yes, so its been a while. <i have lots to catch up on...krakow, moravsky krumlov (czech), bratislava, vienna, and budapest. right now am in <ljubljana, slovenia, where i have found my heaven. it exists in the form of an open air fruit/vegetable market thats open mon-sat. the berries are sooooo good. its a very relaxed, beautiful city with great, unassuming people. and yesterday was free museum day, i went to 5 museums bc they were open till midnight, and of course stumbled upon free food, then spent my night on a floating bar on the river. am staying in this counter-culture [View Full Entry]

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On this day we woke up and immediately went to catch a bus to Bled. Bled is a picture perfect little town nestled in the Julian Alps. It has a lake with an island with a tiny catle in the middle of it. After returning from Bled, we walked all over Ljubljana to see the sights there. Because Ljubljana also has a castle situated on a hill we made two strenuous climbs in one day, but the views were worth it. [View Full Entry]

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I had heard very good things about Ljubljana from many, many different people. Since I wasn't able to see it on my trip to Europe last summer, I was eager to get a chance to see it (and figure out how the hell it's pronounced) this time around. We arrived in the city late at night after a train ride from Vienna. Walking through the moderately tall, modern buildings in between the train station and the central, historic portion of the city, I had the distinct feeling I was in Montreal, Bethesda, or some other little, northern, well-to-do city. Everyone on [View Full Entry]

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From Ljubljana we took a day trip to picturesque Bled, a little hamlet situated in the Julian Alps. Like Ljubljana, many people had given it a strong thumbs up. It's setting in the snow-capped Julian Alps is predictably magnificent. The Bled-area consists of a tiny town in front of a nice sized lake that is surrounded by high hills and large hotels. In the middle of the lake there's island that contains a monastery. Atop a cliff there lies Bled's castle. There is a little chapel on a hill next to the castle's cliff. Since we had rushed to get up [View Full Entry]

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On Day three of my travels I started in Vienna. Jason and I were lucky to be able to see the main graveyard in Vienna where the graves of many famous composers are. We hopped on a train to Ljubljana in the afternoon. The train ride took 6.5 hours during which we saw some interesting countryside and slept some. Once in Ljubljana we had dinner at a place called Sokol which caters to tourists, but has very good food. After dinner I tried a local pear liquor that was very strong. Here are some pictures... [View Full Entry]

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I woke up early and caught the nice breakfast that they were serving. Then I ran into Chris and we made tentative plans to go to Zagreb together. After I hit an internet café and headed into town for a quick lunch. I passed by Lili’s shoe store and said a weird goodbye. Then I hauled ass back to the hostel through the rain and grabbed my stuff out of the luggage room. Chris was already gone so I headed to the train station myself. I arrived in Zagreb a bit after 6pm and gegan wandering in the underground mall by [View Full Entry]

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The early morning ride through Eastern Slovenia was beautiful. The train ran beside a river with mountains rising on each side. The morning mist, which had not burned off yet, added to the scene. I believe all of us would have liked to stop and spend several days here. The quaint mountain villages begged to be visited, at least in my mind. There was little traffic on the two-lane road that ran along the other side of the river. We noticed the wild, turbulent water became very calm and placid. Soon we understood why. A low dam blocked the rapid flow [View Full Entry]

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Geez, I guess I have let the time slip away because it has been a long time since the last blog update, but life has been cruising along quite smoothly. In a sense that means that I haven’t had too many exciting things going on OR I have become somewhat acclimated to my new home. I think the latter is most true because I’m getting ready to fill you in on some of the events of the past month or so. First of all, as of yesterday, I am now entirely finished with the three courses required for me to fully [View Full Entry]

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A word about my friends here in Slovenia I think is in order. I think that I have scarcely mentioned them since my arrival, but they have been an integral part of my cultural exposure and adaptation since I arrived here in Ljubljana. It really is amazing when I sit back and think about it now. This is because the international community here in Ljubljana numbers around 180 foreign students, which is not an incredible number; however, it is very well organized and tight knit. There are activities for us nearly every day of the week. A normal week might go [View Full Entry]

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It has finally arrived: the sun is shining, the birds chirping, the people are out in force in the outdoor cafes, and the world becoming painted in beautiful hues that give added color to everyone’s life. That means that it’s time to be outside; to enjoy the rustic and beautiful city of Ljubljana. Today, the sun was shining and the temperature was hovering around 18 degrees centigrade (64º F). The course that I was supposed to have today was cancelled because the professor was vacationing in Montenegro. So, I decided that it would be a good afternoon to get outside and [View Full Entry]

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