Oh Amsterdam, why do I have to leave you?! *went geocaching and had success! This is culture central, such an accepting, positive and free environment to be in. Everyone seems relaxed and chilled, not to fussed by other people's beliefs. But at the same time, the people seem to be social yet peaceful activists for the things they believe in, fighters against all injustices even if they don't necessarily concern them personally. For example, we saw an exhibition that was explaining to social climate in France at the moment where students are forced not to wear any religious icons to school. Whilst the exhibition didn't explicity propagate a wrong or right side to the argument, it did parallel this situation to the religious persecution of the Jews etc and also paralleling it to the communist regimes ... read more

I'm in the Deutschland! I absolutely adore Germany so far, first stop: Dresden! It is surprisingly beautiful and well maintained, despite it being bombed to smithereens in WWII. They have done so much to fix the place up and turn all the beautiful old buildings back to their former glory. I appreciated the Aussie restaurant we found called "Ayers Rock", had a yummy chilli chicken salad that really hit the spot. I'd like to come back here in the summer and get a warmer perspective of the place. Next stop, BERLIN!!!!! So excited xx Lex... read more

Today was a day I was both looking forward to and dreading at the same time. I've been studying and teaching about the Shoah (The Holocaust) for over 10 years now. I've been to Israel, been to the International Holocaust Museum at Yad Vashem, heard hundreds of survivor testimonies in person, but this is the epitome of it all. A concentration camp. Not any concentration camp, the biggest and most gruesome: Auschwitz-Birkenau. 1 100 000 thousand people entered the gates that read Arbeit macht frei (work makes free) between 1942 and 1944 and never came back out. Mass murder. Genocide. Extermination. Jews. Gypsies. Homosexuals. The disabled. Asians. Political prisoners. All persecuted seemingly beyond that of human capability... that is what makes this place so profound, that you can walk in and see the horse stables the ... read more

What an epic day we had yesterday. Breakfast in Hungary, lunch in Slovakia and dinner in Poland. Our bus also had a car crash in between. Not that anyone was hurt, thankfully, but it set us back 2 hours and we ended up risking around the centre of Krakow at 9pm and had dinner when I'd much rather have been in bed! But oh well, it's just another adventure I can add to the inventory :) Today we are heading into the centre of Krakow to check out the salt mines, the palace as well as a few WWII historical sites (like where Schindler's factory was etc). I will update again tonight xx much love, Lex.... read more

Got. to. love. Vienna!! Austria... I never knew! Such secrets you kept from me. Definitely my favourite place so far. We arrived in Vienna around 6ish, it was pitch black. We did a quick driving tour of the central city and then headed to the hostel. We had a quick costume change and then headed back into the centre to visit the Kursalon for a classical music concerts. It was so much fun, I enjoyed listening to Bach, Mozart (of course) and Strauss and got to hear some operatic singing and ballet dancing. All in all a great experience and I now feel so damn cultured!! We had a great sleep at the Wombat Hostel in Vienna (which was a super cool hostel) and in the morning Ella and I decided to see as much as ... read more