Weekend of SUN!

On Friday we had a day trip to Segovia, Spain.  It is about an hour north of Madrid.  I was really excited to see that there was a excursion this weekend because I thought I wouldn't be able to attend anymore because of traveling.  So I was excited!

We got a tour of the Alcazar in Segovia which was also their palace.  It was a really cool building to see.  Our tour guide was really nice and easy to understand which can make or break a tour in Spanish. It was a pretty low key excursion. We walked through the city after the tour of the Alcazar and then had lunch at this restaurant.  It was a lot of fun.

Segovia is a beautiful city.  It reminds me of Toledo in many ways.  There is the medieval charm to the city that not many cities have in Spain.  It was beautiful and had some great view of the mountains and the greenest grass I have ever seen.

This weekend is beautiful!! The weather is outstanding and finally there is no rain in the forecast! Let's hope it stay that way! I thought that it was hard to motivate myself to do homework before, but it's even worse now.  Today I got up earlier and went to a cafe to do homework for a few hours.  I got a lot done and won't feel bad about soaking up the sun for the afternoon with a drink in my hand.

Yesterday I went on a walk and laid out with some of the ladies from the program.  I don't have any sunscreen so we all got a little pink... oops! It will turn to tan eventually!

This next weekend is my last trip.  We are going to Paris! I am looking forward to it very much! I can't believe that two weeks from today I will be on a plane home to the US.  Where has the semester gone??

Family time, round 2!

The day after I got home from Spring break Mom, Sarah, and Aunt Linda were here! They were in Toledo with me until Thursday and then we all went to Madrid for the weekend.

It can be very stressful having family or anyone visit you because I run around with my head cut off between visiting them and going to class.  It's all worth it in the end but it was very exhausting after just returning from a very exhausting Spring Break.  We went on a hike one day and it was beautiful! The weather has been so nice this past week.  I hope it stays that way until the end of the semester.  No more rain!

I went out to dinner every night with the ladies and it got a little crazy more than one of the nights.  I'm sure Mom and Aunt Linda would kill me if I went into full detail of what happened one night.  But let's just say this, a bottle of wine+having to go to the bathroom+a lot of laughing=a lot more laughing because of an incident that would result from those things mixed together.  ;)  We had a blast in Toledo and I think they enjoyed the quaintness of the city.

We stayed at a fun hotel in Madrid.  We did a lot of shopping last weekend.  I had some birthday money to spend which was fun since I cannot afford to make a dent in my own bank account.  We found some fun places to eat and went to the oldest restaurant in the world.  We also went to the Royal Palace which I haven't seen since January so it was fun to do it again in English!

On Saturday night we went to the Real Madrid game.  It was so much fun and the atmosphere was unbelievable! The game was a lot shorter than I thought it would be compared to a baseball or football game.  So we were in and out all before dinner time.

I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with those three as well as all the laughs that came along.

I went home mid afternoon on Sunday because I had a lot of homework to finish up.  This weekend I will be in Toledo which is the first time in a really long time.  The weather will be in the 70s so I am really excited to get some sun!

Tonight is the talent show! There are about a whole 8 performances so it will be short but fun.

Semana Santa: Amsterdam, Netherlands

***Scroll down for beginning of Semana Santa***

Our last stop for Semana Santa was Amsterdam, Netherlands.  We were there from March 27-30.  The weather was still cold but a little warmer than the last two cities that we were in.  We arrived Wednesday night and found our hostel which was more like a hotel! It was huge and beautiful!

On Thursday morning we got up to go do the Anne Frank house.  We wanted to do it before the weekend and before the crowds came rolling in.  For breakfast we found a cute bagel shop right next door which was to die for! The Spaniards don't know bagels exist.  I did a presentation on breakfast in one of my classes and had to describe what a bagel was to my professor.  Anyways, we waited in line for about 45 minutes to an hour before we got in.  While waiting and literally 5 people from the door, a nice pigeon decided to leave a little present for me in my hair.... My friends were laughing so hard they didn't tell me what was happening for about one minute.

The Anne Frank house itself was all that I could have asked for.  Safe to say I got my Holocaust history in this week.  It was so cool and amazing to see where they hid for two years, and the bookshelf in its original condition.  Makes me fall in love with the story all over again.  It was very sad to hear the testimonies from Otto Frank (her dad, and only surviving family member) and the ones of her friends and classmates from school.

Afterwards we walked around the city and found a carnival in the main plaza!! It was so cool! The next couple of days all blend together now, so I will just tell what we did in general.  We walked through the red light district a couple of times and it was very interesting to say the least.  I never expected to see what I saw even knowing what to expect in the red light district.  I can only imagine what it would be like at night.  But some of these women make a fine living for what they do.  Our tour guide said that the oldest women still working is currently in her 70s!!!

We did go on a walking tour of the town one day which was a lot of fun to learn the history.  All of the buildings are falling and slanted because the entire city of Amsterdam is below sea level and the ground isn't solid.  So pretty soon buildings will start to collapse if people don't fix them correctly.

One night we went on a pub crawl.  The buses ran a little later than usual so we spent about a half an hour running through the city trying to find where this pub crawl was.  They had a meeting spot at a certain time but when we missed it, we had to go find the first bar.  It was hilarious and dreadful at the same time. But we made it and finally met up with the boys.  The pub crawl played some good tunes, and the same tunes at every bar but it was fun overall.

There was also this store that we came across that actually was heaven for an American study abroad student.  It was a store full of American brand name foods!! It had Kraft macaroni, peanut butter, sour patch kids, root beer, everything I have been craving!! But of course it was all WAY overpriced....

Some of us also did a canal paddle boating ride.  Amsterdam is full of canals and actually has more canals than Venice! We took one out and went down a few canals for an hour.  It was a lot of fun and a cool way to see the city.  It made me think of summer and how I was ready for some heat!

Amsterdam was a lot of fun and a great way to end our amazing week in Eastern Europe!  We spent our last night sleeping in the airport since we once again had an early flight. We had a six hour layover in Barcelona before making it home around dinner.

Semana Santa: Prague, Czech Republic

***Scroll down for the beginning of Semana Santa.****

Stop #2 during Semana Santa was Prague! I was in Prague from March 25-27.  Prague was by far my favorite city from the three that I traveled too! Here I met up with the rest of the group from my program.  I was then traveling with Amanda, Abby, Alex, Dave, Luke, and Dan.  We had a good group and all had a room in the hostel together which was nice.

The first days that we were in Prague, we walked around the main square.  They also had an Easter market with a TON of food, and little stands selling souvenirs, and other materials.  The atmosphere was amazing even though it was cold.  That first day we went on a walking tour.  Each city had free walking tours which is so cool!  It's a great way to see the highlights of the city, learn a little history, all while on a budget.

Astronomical Clock

During the break of the walking tour, I finally found a cupcake and bought it!! I was so excited because I had been craving one since my birthday in February.  Later that day, we went to an ice bar! It is an entire room that is solely made up of ice! We got a free drink with it and got to wear these cool silver Heineken jackets.  We werent in the bar for that long, which I was fine with because it was freezing in there! The drinks came in a glass that was completely made of ice.  It was a lot of fun.

That night we went to the biggest club in all of Eastern Europe...apparently.  It was five levels and each floor had a different theme.  There was anything from hip hop, to current day, to oldies.  Our favorite room which we spent most of our time in was the oldies room.  It was like being at a wedding that plays all the classic songs! It was a blast!  We went on a Monday night and it was crazy.  I can't imagine what a weekend night would be like.

The next day we got a late start after our late night.  We ventured over towards the Prague castle.  First we went to stop at the John Lennon Wall.  After getting lost for about a half an hour and basically circling the direction we needed to go, we finally found it.  It was really amazing and the graffiti was incredible.  There were all sorts of drawings, quotes, and a lot of Greek letters!! I was sad not to find anything Delta Gamma on the wall.  But the wall wasn't as big as I expected.  Nonetheless, it was still amazing to look at.

John Lennon Wall

We then started our way back to the castle. The Prague castle is the biggest castle complex in all of Europe.  It contains multiple buildings within the castle walls.  It was literally like a little city in there and run like a little city back in the day.  We ended up getting there too late on Tuesday so we came back Wednesday to finish the tour.  It was really cool to see everything.

We ate a lot of good food while there.  I had a sausage in a bun which tasted like heaven and a little piece of home and summer.  Probably the best thing I ate the entire week.

Everything was so cheap there!! From the alcohol, to the food, to the clothing, to the souvenirs.  I don't know what that would have done to my bank account if I lived there.  But it was hard adjusting to the currency because 20 Czech monies=1 euro.  So I kept feeling like I was spending more than I actually was.

Then on Wednesday after seeing the castle, we got on a flight to go to Amsterdam.

Semana Santa: Krakow, Poland

Well it has been way too long since I have updated my blog.  I will back track all the way to spring break also known as Semana Santa in Spain.

My first stop of the week was Krakow, Poland.  I traveled with Molly Caraway.  It was so much fun to see a familiar face from home and I missed her a lot since I last saw her in January.  I was in Krakow from March 22-24.  On Thursday, March 21st, I had to go sleep in the airport since my flight took off at 6:30am on Friday morning.  I have taken for granted the fact that we live 15 minutes from the airport in Minnesota, and have a car to drive us to the airport at 4am so we don't have to sleep in the airport.  There were a lot of other kids from my program that also had early flights so I wasn't alone--thank god. I actually got quite a lot of sleep for the circumstances.  Finally I got on my flight and slept most of the way.

When I arrived in Poland, there was snow on the ground.  First time I have seen snow on the ground since Switzerland or even Minnesota.  The airport was TINY.  After it took a while to find where the bus was and find an ATM to withdraw thousands of Polish monies (yes, I don't use the correct terms for the currencies).  But I finally found the bus and Molly was waiting for me at the bus station. And it was SO COLD!

After I checked into the hostel and got settled, we made our plan for the day. We went and explored the town and the main old square.  There was a huge Easter market that was fun to look around and shop in.  Lots of food and candy stands! For lunch, we went and got dumplings because that is a traditional food there.  After that we went on a walking tour through the Jewish quarter of the city.  That was so interesting to hear the history from the Holocaust.  There were 68,000 Jews living in Krakow previous to WWII and only 3,000 survived the war.  We went through the Jewish ghetto and saw all the places that Schindler's List was filmed.

Easter Market

After the walking tour, we went to the Schindler's Factory Museum.  That was really cool and more a museum of the Holocaust rather than a museum of his factory.  It was still worth it and we learned some cool stuff and got stamps along the way.

The next day was the day I was most looking forward to, the Auschwitz tour.


AUSCHWITZ
Today, (April 8th) is the Holocaust Remembrance Day.  I think it is rather appropriate to write about my experience touring the camps.  Let this be my own memorial to all of the lives lost there between 1940-1945.

Molly and I did a tour of the camps that was organized through our hostel and a tour company. After being picked up and put on the bus, we watched a video of the liberation of Auschwitz.  I thought it would be boring but I actually learned a lot from it.  The video contained people who liberated the camp as well as live footage from that day.  The liberation was not a happy day or a pretty sight.  I had never thought about it like that.  It makes sense but from someone who didn't suffer like they did, you would think that any chance of freedom would overcome any depression, weakness, etc.  The film maker from that day filmed other parts of the war for the Soviets and he said that Auschwitz liberation was the most horrific.  People had to be carried out on stretchers and those too weak to even do anything, were shot anyways.  That seems so opposite of what a liberation should be.  But I guess they could only help so many.

We had a tour of Auschwitz I first.  I didn't realize that not many prisoners were kept there, but many of them were tortured there.  I still don't fully understand what all the buildings were used for but most of them were turned into little exhibits that we would walk through to learn about the camps or the quality of life at the camps.

The building that made the biggest impact on me was the building dedicated solely to possessions.  One  room had a case of the hair that the Soviets discovered when they liberated the camp.  They found 290 sacks of hair, which clearly wasn't the total amount of hair from every prisoner that went through the camp.  It was unreal to look at and imagine it being shaved off their heads.  Another room was filled completely of shoes.  The shoes in that room was still LESS THAN 5% of the total amount of shoes they took from the prisoners.

Cans of the chemicals used in the gas chambers.

Hallway of shoes.

There was a courtyard that they would take roll call in everyday. The prisoners would have to stand outside in any weather condition until every single prisoner was accounted for.  The longest one lasted 19 hours.  That is without food, water, and toilet usage.  The last thing we did in Auschwitz I was go into one of the only remaining crematoriums.  The Nazis destroyed and bombed all the other ones when they knew the Soviets were coming to try to hide the evidence of what was happening there.  It was very eery going into the gas chamber and furnace room.  It was hard to imagine that it all happened right under my feet.

Gas Chamber

We then got back on the bus to go to Auschwitz II--Birkenau. It was a ghost town when we got there.  I couldn't believe how huge it was.  We the the main tower and railroad tracks that are famous in the history books.  We got to see an actual rail car that was used to take prisoners to the camps.  Apparently, the tracks weren't extended into the actual camp until almost the end of the war to speed up the process.

It's amazing to me how much the Nazis lied.  The lied to the Red Cross, the world, the Jews, everyone;
"You're just going to take a shower", not separating mothers from their babies because it would cause a scene...instead just sending them both to the gas chambers.  The camp was insured by Allianz Insurance.  The propaganda about the camps being places for them to live in peace... Giving someone the power to decide whether they should die or not just by looking at them.  To the Nazis, if you couldn't work, you were useless, which means you die.

We saw the ruins of the main crematorium at Birkenau.  We went to one of the 22 remaining barracks and got to see what the living conditions were like.  They would fit 1,000 people per barrack and about 6-8 people per row.  The prisoners suffered from starvation diarrhea so the sanitary conditions were awful and many died from Typhus.  The winters were bitter cold and the summers were scorching hot. It was a miserable place to be.

Barracks

My experience was incredible.  I cannot put it into words.  I feel so fortunate to have been able to see such an incredible part of history.  The survivors did not want to destroy this awful place because they wanted people to come back and remember the terrible things that happened so it would never be repeated again.  I agree with that.  I still cannot believe I got to go, and this will be an experience I will never forget.


After the tour, we went back and relaxed and eventually went to dinner at an Italian restaurant.  The next day, we went to the Easter market and looked around and did some shopping.  We ate lunch and another traditional Polish food that looks like a mini pizza on a baguette.  We walked around the city until I had to get on the night train to Prague.