Prague

We are currently in Prague and it is absolutely beautiful. We were supposed to be here 2 and a half days but unfortunately our first day got cut out because of a hell of a travel day. Allow me to elaborate:
We were supposed to take 2 trains to Milan and then get on our flight to Prague. We left at 4 in the morning, got on our first train, changed in Bologna, had to switch trains because our original train was delayed. The train we finally got on ended up being delayed 2 hours at a different station and then took a completely diverted route to Milan because someone committed suicide on the train tracks. We missed our flight and since we got such cheap tickets we just had to buy new ones because our originals were non changeable. We then had to take 2 planes to FINALLY find ourselves in Prague 20 hours later.
So 3 trains, 2 planes, and 1 taxi ride later, we found ourselves in our adorable hostel and the beautiful city of Prague.
Prague is a hodgepodge of different styles of architecture. I have never seen so many lavishly painted and decorated buildings before in one city. Prague is great to walk around and has a lot to offer, but the people here are not very friendly. It's not a place I'd want to live, but definitely a place worth seeing. I don't have very much to say about Prague only because we have mainly just been walking around. We took a walking tour yesterday in the rain and cold and got a tour of the old town. We're staying in the new town right under the castle and explored it today. It is absolutely huge and has one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen. The cathedral is very out of place compared to the rest of Prague though, since most other churches are Baroque style (which is very nice, but I am not the biggest fan of; I think it's too ostentatious) and the cathedral in the castle is gothic style.
Okay, enough about architecture; Prague is beautiful and unique and I've never seen a city quite like it. Another downside of Prague: they charge you massive amounts of money for the tiniest scoop of ice cream ever.

Florence

Sorry I haven't written in so long. Since I've skipped over 2 cities I'll just write separate posts about each.
Florence was absolutely amazing. I loved it so much and wish I could live in Italy. However, Florence would not necessarily be my first choice because of the high percentage of tourists and obnoxious Americans constantly on their blackberries. It is my favorite city thus far though.
Christine and I stayed in a nice hostel near the Duomo. We passed through the leather market several times and I even got some goodies. Christine's friends are studying in Florence so they showed us around. Since we didn't want to wait in lines or pay the high fees for museums, we mainly just walked around and ate tons of gelato and pasta. YUM. The two really touristy things we did was go to the Bobli Gardens (which were so worth it and beautiful) and climbed the bell tower next to the Duomo.
Thoughts about Florence:

• The Duomo is absolutely beautiful and dominates a magnificent skyline, but why is it so incredible on the outside and just a huge, almost barren inside? I was very confused and taken aback
• We were there the first really nice weekend (75!) and I got some "color" (aka sunburn)
• Really touristy but so worth it! I couldn't help but have a smile on my face while walking around
• Italians are so nice and outgoing and just love life. They are also really proud of their history and culture, which is why I think they refuse to adopt some Western technology such as dryers, dishwashers, and high speed internet.

On our last day in Florence we took a day trip to the region of Chianti and hiked through the vineyards and olive gardens of Panzano. Our hike ended with a wine tasting and a meal filled with pasta, salami, prosciutto, and olive oil that the vineyard also produced. We learned that Chianti wine can only come from the region of Chianti. Chianti Classico wine can only be made in 10 villages of the Chianti region, and the grapes must be closely monitored and can only be picked once some wine authority has said that the sugar content in the grapes is high enough. The first wine we tasted was Chianti Classico and it was definitely my favorite.

Overall, Florence was a great success. It is a place I definitely want to go back to and I am glad that I got to see other parts of Tuscany and attend my first wine tasting!

1 down 5 to go

Hello everyone!
I left Amsterdam early this morning and am now in Florence. Since I didn't have an Amsterdam/Holland post, I'll give you a few of the highlights:
1. love how everyone rides bikes
2. hate how everyone rides bikes because it is nearly impossible to cross the street with both bike traffic AND vehicle traffic
3. everyone is tall
4. I still love Amsterdam. Even though it's touristy and known for sex and drugs, it is such a unique city with so much history and more to offer than just the Red Light District and coffee shops. The canals, narrow streets, and house boats make me love the city so much for its distinct beauty.
5. I stayed outside of Amsterdam in an adorable town called Lieden. Between going back and forth between Lieden, Amsterdam, the Hague and the tulip gardens, I got to see a lot of the Dutch countryside.
6. Even though we went to the tulip gardens, few tulips were out. But the ones that were out were absolutely beautiful and the enormous garden was still magical.
7. Dutch cheese is delicious. Though we didn't buy any we got ample opportunities to try many different kinds in the multitude of cheese shops around Amsterdam.

this morning we had a bumpy transition between Amsterdam and Florence involving sprinting to the absolute end of Amsterdam airport and barely making our flight, getting diverted from Pisa to Bologna back to Pisa, and trekking through the narrow Florence streets with enormous suitcases.

Currently: in Florence. In love. Such a beautiful city I cannot wait to explore it more tomorrow! I have already eaten gelato and can't wait to sink my teeth into some spaghetti!

nom nom nom

Euro Trip

I'm out of my funk and ready to go on my 3 week Euro Trip.
I said goodbye to Edinburgh yesterday by going to the one sight I had yet to go to: Coloton Hill. It's a hill in the city with some monuments on top and gives great views of the castle and Princes Street.
I'm leaving in 10 minutes for the airport and can't wait to embark on this epic adventure. I'll keep you all updated!

Heatwave

I've become probably the worst blogger of all time, but this trend of sporadic and few posts will probably continue over spring break, which I am leaving for on Sunday!

Today was the last day of classes at the university for the year. The rest of my time here is break and the examination period. Even though people will still be around there will be far fewer and it won't be the same since everyone will be studying. It's been really weird for me to think that even though my time abroad is only 3/5 over, the life and routines I've gotten used to are ending. It's very strange and I'm in kind of a funk right now, which is a shame because I'm about to go on an amazing three week trip!

The weather here has been unbelievable. Yesterday it was 60 and people freaked out. I saw some girls sunbathing. I hiked up Arthur's Seat.

This is the most awkward post and I am so sorry, but this funk is seriously getting to me! I'm bringing my computer with me on my trip so I'll post whenever I can. However, I won't be able to post pictures so that might be a little boring, but I'll add pictures once I get back or create multiple slideshows of my trips.

Itinerary:

Amsterdam March 27-31

Florence March 31- April 3 (Cinque Terre April 2)

Prague April 3-6

Copenhagen April 6-9 (day trip to Sweden on the 8)

Istanbul April 9-16

So that's 6 countries, 6 different languages, 5 currencies, and 2 continents. Having such an amazing trip planned should seemingly get me out of my funk, but I am very sad to say goodbye to Edinburgh as I know it.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures I've taken this past week. Unfortunately, I am not in any of them. I'll make sure to get ample photos of your favorite face during my break!

Tom Riddle's grave!

Edinburgh from Arthur's seat

Sorry for Slacking

Hi Everyone!
Sorry I've been seriously slacking on writing here, but I've had a busy couple of days. I was going to write on Friday, but St. Patrick's Day wasn't too exciting and I ended up not having time after the rugby game yesterday.

St. Patrick's Day:
Though there weren't any parades or celebrations of epic proportions, the Edinburgh Irish Pubs were very excited to celebrate their home country's favorite holiday. Christine and I went pub hopping during the day and accumulated two St. Paddy's Day t-shirts and an awesome Guinness hat. All the pubs were playing Irish music and some even had live music. Many people were doing Irish jigs. It was a really fun and happy atmosphere.

Yesterday I went to the Scotland v. Italy rugby game and Scotland won! Woo hoo! We had terrible seats but it was a really great experience. People got decked out in their team's gear and many Scottish men were wearing kilts. The highlight of the game for me was during halftime when we found a little stage outside of the stadium with bagpipe players. I started a little dance party and a bunch of people started dancing to the traditional Scottish music.

little boys dressed in kilts and Scotland rugby attire

getting a full cultural experience: kilts, beer, and rugby

Mary Caroline, me, and Christine

The end of the dance party I started (kilt included):

Today me and Christine's friend Hannah arrived all the way from Colorado! She's staying with us for the week and we'll be doing a lot of touristy stuff with her so expect lots of great pictures!

Sorry this is such a lame entry after such a long time away. It's truly been a great couple of days and I'm sorry I can't express it more enthusiastically. All of my essay writing has taken all of the inspiration out of me. But don't worry--I'll get a second wind this week!

FREEDOM

I am finally done with all of my essays!! I finished my Irish Celtic paper today and turned it in along with another paper due today. I am so relieved and happy to be done! I am now released from the library wahoo!!

The past month I have worked on 4 essays. All together I: printed out 40 pages; wrote 10, 195 words; cited 25 sources; and cited 7 images. 

Since I've been complaining about my essays for so long, I might as well share with you what I thought was the most interesting things I learned:

• the banishment of tartan in 1746 eventually helped it become a symbol of Scotland even though it was originally only a symbol of the Jacobites (tartan was banned for 6 years).
• The Jacobites were a group of people who supported King James II of Scotland and VII of England (they're the same person, but James I of England was the 6th king of Scotland to be named James). King James II was forced out of the throne because he was a Catholic king in a Protestant country. This is the time in history when the Hanovers (current ruling family in England) were brought over from Germany to rule England as a protestant country.
• Bonnie means 'attractive'
• • poets in both Scotland and Ireland were highly respected and held jobs that allowed them to live a lavish lifestyle and sometimes own their own land under their wealthy patrons. The job of poet was hereditary and required years of education (up to 12 in Ireland)

So now you all know that I'm learning. And it is ALL about Scotland. I know a lot about Scotland, which is really nice. I understand more references in my Scottish Lit. class than most international students.

One of my classes tomorrow is cancelled because the teachers are on strike.

okay bye!