Blogs from Europe - page 14219

David, Katherine, and I left for the Netherlands on Saturday morning. Katherine had a cough, but we thought it was just a cold and that she was getting over it. Before we left Baumholder we stopped by the local post office to pick up some packages. The main post office is right by where we live, but the packages weren’t there. David said they were in this little shop that sold backpacks and bags. The place had a little German post office emblem on it, but it also had a sign for “LOTTO.” I thought it was just a little store that sold lottery tickets and had a post drop-box or something, so I thought David was crazy when he wanted me to stop there. I didn’t even get out of the car with him, but ... read more

Blue skies in the morning, and a spin through the famous, awesome Mercato Centrale (Rupert, if you're reading, this Mercato is on the list of places to see, and of course the Uffizi, though I didn't go-line was too long. Also we got out of tourist central and wandered around the U district, which was a little more of actual Florence). In possession of our bread, cheese and wine, we headed to the bike shop, got our gear, and headed out. I was a bit nervous about biking in the actual city, but it was really fine. Flagstone streets are always fun, but soon enough we were on paved streets and puffing up our first hill. As I was writing this entry, I was doing something I have dreamed about for ten years: sitting on top ... read more

No way. I actually began classes... over a week ago, now! I know, I know, my medal’s in the mail. But the past 10 days have been action-packed. The first day that I finally had courses scheduled, I actually had two classes overlapped, and I had to duck out of my “Studying and Working Abroad” in favor of attending a meeting about my Melitta design project I’ll be working on for the next 6 or 8 weeks. Yes, friends, that first class *is* being taught in English, and I would tell you more about it, but… I didn’t get to stay and hear about it myself. The Melitta project is a for-real-life thing, which is much more motivating than the for-practice-cause-it’s-good-for-your-health things I usually have at K-State. About 12 people in the product design discipline are ... read more

Bus rule number one If there exists one rule about travelling in buses besides rule number one which says that you always arrive later than expected, it is that you arrive too early that one time you definitely don't want to arrive early - as experienced in windy Vilnius. Our night bus from Warsaw which we happened to catch after a dramatic last minute run through town was all but leaving late. And there was nothing which could delay us. Traffic was running smoothly and the border crossing was a matter of minutes. So it happened that we arrived in Vilnius at 4 am already instead of the scheduled 6 am arrival. (We had a suspicion though that they had known it all along but didn't want to tell.) Late March mornings in Lithuania can be ... read more

ok. i've got a little bit more time now so going to give you a bit more detail. i'll start from the start of my tour that began on wednesday 6th at 6am. pretty boring morning. everyone was pretty tired, because it was so early so not too much socialising. i met my first friend - arielle (an american girlsat next to her, and have done ever since. we share a room too. anyway, the bus drove us to dover - saw the white cliffs and then jumped on the ferrry. got the ferry over to calais. good calm water, no seasickness for me. yay!! jumped backed on the bus and arrived in paris at about 4pm. we had dinner at our campsite, then went on a night tour of paris. it's the most amazingly beautiful ... read more