Just another week in England... Three major events marked the last week for me: a fire in Alwyn Hall, the university's Summer Ball, and a trip to Southampton to see the the third installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean saga. Other than that, it's been rainy and cold and I haven't had much reason to go out or even leave my room, for that matter, since I have essays to write and a trip to plan. Only one more week until my mom gets here!!! Early hours of Thursday, May 24 -- The Great Alwyn Fire OK, so it [View Full Entry]

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It's been over four weeks since I returned from my spring break travels, and anyone who's kept up will see that I've finally caught up with the back-dated diary entries. Now that I've re-settled into Winchester life, I'm only looking forward to what promises to be the best part of my semester: my mom's visit and our 2-1/2 weeks of traveling. After that, it's home to the States, which I'm either dreading or anxiously awaiting, depending on the day. But for now, I'm getting through crunch-time with my essays, enjoying the last weeks with my Winchester friends, and sorting out [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, friends and family! It's been awhile since I've updated, I know, but typing a blog and uploading pictures while traveling is quite near impossible. I barely had time to keep up with my hand-written diary during this last month of traveling, as it was! But I arrived, safe and sound, in Winchester last Sunday and have been unpacking, recuperating and frantically writing essays ever since. Plus, my laptop's hard drive is fried, and has been in the shop all week, getting replaced, which makes communication and homework much more difficult. My goal is to add back-dated entries this [View Full Entry]

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I had authentic German food in Munich, a sobering day trip to the concentration camp Dachau, two days alone exploring the sights of Berlin and an up-and-down night out in the city in our last country of the month-long trip. Tuesday, April 17 Travel to Munich and meet back up with Betsy. Nothing eventful to report about the train ride, except the outstanding countryside, again. I watched the purple sunset over a vast lake somewhere between Switzerland and Germany. The Munich train station is huge, accomodating and clean, but kind of sketchy at night. We found out w [View Full Entry]

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Beautiful Switzerland did not disappoint, despite some initial panic that I wouldn't get to spend even one day in the mountains. We ended up in Interlaken, where I did something that has shocked everyone I've mentioned it to: I went para-gliding! Monday, April 16 Arrival in Bern and rest up in the hostel for tomorrow's adventures. We arrived in Bern with plenty of daylight to spare, but had a frustrating time figuring out which tram to catch. The streets are very unorganized and lack crosswalks for pedestrians. I expected better from such an expensive, highly taxed [View Full Entry]

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Moving north into a cleaner, more Westernized country was a bit of a relief. I adored Salzburg (Sound of Music tour, visits to Mozart landmarks) and was impressed with Vienna (Schonnbrun Palace, Vienna Boys' Choir, a carnival). The mountain views didn't hurt, either! Thursday, April 12 Travel by train for 5 hours into Salzburg, Austria, only to spend the night in a crowded, noisy and smelly hostel room. My jaw literally dropped soon after we crossed the border, thanks to the amazing views of the Alps. I snapped a few pictures, but couldn't do justice to the absolut [View Full Entry]

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I didn't think Italy could get any better... but then I got to Venice. Such a beautiful, unique, romantic city! Monday, April 9 Travel to Venice and get settled at Mary's cousin's apartment. The Florence-Bologna train ride was absolutely awful! Half the tickets were reserved and half not, so we got gradually kicked out of our nice little compartment as people claimed their seats, into the 18-inch-wide aisle -- trust me I know the measurement after being crammed in their for an hour -- with all of our things and crowds of people. Trying to ignore the lack of persona [View Full Entry]

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Thursday, April 5 We had an afternoon of travel to our campsite in Florence, Italy. At Rome's Termini train station this afternoon, we discovered that we needed to make a reservation for our train to Florence -- despite our Eurail passes! This upset us, especially when we realized most trains in Italy require this. Having no choice, we forked over €15 to get our seats. Then, Betsy and I didn't see "Firenze" on the list of departures, and were getting worried at the departure time approached, but Mary helped us figure out that our city was a stop on a [View Full Entry]

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Oh, how I loved this city! Italy doesn't disappoint, and though some of the Roman sights are just like you see in pictures, nothing can take away the experience of standing on the steps of the Colosseum... throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain... or gazing up at the Sistine Chapel. Tuesday, April 3 I LOVE Rome even more after our first day! We saw the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Il Vittoriano, and other famous buildings and ruins on that square. Last night we had some time to soak in the unusual atmosphere of Freestyle Hostel before heading to bed. It's [View Full Entry]

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Saturday, March 31 A sleepless night followed by a long, boring day = not much to write about. There was a storm, with pouring rain and howling wind, during the night. I got up at one point to see the palm trees thrashing back and forth, just like you see on TV for hurricanes. Scary! We chowed down on the last of our cereal and milk and ended up sitting in the lobby for the rest of the afternoon with our luggage, since our flight didn't leave until late that evening. Played cards... read books... ate lunch from the grocery store... [View Full Entry]

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