London...Wasn't It Loverly

Well, sadly but true, the first five days of my Christmas break didn’t go exactly the way I was hoping they would.  I've got  to say that this was the most epic adventure of my life.  I had quite a few incredible experiences and learned many valuable lessons.  Life Lesson #15 I learned on this adventure: Nothing is perfect, no matter how much of a perfectionist you are (like me, unfortunately) and that things don't always go the way as planned. So here’s my sad/turned out to be happy story in a nutshell:

My cousin Glenna arrived in Salzburg on Tuesday night during finals week. The plan was for us to leave Salzburg early Friday morning and take the train from there to Munich. Since we have been having loads of snowy weather here in Salzburg for the past two weeks, our train was extremely late. So we were waiting at the Salzburg train station for about 2 hours until our train finally came. The train ride from Salzburg to Munich takes around 2 hours, but since our train was so late, we arrived Munich quite late. The flight we were going to catch to Dublin was actually flying out of Memmingen, which is about 2 hours outside of Munich, so we had to change trains in Munich to get all the way out to Memmingen. This is the part when we knew for sure we were definitely screwed! Instead of two hours, this train ride from Munich to Memmingen took us well over 4 hours. The whole way it was snowing like crazy, so, yeah, we definitely missed our flight to Dublin. It was late in the afternoon, so there was nothing else flying out of Memmingen, but we did notice that there was a flight to London the next morning. So we just thought we might as well go spend a few extra days in London and just get a hostel for four nights before my Aunt Marge and cousin Ann got there. After a long and exhausting day of traveling, we got a cheap hotel room in Memmingen above a German Gasthaus (restaurant) that was in a totally red German-style A-frame-ish shaped building. The next day, we went back to the airport, checked in, went through security, customs, and waited in the terminal for an hour until we learned that our flight had been canceled due to the mass snow in London. Here we were really screwed and  had to come up with a plan C, so we took a bus from the airport back the Munich train station. Since the snow was so bad, we just decided to give up on planes and trains and decided to take the bus to London. That would mean going through the Chunnel, which I had always wanted to experience doing, but honestly, it was not exciting at all.  The bus didn’t leave until Monday, the 20th in the late afternoon, so we got a hostel for two nights in Munich and spent two days exploring the city. I’ve been wanting to explore more of Munich, so it was okay. We tried to make the best out of it.  We went to the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market), did some shopping, went to a Medieval Market (totally reminded me of PT!), ate some of the traditional German wurst, had awesome Indian food, and went on a historic tour of the city.  So, yeah, I'd say we made the best out of it, although I was really dissappointed that I didn't get to go to Ireland.  But heck with it!  I'm still here for 5 more months!  Alles gute!

Trying to get to London through the snow was very challenging. Going through the Chunnel was something I thought I would never get to experience doing.  The entire bus ride from Munich to London took 24 hours. It left Munich at a quarted the 6:00 in the evening.  Luckily I slept most of the way, which was a really good thing since I hadn't had much sleep since the beiginning of finals week. We arrived to the Chunnel the next morning.  To take the Chunnel, you have to go through A LOT of security.  If you are taking the Chunnel by bus, everyone is required to get off with all of their luggage, go through French customs, get their baggage X-rayed, and then get back on the bus.  It was a pain since I was really tired and my suitcase was somewhat heavy. But after that, there's more. When we got back on the bus, we had to get off the bus again (but without our bags thank God) and go through British customs.  It makes sense why both the French and the British would have such high security at the Chunnel, but still it was a hassle and very exhausting.


We arrived in London the day before my Aunt Marge and Ann got there, so we got a hotel near Victoria Station.  We had some good Turkish food for dinner that night and then went back to the hotel and crashed.  24 hour-long bus ride= EXHAUSTING!  The next morning we went for a nice walk through Kennsington Park.  It was so nice not to be rushing to get anywhere or carrying heavy bags.  We were just able to walk through and absorb the beautiful nature of Kennsington Park. My favorite part in the park (and all of London) is the bronze statue of Peter Pan.  As an English major, of coure, I've thought of so many differnent interpretations of James Matthew Barrie's renowned play of the boy who refused to grow up.  I wish I didn't have to grow up! London was absolutely beautiful. All of its archtecture, scenary, and history are all so fascinating.  Walking the streets of London made me feel like I was in scene from Mary Poppins- and I was constantly humming songs from the movie, too. The next day we went on a tour around London on a double-decker bus where got to see all the famous landmarks of the city such as Big Ben, Parliment, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, etc. That night we went to the stage performance of Dirty Dancing, which was absolutely amazing!

It was absolutely wonderful being in London for Christmas, but VERY different from what I'm used to. I was happy to spend it with family, but it was a little strange not to be celebrating Christmas with my parents.  Our Christmas was very simple. On Christmas Eve, we went to Harrods, which is a humungous department store with pretty much everything you can imagine- designers clothes, perfume, make-up, electronics, toys, appliances, you name it they've got it!  Then Glenna and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollow.  We spent all Christmas Day in our nice little town-house-like hotel that had a kitchen.  We made crepes for Christmas breakfast, opened stockings and presents, listened to music, watched movies, and had a nice and simple dinner.  Although I did miss my parents and friends back home, this was the most relaxing Christmas I had ever had. 

After all what I had been through trying to get to London, I was really happy to get back to Salzburg. My flight left London precisely on time and returned back to Salzburg safe and and sound.  I'm here in beautiful Salzburg for the next four days until I leave for Spain on New Years Day.  Better use these days to catch up on sleep!  Happy New Year!

Semester Done, Dublin and London Here I Come!

Whew, I made it! Wow, I'm halfway done with my sophomore year of college, if you can believe it!  I have had so many incredible and life-changing experiences these past 4 months, and it's not even over yet!  There are still many places I need to go visit before my time up is here.  In three weeks, Ireland, England, and Spain will be checked off my list and then I get to travel a lot around Greece and Italy on my spring tour.  I'm planning to get a lot more traveling in this next semester because I have absolutely no idea when, or if, I'll get to come back to Europe someday, so I really want to take advantage of travelling oppurtunitie this coming new year!
My final exams went okay, but I can't really say how I did until I see my results. I'll just say I think I did quite fine, after all I did pull at least 3 all-nighters last week. Crossing my fingers!  Now the pressure is over and now I'm off to a wonderful and relaxing time in Dublin and London for two weeks.  I'll come back to Salzburg for a few days, sleep, do laundry, and repack, and then my friend and I will be off to Spain on New Year's Day.  We will be going to Barcelona, San Sebastian, and Madrid.  It'll sure be a nice contrast in terms of weather conditions after spending 2 freezing cold weeks in the UK, that's for sure!
Wishing you all back home US, or any of you elsewhere in the world, the Happiest of Holidays!

Two More Weeks Until Freedom!

Well, everyone, I'm drawing really close to the end of the semester here.  To tell you all the truth, I couldn't be anymore excited for this semester to be over because 1) I'm so ready to be done with classes, 2) I'm excited to see my favorite cousin of all times for whom I haven't seen in a year and 5 months, and 3) I super duper and extremly stoked to visit Ireland and London.  I finish finals on the 16th of December and the next day, Glenna and I will fly out of Munich to Dublin. I'm going to have three weeks of complete freedom to do and see whatever I want in Europe and not have to think about writing papers or studying for tests.  Since I have my so called "three weeks of freedom,"  I thought it would make the most sense to travel to places that are farther away from Salzburg (i.e. Ireland, England, and Spain- which are the places I will be traveling to!).  Glenna and I will spend 5 days in Dublin and hopefully tour the southern countryside of Irealnd.  Then on December 22, we will fly to London and meet up to spend a week (including Christmas Day!) with her mom Ann (who is also my cousin) and my Aunt Marge (her grandma).  It is going to be a Christmas to remember and I couldn't be any happier, although I do wish my parents could come spend this wonderful oppurtunity with us!  But I'm just so thankful that I will be able to be with family during the holidays! 
Before I embark on this wonderful two week Christmas vacation in the United Kingdom, I have a few obtacles to jump through.  I have text book chapters I still need to read, projects to finish, and LOTS of studying to do!   Next week is our last week of classses, which in college terms is called "DEAD WEEK."  I've adjusted to the cultural and social difference here in Austria just fine, but the classes taught here and living and going to school  with the same 40 people has been a really big challenge for me.  I think these are to two major things that all of us have been struggling with here.  But, unlike everyone else here, I'm not homesick!  Don't get me wrong.  I really do miss my parents, friends at UP, some special people at St. Pauls, and of course my cat, but most of you will understand that I really needed to get out of  PT and actually experience the real world, which I have been doing.  I have totally been learning more outside of the classroom since I've been here, no duh.  To be honest, now that it's been a year and half since I graduated high school and all of my friends have moved away, I don't have anything left there except my family, St. Pauls, and precious childhood memories-that's all.  Yes, these are the roots of my life and I love my real blood-related family and St. Paul's family, but seriously, this is a time for me to experience living differnent places and meeting new people.  The longer I live away from Port Townsend, the more I will be able to appreciate it.  Will I ever come back? Maybe I will or maybe I won't.   It all depends on where life will choose to take me after my 8 months here in Salzburg. Port Townsend is the place where I was born and raised and it will always be a part of me, but now it's time to leave it all behind and go out and experience the real world, which I have absolutely been doing over here!
So please wish me best wishes and luck as I go through these next two (stressful and tiring) weeks of  the semester.  Before I know it I will be looking at the beautiful green fields of Ireland and I will not have school on my mind!