a bit like Dr. Seuss invaded.

After spending some time walking around Park Guell, we walked the mile or so back down to the metro, and went to see the Pedrera. It was again, a house designed by Gaudi, but it had been turned into a museum. I got to tour an apartment that highlighted his architectural design style and some of his ergonomic furniture designs. The tour continued through the attic where there were lots of exhibits about his style, discoveries, and the history. Finally, we got to go up to the terrace. This was amazing. I mean, I think he might have been on something, but it was the coolest roof I have ever seen. Oh, and you can see the effects of the Barcelona sun in that I could NOT open my eyes. :-)

From there, it was a couple mile walk down to Santa Maria de la Mar. It was a beautiful church down in the southern part of the city. We just sat and enjoyed the ambience. There is something undescribably peaceful about the inside of an old church. From there, it was just a little ways back to the hostle, so Joy and I went back and met up with our friend Staci for dinner.... or so we thought.

Joy had one of those Lonely Planet tour guide books with restaurant suggestions. After wandering around for probably a half hour without coming up with anything on our own, we decided to heed the advice of the book. It was a ways away and we were excited because we were finally coming up on the building. We got there, and there was a guy on a ladder screwing a new sign into the front of the building. Bad sign. He asked us what we were looking for, and politely informed us that it had closed about 5 years earlier. Greeaaaat. However, he directed us to another place down a side street. It was a cute little place with probably 5 tables besides the bar. When we got in, we realized that everyone else was a local, the menu was all in spanish, and I would have to use what I knew. I was surprised at how much I could understand from just speaking French, but anyways, the three of us split empanadas, spanish tortilla (which is like an egg and potato quiche with no crust), and some fresh cheese and bread... along with some yummy wine! Not bad for 5 bucks each. It was getting pretty late, and the girls were leaving in the morning, so we headed back for some sleep.

First day in Barcelona

March 30: Well, my friend Joy, her friend Natasha, and I didn't really have any specific plans for the day, so we thought we would just wander and see what we found. We walked around La Rambla for a while, the Barri Gottica (Gothic Quarter), and finally decided that we needed to pick something to see. Why not start with Gaudi's houses? Sidenote: That's Gaudi in the portrait. I'm pretty sure he designed half of Barcelona. His buildings are amazing though, so I'm okay with it.

From the houses, we walked to la Sagrada Familia. It's this amazing church that was designed and started by Gaudi in 1882, and is still nowhere near finished. His quote to explain the time is that "my client is not in a hurry". By design, it can't be funded by the government at all. Gaudi said that if it wasn't built by donations and sacrifices of the people, it would defeat the purpose of a place of worship for the people. To give you an idea of how much still has to be done, there are supposed to be 18 towers in all. They get taller in importance representing the 12 apostles, 4 evangelists, Mary, and Jesus. The tallest will be 170 meters, which is one meter less than the natural highest point in Barcelona because he felt that "his work should not surpass the works of God". This guy was interesting. Anywho, we paid the 2 euros to take the elevator to the top of one of the towers, and fully enjoyed the view of the city.

When we left, we met another friend who was studying in Barcelona. Collin took us up to Tibidabo. It's like a mountain with a themepark and supposedly the ugliest church in barcelona on top. I'll just say they have some high standards, because it was still beautiful. We heard some music, and wandered through the parcs up there until we found it. It was some goofy guys in like a boxcar, dancing and playing live. Oh, and if I thought the view from la Sagrada Familia was amazing, this put it to shame. You could see Barcelona AND the next two cities over from up there(right and below).

Well, it was starting to get cold, so we decided to search out a place for dinner. This was going to be our night to splurge, but we ended up only spending 15 euro. Now, I know that's still quite a bit, but we were eating at a place right off the beach, and we got our Sangria, water, bread, fried mini fish (first course), Paella (second course), and Creme Catalana for dessert. Seriously, I could barely move, but it was so good. Oh yes, and I do enjoy acting like a 5 year old. Those guys in the picture were a couple of the shrimp in our Paella.

From there, we wandered along the beach and stopped at this really nice bar. It was cute with a good atmosphere, but with the equivalent of 15 dollar rum and cokes, I was glad I was so full I couldn't even drink water. We accidentally missed the last metro home (by about 30 seconds) and ended up taking a taxi back to the hostel.