This was my first time to Paris. It was truly amazing. I got to meet my Italian friend Serena and spend four wonderful days there. Since these entries are only reflections, I thought I would add a story the I wrote after I got back. So here it is: Obviously I flew out from springfield to Minneapolis. I arrive in the twin cities only to have a really long layover. After the long wait, I board my plane with the destination of Amsterdam. I am glad and excited that I was on the plane, but notice we are sitting on board [View Full Entry]

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My brother and I went to this show. Why would we travel all the way to London Ontario from Springfield Missouri for just one day? We are crazy. I would travel to see Pearl Jam in a heartbeat. Their live show is the best I have ever experienced. Here are some photos: [View Full Entry]

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This was my second trip to NYC. I got to meet Greg again, Adam from Poland, and Kelly from Minnesota. I also met up with my brother's friend Jeff once again. This time around, I was serious about having some fun. We did it just like in Latvia. We stayed at the Carlton Arms Hotel. They use hotel a little too freely. This was and is a hostel. Back in the day, it used to be a whore/gambling house. It was a very creative place nowadays. Every room is painted with a different mural/motif. It was very interesting. Some of the [View Full Entry]

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So this was my first trip to the NYC. I was travelling with my brother Tim Eakins. We met his best friend Jeff and my very good friend from Latvia: Greg. It was going to be a very intense trip. Tim and I were wanting to see as much of New York as possible with spending the least amount of money as possible. We got to visit most of the tourist sites as well as seeing how flat life works in Brooklyn. Posted are a few pics. There aren't any really exciting stories from this trip. It was just nice to [View Full Entry]

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So the group from the University of Eau Claire thought it would be a great idea to share the American custom of Thanksgiving with all of the Internationals. There was wonderful food and everyone participated. It wasn't like my traditional Thanksgiving where I sleep in a wait for my mother to make everything. Everyone participated by making something traditiional from their home countries. I being an American went a bought a bottle of wine and a premade cake. We are a fast paced culture and that had to be represented right? Here are some wonderful photos. You might be wondering what [View Full Entry]

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This was a trip that was decided the day before. We lived by the seat of our pants while in Latvia. The trip consisted of me, Greg, Kelly, Serena, Mario, and a girl that I would prefer to leave anonymous. It was a very fun journey. We stayed at Hotel Eva. This is the trip where I convinced Greg to buy a SLR digital camera. He was going to buy a new camera anyway, but I think my help made him buy one a little more expensive. I bet he is happy with the decision now. At check out, we had [View Full Entry]

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Okay, so I don't really know the date of this trip, but I do believe it was in November. The date really doesn't matter. This place was in the middle of nowhere. Greg and I had tried to go before but I think it was my fault we were late, so we missed the train. But we decided to go another time and Serena came with us. This was an interesting experience. I didn' t know what to expect or the feeling I would have being in a concentration camp. The train ride wasn't really too long, but long enough you [View Full Entry]

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I don't remember if this was actually on November 5 or not. All I remember is it is after Oct 31. The reason was that some of our group was in Russia. We were going to reserve a bar, but we would have to of paid for it. We were all very cheap and poor so we decided that we would just try to take over the bar. We went to the Orange Bar in Riga and take over it is what we did. Many of our group dressed up and participated in a wonderful/memorable night. Serena and I decided we [View Full Entry]

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Me, Greg, Kelly, Steff, Steffs Mom, Laima. A very fun outting. Climbed a giant hill. All in all, was fantastic. [View Full Entry]

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This was me and Gregs first real outing together. It was a wonderful experience. We went to the castle and realized that the bus was going to leave soon and we were really far from the station. We decided to hitchhike. Many cars passed and it seemed hopeless until a man stopped. He picked us up and started talking to us. We told him our situation and that we wanted to go to the station. He didn't seem to care. He wanted to take us out to eat or just hang out. Finally he understood that we had to go. It [View Full Entry]

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