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Renan - Renan Grace

My name is Renan, and I'm a 20yo student from Perth in Western Australia. I'm studying a combined degree in civil engineering and psychology at the University of Western Australia, and will spend the next year on two consecutive study abroad programs.

I'll be studying at Penn State University in the USA for the Fall 2007 semester, and will then head to Uppsala University in Sweden for the Spring 2008 semester. In between I'll do some travelling in the USA and Europe, and after Sweden, I have about seven weeks to get a teaser of Europe.

Feel free to subscribe to my blog, I hope you enjoy following my adventures!

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Joined on: August 6th 2007
Last Login: November 14th 2009

Blog Entries: 42
Photos: 432

TB Code: [blogger=44863]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by Renan, order by Date newest first.

By Renan
January 18th 2009

Aotearoa: Auckland & Leigh Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » Devonport

Auckland skyline

I arrived in New Zealand on the 12th in the late afternoon. Louise picked me up from the airport at Auckland and we checked in to a hostel she had booked. That night we wandered around the city centre and had a good Indian meal in Parnell. The next morning we went to some local markets, to the Auckland Domain park, and then to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. The museum was good, Louise showed me lots of (stuffed) local wildlife and we saw Maori pieces and a culture show which was awesome - complete with Haka and fighting technique demonstrations. [View Full Entry]

By Renan
July 29th 2008

Amsterdam, Brussels and London Europe » Netherlands » North Holland » Amsterdam

Canal

I arrived in Amsterdam at midday on Friday the 25th of July. I picked up my backpack only to find it almost completely destroyed, and sadly no longer had Louise there to sew it up for me :( In Amsterdam I was staying with my good friend Tamar, who lives in Amsterdam, but I had met in London th previous semester where she was also doing exchange at UCL. I took the train from Schipol airport to the centre of Amsterdam, where I met Tamar's older brother Jurjen at the station. I dropped my stuff at Tamar and Jurjen's apartment (Tamar [View Full Entry]

By Renan
July 16th 2008

Greece: Athens and Santorini Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini

The Parthenon

We arrived at the very modern (thanks to the 2004 olympics) Athens international airport around lunchtime, and waited an hour fr the train to athens. We went out immediately to the centre of the tourist area (Monostaraki) looking for cheap food, and didn't find it. We kept looking, and eventually gave up and had expensive food. We had greek salad, potato salad and bread from a little cafe on Monostaraki. It was very good, and set off an unprecedented run of greek salads (we had one every night that we were in Greece). After our meal, we headed to the ruins [View Full Entry]

By Renan
July 16th 2008

Roma Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome

Michelangelo's Pieta

We arrived in Rome on the 13th of July at 9pm. We then took the train and the bus to the camping village we were staying at on the outskirts of the city, not too far from the Vatican. The village was not very central, but a very quick and easy 1 euro bus and train ride, so we were quite pleased with the location. The company (plus) was the same company that we had used in Florence. They have decent facilities but they strike me as a faceless mechanised corporation. The staff don't really give a shit and you have [View Full Entry]

By Renan
July 11th 2008

Cinque Terre and Florence Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre

The view

We caught the 7:40am train from Venice to La Spezia on the morning of the 10th of July. We arrived at 12:40pm, had lunch and left our bags at the station. We then took the short train trip to Monterosso, which is the furthest of the five towns at Cinque Terre national park, separated by a series of scenic hikes. When we arrived at Monterosso, we went straight down to the beach, after I bought a new pair of sunnies (I had lost my old pair in Austria. We went swimming crammed between two private beaches (we didn't want to pay [View Full Entry]

By Renan
July 10th 2008

Venice Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice

Canal

Louise and I arrived in Venice by train at 6:30pm. We spent some time trying to figure out how to get a ticket for the bus (it requires either a phD in transport or some basic Italian), and took the bus to our hotel. Our bus driver was the most stereotypical Italian I can imagine and was therefore a very bad driver with aviators (yes at night) (note: that might be a reconstructed memory). We wandered around for a while trying to find the hotel, asking some locals and getting some blank stares. When we found it we checked in and [View Full Entry]

By Renan
July 7th 2008

Austria: Vienna and Innsbruck Europe » Austria » Vienna State » Vienna

A clear case of sexual repression

I arrived in Vienna a little after 10am on Saturday morning, and met Louise where she was waiting for me on the lawn outside Westbahnhof station. It was great to see her again after over a month apart. We went to the hostel, left our bags and then walked down the shopping strip to the centre of town. On Louise's Lonely Planet guide's recommendation, we took the tram on a circle route around the centre. After seeing many rundown buildings and crappy neighbourhoods we concluded that either the author didn't go to Vienna, or this place is a bit crap. We [View Full Entry]

By Renan
July 5th 2008

Czech Republic: Prague and Cesky Krumlov Europe » Czech Republic » Prague

Karlstein

I arrived in Prague at 9:30pm on the night of the Euro 2008 final. I met Martin (my Czech flatmate from London) at the train station, and we took the underground to the flat we were staying at, owned by a friend of Martin's Dad. We met the owner to grab the keys, dropped our stuff off, and went to the pub for a one dollar fifty pint (!) (a good one at that) and watched the end of the game. Spain beat Germany, and people seemed to like that. Maybe there's some anti German sentiment still lingering from WWII... On [View Full Entry]

By Renan
June 26th 2008

Berlin Europe » Germany » District of Berlin » Berlin

Brandenburger Tor

I arrived in Berlin at 10am on Wednesday. I went to the hostel, dropped my bags and walked straight to the Brandenburg gate. I had lunch and then went on a "free tour" (it's tip based) of Berlin. The tour lasted four and a half hours and I really enjoyed it. The guide was really good and he told us some German history and showed us around former communist East Berlin. I really like Berlin, it has some weird energy. It's so steeped in history. I instantly had the feeling that my four days here will not be nearly enough. We [View Full Entry]

By Renan
June 24th 2008

Deutschland: Kiel and Hamburg Europe » Germany » District of Hamburg » Hamburg

Boats in Kiel

I arrived in Kiel on the northern coast of Germany (on the coast of the Baltic sea) on June 21 in the mid afternoon. The train from Copenhagen took about five and a half hours, but went very fast due to the very good book I was reading, "Unweaving the Rainbow" by Richard Dawkins. When I arrived in Kiel I was greeted at the train station by my friend Janine who i studied with at Penn State last year. She lives and studies in Kiel, a town of about 250,000 with a lot of students. My trip fortuitously coincided with a [View Full Entry]

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