Mussels in Brussels

A relaxing weekend in Amsterdam after I got back from Budapest was exactly what I needed. The week after was consumed with school projects and papers, so to take the stress off Jaclyn and I decided on Friday night that we would take a train to Belgium in the morning and pay a visit to the Loyola troops in Leuven.

Town Hall

On Saturday morning, November 13^th, we arrived in Brussels to meet up with Nellie, Katie O, Alex, and company to wander around Brussels. It was raining when we got there so in order to take cover we popped into chocolate shop after shop and took full advantage of the free samples. And as if we couldn’t get enough we even went into the chocolate museum to see how it was made. The museum was actually pretty boring, but it did have free samples so I wasn’t complaining. After we ate all the chocolate we physically could we found our way into the more modern part of the city to check it out. The air in this section of the city was consumed with the smell of freshly made waffles and it smelt delicious. So after a while of trenching through the rain and checking out the EU buildings we went back to the old town square and found a restaurant for a late lunch. A bunch of us had madame croques, but as we were in Brussels Jaclyn was brave enough to have mussels. Apparently they were good so I guess it’s not a myth to get mussels in Brussels.

Manneken Pis

After we had dried off a little we decided to skip the trip to Delirium Café, a bar that has the most different kinds of beer representing 75 different countries, and instead headed on a journey to find Manneken Pis. The fountain was supposedly ‘difficult’ to find, but turns out it was right down the road from the town hall. We knew we found it when we saw a crowd of people taking pictures and once we got closer we were finally able to see the little guy. And I’m not kidding when I say little because he was in fact TINY! I almost had to squint to see him up there. Apparently he’s famous because of a few tales, but I honestly couldn’t believe that little statue was what all the hype was about. In every souvenir shop replicas were crowding the windows so I figured the fountain would be bigger than the size of my hand. But I guess that makes it all the more humorous. To end our visit at Brussels all of us got Belgium waffles, typical right.

After our waffles the group of us headed back to the train station to hop a quick ride to Leuven, a small city in Belgium where they are studying. Jaclyn and I were staying with Alex so she was able to show us around a little. Their classes are located throughout the city, which isn’t a big deal since the city is miniature equipped with quaint cobblestone streets, and they all live in a dorm style building. Once we caught up with some of the other Loyola kids studying in Leuven Alex took us out to experience Belgium beer.

Wafflessss

Only a 5 minuet walk from their dorms lies a strip of bars that is famous for being known as the longest bar in Europe. The bars varied with different types of music and atmosphere that would suit anyone, as well as beer. My favorite was Karmeliet but they were all good.

Soon our short weekend trip was over and on Sunday we headed back on the train to Amsterdam. The next weekend the Belgium crew had a field trip to Amsterdam so we were looking forward to one last hurrah them.

A week in Budapest and Vienna

Parliament in Budapest

For the last week of my two week break I had plans to travel to Budapest and Vienna with Victoria and Mara. We were flying out of Brussels on Monday afternoon, which only gave me Sunday night to relax in Amsterdam after Copenhagen. So on Monday morning I repacked, took a 3 hour train ride to Brussels, and then proceeded to hop on a bus to the airport that was an hour away. When I finally arrived Victoria was waiting for me and although I thought I was cutting it close with 30 minuets to spare before boarding, Mara was MIA. After not being able to get in touch with her Victoria and I went through security and hoped we would see her running through the gate at any moment. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and the flight left without her.

It was dark when we landed in Budapest and with no hostle reservations booked Victoria and I picked one from the many pamphlets and found our way to the Boomerang Hostle. Originally we had planned to take a train straight to Vienna, but with Mara stuck at the airport for the night we had to improvise. So on Tuesday morning Victoria and I decided to explore part of Budapest. Since our hostel was right next to St. Stephen’s Basilica that was our first stop. The outside of the church was huge with a circular architecture, but it was what rested inside that was most interesting. Once the King of Hungry, St. Stephan is loved by the natives for being the first to introduce the Christian faith to the Hungarians. Inside the basilica named after him lies a relic, his hand. And it was pretty gross. And black.

St. Stephen's hand

After that lovely viewing we headed down to the river and checked out an indoor market. Now some people may be into dead hands and all, but I thought the market was awesome. It was two floors, the bottom floor fresh produce, meats, and cheese, and the top was vendors selling all different kinds of goods. The culture we saw there was really interesting because we were able to observe the natives in their element. After the market, we walked across the river to the Buda side and were instantly drawn in by a castle like structure carved into the mountain. Out of curiosity we decided to find out what it was. The white crucifix at the top should have given it away, but it didn’t so we went inside and were then told it was a cave church. Further intrigued we took a tour and found it actually to be quite amazing. The inside was a hollow cave that people today still attend mass regularly.

Cave Church

Citadel

After learning a thing or two more about St. Stephen we left the cave church and kept going up the mountain to the top of the Citadel. From the top of the mountain we were able to see an extraordinary view of the Pest side of the city as well as part of the hilly Buda side. We also had enough energy to take a quick tour of the Citadel. We learned that it was used as a military bunker throughout history and was occupied by the Nazi’s during World War II. Inside the bunker were Nazi mannequins and the story of the hardships Hungry endured throughout history as it struggled to gain independence from being occupied time and time again. At the top of the Citadel now lies a statue of a woman holding a feather, which is meant to represent peace. After a long day Victoria and I waited for Mara’s arrival in a little place called Mozart’s Café. I actually read about the cafe on one of the in-flight magazines, but it definitely did not do it justice. The café reminded me a lot of the Paper Moon Diner in Baltimore with random decorations and a unique setting. It also had delicious homemade tiramisu that instantly won me over.

view of Pest

part of the Buda castle

On Wednesday the three of us spent the entire day on the Buda side of the river up in the castle area. We spent most the day exploring the Buda castle as well as the underground labyrinth, which is one of the underground 7 wonders of the world. The labyrinth is a series of tunnels and is essentially a maze underneath the castle. It was used for many purposes, including a wine cellar (now that’s a lot of wine) in the past, but today is just a museum. There were some incredibly creepy things down there, like random statues, cave paintings, and even a part that tried to convince you that, well aliens existed. Hmm pretty sure Dad would have like that. The sun was starting to set by the time we made our way back to our hostel to grab our bags a hop on a train to Vienna.

inside the labyrinth

inside St. Stephens cathedral

Our first day in Vienna was spent getting to know the culture of the city. We first explored the museum area and then headed towards the impressive shopping streets where ironically St. Stephen’s cathedral was located. The church itself was beautiful and the gothic architecture was impressive, but by the end of the trip I decided I had seen enough of St. Stephen. After the church we immersed ourselves in the traditional foods of Vienna, wienerschnitzel and sachertorte (chocolate cake). To end the day we booked tickets to a Beethoven and Strauss concert to complete the three things typical of Vienna culture. The next day we hit the Belvedere Palace, which is now an art museum where we saw famous works such as Gustav Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ as well as other equally extraordinary works. After that we headed to Schonbrunn Palace where we walked around the impressive outside gardens and fountains. It was a beautiful fall day with the yellow leaves carpeting the ground, but it was the sight of seeing my first SQUIRREL in three months that made my day. And to top it off the little guy was so friendly and almost ate from my hand! Eventually Mara and Victoria tore me away and our quick trip to Vienna was over as we headed back to Budapest for the remainder of our vacation.

Look, a Squirrel!

thermal baths we were in

On Saturday we were back in Budapest and spent the day hanging out. We also went on a free walking tour, but since Victoria and I had done so much already we didn’t find it that informative. On our last full day in Budapest the three of us went for a walk on the Pest side to the Hero’s Square where we would then go in the traditional baths of Budapest. But on the way we made a stop at the House of Terror, which was the old Nazi military headquarters. The museum was extremely sobering, but equally as interesting to learn about the Communist history of Budapest and the Nazi régime. After the museum we continued on to the Szechenyi Spac, the largest thermal baths in Budapest. If you had told me back in August that in November I would be outside in a swimsuit getting into a thermal bath I would have called you nuts. Yet it was one of the most relaxing experiences and puts the Dombek hot tube to shame. The Szechenyi Spa offers a wide variety of baths and treatments, but we decided to do the most basic, which was a massive outside hot tub filled with natural water supposedly good for your skin.

After our week break in Vienna and Budapest and after seeing plenty of St. Stephens churches and trying goulash and wienerschnitzel the three of us headed back to Amsterdam for the last two months.

Copenhagen...its no Amsterdam

My experience in Copenhagen was much different than any of my other travels thus far. Prior to my trip I was told Copenhagen was expensive, but one of the best European cities. Despite these expectations I was mainly excited to see Lauren and spend time with her. Since Lauren is in a homestay I was fortunate enough to have her host family allow me to stay with her. But this was also my very first trip traveling alone so I was a bit nervous.

I arrived in Copenhagen on Thursday night, still exhausted from just coming back from Dublin on Tuesday, and met Lauren and her hostdad and hostbrother at the airport. Her host family was very nice for offering to pick me put, but I was surprised to find they spoke Danish, not Dutch. Even though I’ve been taking Dutch since I’ve been here and I’m awful at it, I could tell Danish was similar in the sense that it was hard to pronounce and sounded similarly ridiculous.

me and Lauren

Nyhvan

On Friday I joined Lauren and her host family to play a few games at the bowling ally. I of course was awful, but it was a nice chance to get to know the rest of the family. I found out the mother was a schoolteacher, the father was some sort of electrician, and they also had a teenage daughter along with the son who was 8. After the bowling trip Lauren and I went off to the city. My first impression of the city was that it didn’t feel like I was in a different country. It reminded me of an American city with the traffic, but with a twist of the Netherlands with its main shopping street, bicycle lanes, and of course the rain. I found myself comparing Copenhagen a lot to Amsterdam while I was there; I think that means I’m becoming attached and strongly biased towards Amsterdam. We spent the rest of the day in the city. After seeing the royal palace and Nyhavn (which is similar to the canal streets in Amsterdam but doesn’t do it justice) we headed into Tivoli.

Tivoli

Tivoli is basically an amusement park in the center of the city. There were rides, two stages (an interpretive dance show was featured which was kind of weird but kind of cool), and booths and stands everywhere. It was also all decorated with orange lights and pumpkins for Halloween, which was surprising because European’s don’t really celebrate the holiday as we do. I even asked Lauren’s host family about how they celebrated it, and Malmis (the son) said it wasn’t normal for kids to dress up in costume. But Tivoli was great and even though it was pouring the entire night I couldn’t get enough of the Halloween spirit.

On Saturday Lauren and I decided to take the train through the underwater tunnel and over the bridge to Malmo, Sweden for the day. When we got there we were surprised how small the city was and ended up seeing almost everything there was. Sadly that’s not much of an accomplishment because the city was so tiny! But we did end up seeing the “castle” and walking around the King’s garden. Unfortunately since it was mid October the flowers weren’t in bloom, but if they were I’m sure the garden would have been beautiful. After a day of sightseeing in Sweden we got back on the train and 45 minuets later we were in Copenhagen.

The castle in Malmo

My last day in Copenhagen ended with some more touristy things. Lauren took me to the Kastellet Military Barracks as well as Christiana. I found the military barracks to be ironic because the Danes built the land in the shape of a star as a complex military strategy, however once the first few bombs hit they surrendered. We then went to Christiana and on the way saw the Church of Our Savior, which has a spiral gold tower famous to tourists. I would have liked to have seen the Little Mermaid statue, but she's in China for the World Expo until December. Upon leaving Copenhagen I made a final assessment of the city and decided that I liked it, didn’t love it, but was happy I ended up going. 

Luck of the Irish

This weekend Mara and I became Irish for the weekend as we embarked on our journey to Dublin. I got there Friday night and Mara and I met up with her two friends from college, Zane and Jeff, and we all headed out for the night. Even though you are legal to drink in Ireland at 18, some clubs and bars have a 21 age minimum. Why that is so, I couldn’t tell you. But I wasn’t going to let an age limit ruin everyone’s night, so I put my sneaky skills to the test and ended up getting past the bouncer and into one of the clubs. Besides that minor speed bump the rest of the night felt like a typical night out in a European club.

view of Killiney Bay

On Saturday Mara and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed down to Dalkey, which is a small town on the hill overlooking Killiney bay. We got off the tram at Killiney, a stop past Dalkey, so we could walk up the cost to enjoy the scenic view. We were also tipped off that we would be passing Bono’s house on the walk, so we kept an eye out for an extravagant house. Well, little did we know that all the houses on the coast would be stunning with gorgeous gardens and massive property overlooking the bay. So with our hopes of knowing which house was his shot we continued on to Dalkey admiring different properties we passed. Once we climbed the hill in Dalkey we were stunned by how cute of a town it was. After walking around a little and seeing the remains of old castles we headed for lunch at The Queens, where it was rumored that Bono hung out. And as our Irish luck would have it, right as we were paying our check Bono walks in and sits at a table directly behind us! Not wanting to disturb him too much, we listened in on a few of his quick phone conversations, whoops! But to our amusement he greets his friends on the phone by saying, “Hey, it Bono.” Hmm, if Bono was calling me I think I’d know who he was! Anyway, after mustering up the courage, well more like getting caught taking a sneaky picture of him by his friend, we had a short conversation with him and his blonde long haired friend about castles in Dublin. After our awkward encounter with the rock star Mara and I met up with her friend Jeff and he guided us to a cliff where we could see the entire city of Dublin. The view was incredible. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Mara looking over at one of the properties we passed

"Hey its Bono"

view of Dublin from the top of Dalkey

Malahide Castle

On Sunday, we had a very low-key day. We started it off by watching Jeffs soccer game, he plays for an Irish club team, and ended it at the Guinness factory. The factory was pretty cool, and it made Guinness start to grow on me, but I’d have to say the Heineken factory was much more entertaining. Mara and I made up for our low-key Sunday with a tourist packed Monday. It started with a stop at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. After that we took a 3 hour bus trip to the northern castle Malahide and a small fishing port. At the castle we learned a lot about the nobles in Dublin and the history of the Irish. It was also very interesting to hear about the Protestant and Catholic disputes from a Catholic Irish point of view. After our excursion we walked around Dublin, saw he Temple Bar area (which wasn’t that exciting) and then ended our day with a romantic Farris wheel ride.

There are two things about Dublin that struck me as noteworthy. One, the people are very friendly! Everyone we met on the streets gave us directions and advice on what to do and see in Dublin. Plus the strong Irish accents were refreshing. And two, they sell an amazing (alcoholic) cider called Kapparberb. It’s actually made in Sweeden, but the Irish love it (and did I)! Today I leave for Copenhagen to see Lauren and then after that its off to Vienna and Budapest!

Prague, Czech (Check!)

Last weekend eight of us girls from Amsterdam took a 4 day trip to the enchanting city of Prague. As soon as I stepped off the metro and walked up the escalator into the night there was a gothic style church dimly lit and cobblestone streets. This was only the outskirts of the city, yet it was already charming.

            Once we checked into the Czech Inn (a pun we severely overused throughout the weekend) we all got ready and headed out to Karlovy, the biggest club in central Europe. Its reputation proceeded itself, as the club was five stories with two sections on each floor. It is also safe to say that every one of us had a good time because there were so many different choices when it came to music and the crowd.

Imagine Wall

            The next morning we woke up and planned to take a free 3 hour walking tour of the city to learn its history and our way around. But before the tour started we made a stop at the Lennon Wall, Imagine, and then the lock bridge. The Lennon Wall is a graffiti wall that anyone is allowed to contribute to dedicated to spreading messages of peace, love, and hope. The wall is owned by a church, and the monks allow people to continue contributing to the wall. Besides it being inspiring, it was really interesting that the wall changes so frequently. Not far from the wall is the lock bridge. We took a quick stop at the bridge because Nicole’s boyfriend, who was in Prague last spring, bought a lock and added it to the bridge. So after a half hour of looking for the little blue lock on the crowded bridge we had to give up and meet in Old Town Square for our tour.

Love, Love, Love

            During our 3 hour tour our guide brought us all around the city pointing out historical buildings and telling us historical stories of the events that took place where we stood. The Czech history was very interesting to learn about, especially because of how far it goes into history. The most fascinating part for me was how recently they came out of Communism. Only 30 years ago they were still under the influence of the Soviet Union. After our tour we went to a restaurant called Café Café and the food was delicious. One of the best things about Prague is that everything is so cheep! Our dinner, drinks included, was just about half as expensive as it would have been in Amsterdam.

            The next day we took a day trip to Terazine, a 16^th century fortress that was used as a propaganda concentration camp during WWII. The camp is now a small run down village, but during WWII Hitler transformed it into a concentration camp for Jews. The entire village was depressing, especially the museum and cremation area. After we returned from Terizine we decided to take a walk up Petrin Hill to catch a view of the city. The walk going up was beautiful. The fall foliage was at its best and the reds and yellows were so vibrant. Once we were at the top of the hill we had the mini effile tower staring down at us. With the last of our climb ahead of us embarked up the stairs for the view. On our way down the hill we stopped for dinner at a restaurant overlooking the city. It turned out to be quite the romantic evening for us girls as we walked back over the Charles bridge as the sun set. Here are some views from climb up the hill and from the top of the tower.

the eight of us with the palace in the background

just hanging out in a tree

Prague from the tower on top of Petrin Hill

view from Charles Bridge

            On our last day we took a tour of the Royal Palace. The Palace was more like a few royal buildings with a beautiful gothic cathedral in the middle. After the palace we all had another nice romantic sushi diner and then headed to the airport home to Amsterdam. Unfortunately I never got to meet up with my friend Michelle, but still ended up having a great time.

Cross Training

Being abroad has been amazing so far, however it is going to take a toll on my track season in the spring. Luckily, this weekend I received a visit from my fellow teammates Nellie and Katie O! While the rest of Loyola was enjoying fells fest this weekend, drinking bad American beer and peeing in port-a-potties (if you were so lucky), Amsterdam was invaded by Loyola. Nellie and Katie brought along fellow Loyola Belgiumers while Loyola New Castlers were also represented.

the beer bike

On Saturday morning us track girls woke up (after eating what a cross country team would call breakfast) and decided to do some cross training. Amsterdam cross training. To show them the city (as well as the 15 other Loyolaers visiting) we all went for a tour on one big bike. To make sure we weren't dehydrated, we brought along a keg of Heineken. Officially known as the beer bike, we roamed the streets of Amsterdam for two hours nearly avoiding trams and cars and sinning loudly as we pedaled. Because we’re division one athletes we're extremely competitive and played some intense flip cup along the way. By the end of the two hours we successfully made it back without any casualties and thanked Yan, our driver.

Loyola invades Amsterdam...woof

The rest of the weekend was spent doing rather touristy things. We walked around the outside markets, had a picnic in Vondel Park, and eventually it was time to say goodbye. Seeing the girls this weekend made me realize how much I miss Loyola, especially the team, but also reminded me how fortunate I am to actually be LIVING in Europe, yet alone Amsterdam. The rest of this month is going to crazy. Next weekend I go to Prague, and then my two-week break begins where I’ll be traveling to Dublin, Copenhagen, Vienna, and Budapest! 

Heyy Heyy Babay...

If you’ve seen the movie Octoberfest you may think you have an idea of what Octoverfest would be like. Beer. Lederhosen. Beer maiden outfits. Singing. German chanting. Well that’s just about accurate, except for the Das Boot part. But on top of everything the movie portrays it was a massive carnival with beer tents (more like houses) and rides, and food booths (chocolate covered fruit my personal favorite, but Victoria’s had loved the hot dogs and roasted chicken). It was by far much more than I had imagined. It made Craigsfest look like a joke.

The crazy Amsterdam guys we met

We spent most of our time inside the Hofbrauhous Tent raising our liter beer glasses and singing “Heyy, heyy babay, oh, ah. I wanna knowwwww if you’’ll be my girl”. A few other popular songs of choice were Sweet Home Alabama and a German drinking song that translated to, ‘Lets drink drink drink’ (not the most clever song). The atmosphere was unreal and its hard to describe the amount of people there. But somehow Mara and I ended up sitting next to a group of Italians and Dutch. The Dutch guys were dressed all out in Lederhosens. I got to talking to them and found out they’re from Amsterdam and they even offered to hook me and my friends up with tickets to an Ajax game. (I will definitely be taking them up on that offer)! Here are some pictures from Octoberfest to give you an idea of how crazy it was!

View of Octoberfest from above

The Church we went to

On Saturday the tents were full so Mara, Jaclyn, and I did some exploring. We hung out at the carnival and then made our way over to St. Johns Church not too far from the festival. The church was famous for being stuck by a plane, which caused the death of around 30 people. We ended up walking up, through the narrow staircase, 200 steps to the roof. From there we were able to see Octoberfest and a view of the city. It was incredible.

On Sunday, we got to spend the whole day wandering to a different part of Munich. We ended up taking the underground to the Olympic Village. In 1972 Munich held the Olympic Summer games (this was also where the massacre happened when the Israeli team was taken hostage). I had never seen park built for the Olympic games so I was in awe the entire time. It was also crazy to see the track where Pre had raced and was shorted of a medal in the 5000. I was in track heaven. We ended our time in Munich by checking out the BMW factory, right next to the stadium, and then headed to the train station for the 11 hour ride home that awaited us.

Olympic Stadium...haha