Wish I Had Time To Say More

I'm a little embarrassed that it has taken me this long to get back on here and will have to save the rest of my spring break story for when I get home because I've already got new stories to talk about. However, here are links to my Budapest and Munich pictures so you can check those out in the meantime if you haven't already.

Budapest
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2782244125374.2109781.1536330186&type=3
Munich
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2751051785585.2109119.1536330186&type=3

I started writing more about my past weekend but just realized that I have class in thirteen minutes so I cut it out and will work on it more after while. Sorry for such a short post, I'll get back to you with another one soon(er or later).

Take it easy

Best Spring Break Of My Life part 2

Alright everyone, this this one should be pretty good. I'm taking a break right now from the paper I have due on Tuesday and would much rather be doing this than that, so it hopefully it will be pretty interesting. I've been really busy the past week otherwise I would have written the second half of it by now. So far I've had two tests and a presentation this past week and have a paper due, another presentation, AND another test this coming week. As for the week it's been raining day in a day out, which I have absolutely no problem with, so today's a good writing day.

Ok, so where did I leave off? I think I was just about finished describing the first two days I was in Munich so I'll start with the travelling. So Friday we didn't end up getting on our train until a little after five pm but we nearly missed it. We seriously ran through the Hofbahnhof Central Station to make it in time for our train. From there we took off to Vienna. The train ride was about 4 hours long if I'm remembering correctly and wasn't bad at all; we ended up sleeping half way there anyways. And before I get to far into this, whenever I say we, I'm talking about my cousin Sara Beth and her friend, my new friend, Anna. We got to Vienna sometime around nine or ten that night, walked across the street to our hostel, unloaded our stuff, and headed out for a little while. I'll just say that there was 2-Stepping involved and leave it at that.

The next day was going to be the only full day we had in Vienna so we really tried to make the best of it and that's exactly how it went. First off, we tried to make it a city tour but didn't end up waking up early enough to make it there in time; off to a bad start but it gets better. So for the next hour or so we just wondered through the city and saw a lot the things that were listed on the tour guides handout that we had gotten from our hostel. Afterwards, as recommended by Anna, we went to Hotel Wien where they serve "The World's Best Chocolate Cake" and it truly was one of the best pieces of cake I had ever had.

Next on the agenda we saw St. Stephen's Cathedral, which was absolutely amazing inside. It was decorated in a lot of purple for the Lenten season and there was an orchestra playing inside; it was really something else.

After leaving the church we saw the House of the 'Supreme Ruler' of Austria for lack of a better word to describe her; you would think Queen but apparently whatever her actual title is was higher than that of a Queen.

Next we saw the Parliament Building and then the Rat House if I'm not mistaken; out in front of it was the entertaining part though. They had three gigantic BMX ramps set up and there were cyclists doing tricks and flips and all sorts of cool stuff you don't get to see every day. After seeing a few back flips and a hand full of crashes, we headed for the grocery store where we found this drink called Almdudler's. It's really almost indescribable what it taste like and how good it was. Also in the German speaking countries at the bars, they make a drink called a Radler; they may do it elsewhere as well but if so, I've never heard of it. Anyways, in Germany it's made by mixing Sprite and Beer together. However, in Austria, they make it with Almdudler's which results in what seriously tastes like fruit loop flavored beer. It's better than it sounds, take my word for it. So next on our list we went to visit the Belvedere by recommendation of my art teacher. The art was, needless to say, quite unique and impressive. Additionally, they have two parts to the gallery with an enormous garden in between the two of them.

Next up is probably the most exciting part of the day. In Munich, Sara Beth and Anna have a friend who's sister plays violin in the Vienna Orchestra for the Opera house. I'm not quite sure how all of this played out but after a few pulled strings, the three of us ended up getting 200 euro tickets, the best seats in the house, to one of the most prestigious Opera Houses in the world for a mere 15 euro. Now, at first I wasn't quite as excited as the girls were about the show but I was definitely excited we only had to pay 15 euro for the seats; however, I had no idea what I was in for. I had never imagined myself actually enjoying an Opera and found myself getting more and more into it as it progressed. By the end, I didn't want it to be over. Here's a picture I took of the stage:

After the Opera was over, we headed for the Prater Servus which is Munich's equivalent of a fair ground. It was pretty cool, they had a Ferris Wheel and everything. I also got a really good sausage hotdog/sub on the way out. On a side note before I finish the day, after the Opera on the way back to the hostel, check out what we found:

That night, we only slept for three hours before we had to wake up and head for the train station again; we were headed for Budapest.

I wanna write more but I'm out of time once again so I'll write about Budapest tomorrow.

Best Spring Break Of My Life

So I'm going to skip the apology for waiting a month to write this and go straight into describing my Spring Break because I only have an hour to write this! Hopefully it will still be as detailed as the others but if not then I'll make a part two.

So, this trip started off with me leaving Cannes at around 8 o'clock last Wednesday night for Nice where I would fly off to Switzerland and then Germany. The funny part is that my flight wasn't until Thursday; so, why did I leave on Wednesday? Because my flight was at 7 o'clock in the morning.... Surprisingly though, I got 6 hours of sleep while in airport so it wasn't too bad. Rightfully, I should have slept more except I was woken up by a rowdy group of Germans who had just returned from a Bayern Munich soccer game decked out in their lederhosen and everything. Anyways, I finally made it onto the flight, had a brief layover in Zurich, and then flew to Munich where I would meet up with my wonderful cousin Sara Beth. And on a side note, for those of you that have never flown with Swiss Air, it's a real treat; they give you chocolate mid-flight!

After making it to airport, I had to grab my bag and head for the metro, or S-Bahn as they call it here in Germany. After about 45 minutes and quite a few stops, I finally made it to Hauptbahnhof Central Station where I met up with Sara Beth. We then went and put my luggage in a locker and took off into the city for the day. I don't want to take to much time uploading pictures today just because it will take up quite a bit of time so here is a link to my facebook where I've got the pictures already uploaded so you can look at them while you read.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2751051785585.2109119.1536330186&type=3

We walked through a really cool part of the city and got to see the Hofbrauhaus which is the typical place people think of when they hear Oktoberfest. After that we set out for the English Gardens where we found the Chinesischen Turm (China themed beer garden? I don't really know how to describe it). While looking through my pictures, you'll see one of a tower which supposedly people dance in on special occasions and then another with me with a gigantic pretzel and an equally enormous beer. The pretzels here are so good that you don't need to put anything on them, though I'd wager it would still taste good with a bit of mustard. As for the beer, it's called Weissbier; the Germans are very famous for this. Next we went on to St. Peters Cathedral in the center of the city where we climbed to the top of the steeple and had a wonderful view of everything.

This is about as far as I'm going to get today so look forward to a part two and three at the end of the week.

Take it easy!

Midnight in Paris

Hey y'all, I guess it's about time I wrote another one of these. I can't believe it's been two weeks since the last one, sorry about that. This last week has been pretty busy though as we got to visit Paris for five days. I don't know that I'll be able to remember exactly what we did each day of the week but I'll do my best.

To start, we left the college on Thursday at 7:30 in the morning. That's quite early here as our classes usually don't even start until nine. We took the charter bus to Nice to catch our plane which left a little after ten so we ended up in Paris around noon. That particular day was the only one that the sun actually came out but that's to be expected. Our first stop was Notre Dame which has got to be one of the coolest church's I've ever seen, inside and out. Afterwards, we went to the hotel to get our rooms and drop off our things before having quite a bit of free time before dinner. With it, my friends Maxzene, Rachel, and myself went to find one of the world most famous macaroon shops (so I was told); the name was Laduree and they were amazing. Next we went in search of one of Maxzene's friends who worked at a fast food joint; we ended up getting free crepes. Afterwards, I ended up going back to the hotel to get a much needed siesta before heading out for supper. That night was especially unique because we had it on a 'Restaurant Boat' as described by my roommate Nick. It took us down the river and past the Eiffel Tour as well as quite a few other monuments. Not the best picture but it's still not bad:

Friday was a really good day in terms of how many different things we accomplished. The morning began with a tour of Le Musee d'Orangerie which is right on the edge of Tuileries Gardens. It had a lot of really nice art work including paintings by Monet, Picaso, Renoir, and possibly Degas. The one painting, or should I say four, that are burned into my memory from that morning are Monet's Water Lily pieces. They are absolutely stunning in person. After we finished there, we were given more free time to explore Paris on our own. I'm sure there's a more official name for it but we headed across town to see Napoleon's grave. Once there, we didn't think we were going to get in because not all of us had our passports but through the amazing persuasion techniques of our friend class, we ended up getting in for free. For such a little guy, his coffin was enormous! 

Also in the area were the World War I and II museums, as well as an Arms Museum (which turned out to be one of the most interesting for me on the trip.) I visited that particular place with my friends Kevin, Daniel, Clay, Stephen, Lily, Kaila, Audrey, and Jean-Philippe. However, when walking out of the Arms Museum I had somehow only made it out with Audrey and JP. We then got lunch and headed towards Montemartre, the most expensive area in Paris. This is where we found the Moulin Rouge (yes, just like the movie.) 

From there we went on a tour with a true Parisian who gave us a brief but interesting history on a lot of the buildings and places we saw in the area. At the end of the tour we ended up at the tallest point in the city where you'll find Basilique du Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart Cathedral.) The view from the church steps is nearly comparable to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, but I'll tell you about those a bit later. When entering the church, I realized that there was actually mass being held so that was quite an experience. I didn't stay for the whole service but it was really impressive to be apart of that. After leaving the cathedral, we were met once again with more free time. We then visited a market with painters everywhere in the square ready to create a masterpiece out of your face (which was actually the case with some of them.) We only stayed there for a short period of time before meeting back up with the group from earlier at the hotel to go visit the Louvre. Now, I regret saying this because it's slightly embarrassing but when we went to the Louvre, I B-Lined straight for the Mona Lisa, took a picture, and left. However, before judging me completely, we had been walking all day and I had been there before but missed the Mona Lisa so I had to get a picture. Here is it:

After retreating back to the hotel for a little while, we made our way out to dinner and then got to see the Eiffel Tower light up. For those who have never seen a picture, he's one we had taken. 

Saturday we woke up pretty early but with good reason; we were headed for the Eiffel Tower. Now before we actually got there I though for sure we weren't going to have the privilege of going to the top; I was wrong. After waiting in line for about fifteen minutes we began making our way to the top. The first lift we took went straight from the bottom to the second floor where we had to get off and into another line. The good thing is we, couldn't have waited but five minutes for the second lift. The bad thing is, if you hate heights then going up it is quite a doozy. I thought it was going to be bad but apparently my fear of hear aren't anything like that of a few of my friends. Here's a picture from the top of the city:

Finally, after descending a few hundred stairs we made it the bottom and headed out for food. I was really excited about that because we were on a man hunt for some chinese food, which I've been deprived of the whole time I've been here; needless to say, it was great. Once we were finished we made our way over to the Musee Rodin, most famously noted as the keeper of the Thinker statue. Here was the outcome: 

Myself, Nick, and Audrey then left the museum to go meet up with some of her friends who are studying abroad in Paris. We talked for a little while about all of the places we had been and were still planning on going Paris and then headed back for the hotel, once again for another siesta. The rest of the night consisted of Kebab's and good company. 

Sunday morning we had to check out of the hotel at nine o'clock and seeing as we didn't wake up until 8:15, we were a tad bit short on time. Our last major stop in Paris was the Arc de Triomphe which before then, I didn't even realize you could go inside of it. Here's the result from the top:

After leaving there, me and a few of the guys went to France's version of Burger King who's name is 'Quick.' This is where I got to experience the 'Dark Burger' which is only made by them in honor of the Star Wars movie being re-released in 3D. It was a double cheeseburger on a red bun with pepper corn sauce; pretty interesting really. We then made our last trip back to the hotel where grabbed out luggage and hopped on the charter bus to head back to the airport. 

That's my story from the weekend! As for everything around the college, it's going to be really nice this week with a high of about 65 degrees everyday and a low around 40; sounds like beach weather to me. We started our seminars last week which, while interesting, aren't exactly the most entertaining classes ever. But that's partly because on Tuesday's and Thursday's I have class from nine in the morning until six o'clock at night.... which is especially difficult to sit through when you can see the sun out the window. Oh well, at least it's only two days a week. 

Hope you enjoyed it and that everyone's having a fun spring break! 

Hayden

Firenze, Italy

So this last weekend AIFS took 30 of the students in my program, including myself, to Pisa and Florence in Italy. 

We left Friday morning from the college at 9 o'clock (I think) on a Mercedes charter bus; fortunately, I was one of the few who had two seats to themselves so I wasn't completely crammed in there. It took us about 5 hours to get to Pisa (our first stop) where we stayed for about an hour. It doesn't sound very long but if you've only heard of the Leaning Tower then an hour is plenty. The road that the tower was on is loaded with street vendors so everyone was either browsing around or doing as I did and b-lined straight for the gelato. At the end of the hour, after everyone got their photos taken, we clambered back onto the bus and headed for Florence; they are about an hour and a half away from each other. 

Once we made it to Florence we went straight to the hotel. It was situated in the middle of a square (which I would tell you the name of if it had one). The hotel we stayed in was really nice compared to what I though we would stay in. The last time I was in Paris, we stay in a really expensive hotel that wasn't very nice and my feet hung nearly a foot off the end of the bed. These, however, were nothing like that. It had a tall ceiling, long beds, a really nice bathroom, and a great view out the window. After that me and my friends Kevin Clay Steven Aaron Kylie and Hailie all set out in set for food. One of Kevin's friends had studied abroad in Florence previously and told us to go eat at the great pizza place called Gusta Pizza. Truthfully, it was probably the best pizza I've had in my entire life. Oh, and here's what we saw on the way there:

At the restaurant the tables were made out of large barrels with glass on top and everyone that goes out to eat there puts their names on a piece of paper and then slides it under the glass. If for any reason any of you ever go there, look for me! After dinner we just sat around in one of the restaurants in the square and had a Peroni, one of the more popular Italian beers. 

On Saturday we went on a walking tour of the city which started out kind of cool until we realized that the tour guide wasn't the walk-and-talk type. She would quite literally walk somewhere, stop, and then proceed to tell us the history of something for the following 20 minutes. Then we would walk a little more and stop. Again. In all honesty, it wasn't that bad. It would have just been nice if she had walked and talked so we could have seen more of the city at the same time. At the end of the tour, we came up on Saint Maria del Fiore Cathedral. I'm sure you've either heard of it or seen it but if not here's another picture: 

Afterward me and the guys I listed earlier, sans Aaron, decided to climb the the top of this Dome/Duomo. No biggy, it was only 496 stairs. Here are some pretty awesome pictures I took from the top.

After spending about 20 minutes just staring at the city, we started our way back down which may have actually been more frightening than actually looking over the rail at the top. By then it was nearly 2 o'clock which was only 30 minutes away from a museum tour we had planned. Once again, I'm not quite sure of the name of the museum was but I will say this one was particularly interesting. We got to see quite a bit of the work done by Botticelli and Donatello which was really impressive. 

After the museum visit, we had the rest of the day free. Aside from quite a bit of meandering, we didn't really do a whole lot. However, we did make reservations at a traditional Italian restaurant with hopes of trying real pasta while we were there; and that's exactly what we got. He's a picture of my supper from Saturday night: 

After we finished eat, we headed back towards the square trying to find something to do. After people watching for a little while, we decided to head to the Pub for a beer before called it a night and were greeted with quite a surprise; there was an Italian soccer game on. In an Italian pub. If that doesn't scream fun at you that you've never watched a soccer game with European's before; they get into it! It was really exciting for the majority of the time until the opposite team tied it up. Milan was playing Juventus (no idea where that is?) and seeing as we were American, we waited to see who everyone else was going to root for before we opened our mouths; it was Milan. Anyways, that's about it for Saturday night. 

Sunday was the day we returned to Cannes but we made two more stops before leaving the city. Our first stop was the Accademia Gallery, better known as the museum that holds the Statue of David. Now I'm fairly certain I wasn't supposed to do this but I couldn't help myself:

And for our last stop we went to where I wanted to be the whole trip: The country side.

So to finish the trip off, we spent 7 hours on the bus; but then again, it was a Mercedes (classy). 

As far as other things go, my French class is full of surprises every day. One day it will be the hardest class ever and then the next will be a breeze. I think it has a lot to do with how awake or not I am though... 

Anyways, spring break plans. I'm nearly finished getting everything planned. I'll be going to Zurich, Munich, Vienna, and Budapest. How about that? I'm really excited, especially because I thought for the last couple of months that surely I would spend all of spring break with our friends in Belgium. Sadly though they wont be there that week so I had to improvise. I'm also excited because I'll have my own person tour guide name Sara Beth aka my cousin's cousin who lives in Munich at the moment. I can't wait! 

I think that's about all I've got for now. Catch y'all later.

Hayden

Short short update

Hey guys, I'm not going to write much of anything this evening because I've got a test in the morning and still haven't had dinner yet but I did just put up quite a few pictures on facebook. Here's a link to it and I hope you enjoy them. The first link will be to my Panoramic pictures and the second from Florence and Pisa:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2519910407195.2103783.1536330186&type=3

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2596339277869.2105389.1536330186&type=3

I hope you're able to see them; if not let me know and I'll try to upload a few on here as well. I'm going to try to give a full description of the weekend tomorrow afternoon sometime after my test so check back tomorrow!

Y'all take it easy,

Hayden

Nice Carnival and other things

Hey there everyone, I don't have a lot for you this week but none-the-less I've still gotta tell you about my past weekend. We got to go to the Nice Carnival which is one of the world's oldest and most popular. It has been dated back to at least 1294 and is held for a two week period ending on Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras. When we were there on Sunday we only got to stay for four hours but that's alright, it was long enough to watch the parade. I think in this post I'm going to try and put in quite a pictures because that's the only way I can think to describe a parade. So, here you go:

                       Here's Lance Armstrong and all the "Drugs" he took during the Tour de France

                                                    Notice Obama and the Pope out front?

            The streets immediately following the end of the parade; looked a lot like snow from a distance

The man of the hour; this float represents France in the upcoming Summer Olympics

                                                          The sunset at the end of the day

That pretty much sums it up for the Carnival and the weekend. Tonight we're going to see a play in town call 'Croque Monsieur' which is apparently pretty famous; I thought it was just a sandwich haha. Also while I'm on the subject of food, Dr. Edwards if you're reading this my professor talked about food for the last hour and half of class today which just killed me because I had to wait that long for lunch! I thought you might appreciate that.

Later this week we'll be headed for Florence for the weekend so I should have some good pictures when I get back. I don't want to say when I'll post another blog because it always takes me longer than expected so, I'll get to it when I can (hopefully sooner than later though).

Happy Ash Wednesday and I'll talk to y'all later!

Hayden