Christmas in Salzburg; Mass and a whole bunch of good people

Midnight mass was absolutely beautiful. We got to the Dom Cathedral, the biggest Cathedral in the city center around 10pm to ensure we would get seats, and the mass started at 11:30. They played music after letting us in at 11:00; there was a choir, the organ, and a whole group of musicians in the back of the church to provide absolutely beautiful music throughout the entire mass.

After it was over, the priest gave a blessing, and went to turn and leave. He stopped after bowing to the alter and all the lights started to turn off. The only ones left on were the ones on the Christmas tree and a candle lit by one of the mini organ balconies in the front of the church. I noticed 3 men by the candle and one had an acoustic guitar.

They started playing silent night.. it was beautiful. The history of the song is that years ago mice chewed through the cords of the organs on the Eve of Christmas, not too far from Salzburg. And so 3 men played the song via acoustic guitar. This is what made this moment at the end of Christmas Mass so wonderful, and the situation all together of course.  I will say though, I am excited to go to an English speaking mass again whenever I come home.

Afterward, we headed to Louie's (the friend I'm staying with here) dad's house.

Let me take a quick second to explain who all is here. All of them are from Put-In-Bay or the area, and grew up together, same high school, island, etc... One couple was the Zimmerman's, who consisted of Jack and Loraine, both insanely hilarious, caring, and down to earth. The other family was the Krueger's, Chris and Carl were the parents, and Jess & Miranda were their girls. Everyone, right from the beginning, were just incredibly great and nice people.

We opened gifts after mass and then after a small while headed back to the school (where I was staying with Louie) and the Kruegers were just across the street in a bed and breakfast. Jack and Loraine were staying with Joe.

On Christmas morning, we had breakfast together at the school, and then headed out to Joe's house for the rest of the day. They all opened and exchanged presents, I even got some! Thanks again Jack, Loraine, and Joe! :) I'm soo blessed. Joe also has been learning ukulele for the past few months and played for us, which was awesome!  And he was so good for only just learning! After we went back to the school, we watched the Sound of Music together through the projector in the library. It was perfect.

I mentioned before how I'm soo blessed, we all are.. but me especially.. technology blessed me this Christmas, because I got to call and talk to my mum's side of the family on Christmas Eve AND my dad's side on Christmas Day!  Calling my cousin was a surprise.. he had no idea it was me and he almost didn't pick up!  They passed around the phone and I got to talk to all my cousins, mum and sister! My aunt Dianne made me promise to never be gone for another Christmas and my mum cried at the end.. and then I did too. :) Soo much love.  The next night I called my dad's side and got to talk to all of them too! Aunts, uncle's and cousins!  And then I found out that they made a flat Miranda; they printed off a photo of me, glued it to a popsicle stick, and took many photos!  It was hilarious once I saw the photos. And I was definitely still there in spirit!

Hahaha I love my family!

Christmas was not the same, without my family.. I kept thinking, if there was a time I could apparate (hp) it would be those two days.. and then come right back. But just because it wasn't what I was used to, didn't mean it was bad at all, it was hard not being home, but still so good here with family and friends in Austria.  :)

Definitely had a good Christmas:)

<3 M

St. Wolfgang, Austria

Today we took a bus to St. Gilgen and then a ferry to St. Wolfgang.  It is a beautiful picturesque town in Austria about an hour from Salzburg. It is soo cool being in the middle of a town that is literally full of Austrian houses and buildings stacked on top of each other. If you were to imagine an Austrian or German town, this is what you would think of. The streets were pretty much only people and little shops, but a car could fit down them as well. It was pretty -----serial. There is a lifesize nativity scene in the middle of the town with a bunch of different Austrian people headed toward the stable with Jesus, Mary and Joseph in it. Because Austrians were around back then.........

Earlier in the day, the clouds covered a lot of the mountains that surround the lake and the town, but later on after waking around a bit and having lunch, they cleared up and we could see all the tops! It was pretty cool, because even when the clouds lifted, there were still some that were lower than the tops of the mountains.. it was beautiful.

Bucuresti, Romania (Bucharest)

Romanian trains are slow.. I mean really slow. We're probably going about 15 miles per hour right now, and have been for about 20 minutes.. not kidding. I'm currently on a 17 hour train to Vienna where I will then get a ticket to Salzburg!  The train ride started off with nothing but a view of white, flat land and overcast skies.. but now we are going through some mountains!!  *LOVE* It's incredibly beautiful with all the snow on the trees.. A view of white and brown. I'm soo happy I am getting to see some Romanian mountains, even though I did not get to go to Brasov or other areas with mountains. 

Bucuresti was good!  I spent 2.5 days here.. I came on a train with 2 guys I met through couchsurfing!  One from Canada, Mabruk, and another from Germany, Khan.  It was fun being on the train with friends:) A Romanian girl heard us speaking English, and ended up hanging out with us too!  Her name was Diana (dee-on-a) and she lived in America for a bit!  When you cross the Moldovan/Romanian border, it takes a lot of time, because they have to change the wheels!  To explain; they lift the train up and literally remove the current wheels, and put on different ones!  This is because the train track rails in the EU are a different size than the rails in Moldova. It was a long train.. and really hot!  It was supposed to arrive at 6am.. well at 5am I woke up because I was soo cold and the train was turned off. I tried to just ignore it and go back to sleep so I wouldn't feel the cold anymore.. it ended up that the train was stopped for about 4 hours, because something needed fixed. Then after, I woke up around 8:30 worried that we missed the stop.. and it was hot as hell! We were dying!  It's almost like because it was cold for soo long, they then pumped up the heat!  It was pretty suffocating.

We arrived around 10:30 and got lunch with Diana, then said our goodbyes. I was headed to my host's place to drop my things off then I would head back into the city to meet up with Khan and Mabruk again. Khan and I walked all around. We went to the Parliament building, which was HUGE!  And then wandered through Old Town a bit which was really cool. It's a part of the city where it's pretty much all walking on smaller streets through buildings with pretty architecture. There are a lot of cafes, restaurants, and pubs there as well as pretty buildings.

The next day my host got out of work early and his friend Vlad and him took me into the center. We got a Romanian form of mamaliga with cabbage wrapped around an array of pork and beef. It was delicious!  Then we walked around for a few hours and went to the Bucharest Christmas Market!  After, we headed back to his place because He had more couchsurfers coming! 

They ended up being from America!  Kim (California), Frances (South Carolina), and Robert (Chicago) are in the Peace Corps in Moldova and are on a 10 day holiday! We made their version of gluhwein; we warmed up some wine (added sugar, cinnamon, orange peel), and then headed out into the city for the night! We went to Kulturhaus, which is a multi-level pub!  It was soo much fun!

What I've learned in/about Romania:
- It is bad luck to whistle in small areas (though I think this is just a taboo made up because people get annoyed with whistling).
- They like to make us wear slippers, as does the rest of Europe lol.
- There are a lot of stray dogs here :( though they are actually pretty lucky strays because everyone feeds them.
- More of them think the current=sick thing is stupid.
- They really don't like Moldova.

Aw Mann.. now I'm going through mountains that are all covered by clouds! Meanies!

<3 M

The Revised New New Plan, What Really Happened

That New Plan and the New New Plan.. went to shit. This is travelling. You've got to be flexible!

Here's what really happened:
11/12 took a train to Kiev
12/12 Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine
13/12 Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine
14/12 Chisinau, Moldova
15/12 Chisinau, Moldova
16/12 Chisinau, Moldova
17/12 Chisinau, Moldova
18/12 Chisinau, Moldova
19/12 Bucuresti (Bucharest), Romania
20/12 Bucuresti (Bucharest), Romania
21/12 Bucuresti (Bucharest), Romania
22/12 Train to Vienna/Salzburg (20 hours in all Aaaahh)!
23/12 Salzburg, Austria!! 

Chisinau, Moldova (and the train experience from Kiev)

Where I didn't have much of an interesting experience on the way to Kiev, I DEFINITELY had quite the cultural experience on my night train to Chisinau (pronounced: key-shin-now)...

I took the cheapest ticket, but man Oh mann I should hve gone one class higher. I got on the train and a guy was in my bed/seat.. the guy in charge of the wagon kicked him out to the bed above me.. this rustling cause many more of the people, all guys, around me to wake up.. and they all wanted to talk.. only problem = They only spoke Russian or Romanian... But for some reason, that didn't seem to stop them!  Despite the fact that I couldn't understand them and they couldn't understand me, they continuously asked next questions lol.

In Chisinau, they speak Romanian, but everyone knows Russian as well.
...not too much English around...

My #1 phrase for that 17 hour train ride: "I don't understand."

...they didn't care lol.

They started putting a glass of wine in front of me and wanted me to drink it!  Obviously I said no, but after awhile they kept doing it and motioning just a little, with their fingers.  Everyone was drinking from the same cup and the same bottle that the wine was in, hah! After recognizing that it was Not poisoned, I ended up trying it. It was really good! 

At one point, I ended up getting out my journal and my calendar that said where I was and on what date.  I showed them all where I have traveled! It was pretty cool, even though we could not understand each other through language, we could point and communicate by motions and writing. I also tough them how to count to 20!

I later found out that the wine thing, along with lack of ANY personal space was 100% Moldovan culture! I stayed with a couple, Andy and Alex,who are in the Peace Corps here, and they told me about how all the weird stuff on the train was actually just the difference in cultures.. it made me appreciate the experience soo much more! Andy and Alex were soo great. There was a Peace Corps Christmas party that night that they took me too, it was soo good!  And really nice to be understood and to understand each other!  They were great people, I hope we somehow cross paths again.

I also stayed with a Moldovan for a few days, his name was Victor. He had a car!  That is pretty unheard of out here, so it was pretty nice!  And much warmer!  Victor was amazing! Another amazing person I met on this journey.. a lot of times he wouldn't even let me pay for anything. He took me all around the city for a few days, and helped me figure out my train to Bucharest.  His work schedule is pretty flexible, and we got to spend most of my time there together, which was really nice. We visited many parks, the history and art museum, went to see a band play (some American music too), and had many traditional Moldovan meals!  :)  My time there was soo good! I really enjoyed it.

Kiev, Ukraine

There are many different ways to spell "Kiev" ..Kiev is the English way, I'm not sure what Kyiv is but it's spelled like that too, and (if I'm remembering correctly) KNIB is the way they spell it. And to tell the truth.. I'm still not entirely sure how to pronounce it. Hah!  I just say keev, but I've heard people say it with 2 syllables though.

Woah.. look what I just realized I can do... ¡  .. that's not an i you see there, that is an upside down exclamation point!   ¡Wooh!

I didn't stay in Kiev long, only 2 days, but my time there was nice. Kyiv provided for me a breath of fresh air.. It wasn't really Kyiv that did it though. 

I arrived by train.. always an interesting experience on overnight trains.. lol, but for this one, nothing sticks out in my mind enough to tell you about. But I will mention.. that it only cost me 7€!  A 12 hour overnight train for only 7€!  ¡Awesome!  :)

When I arrived in Kiev, I had to take a Marshrutka to meet my host. A Marshrutka is a minibus.. they cram as many people as they can into these things, and drive them all around the town.. when you want to get out, you yell at the driver to stop lol. It was interesting.. I asked multiple people to help me, told them where I needed to get off and made sure the driver knew too (though he gave me a really mean look and seemed to ignore me lol).. this was all really hard to so when no one could speak English, and I could barely pronounce the street names.

Ok.. now I'll explain the breath of fresh air part. While I was wondering around the city, visiting beautiful churches they have, I went to more of a park area, it had a gorgeous view of the city and there was also many art structures and a playground with Mosaic all over it!  I was taking a picture at one point of this mosaic bench, rabbit thing, and so was this other guy nearby, He looks at me and says, "So, are you a tourist too?" He spoke English!  AND with my accent!  So I said yes and asked him where he was from. His name is Monk and he is from Chicago and living in Montana!  He flew to Istanbul from Chicago for $160 round-trip! He is also a couchsurfer, and was actually headed to have coffee with a local later in the day that he met on couchsurfing (this is normal to do through couchsurfing, if someone can't host you, they may get coffee or dinner with you instead).  We talked a bit, and then hung out the rest of the day, and met with the local together as well.

It was just soo nice to come across an American, and a cool one at that!  He works in a national park in Montana! Taking care of it, maintaining the trails, etc.. that would be soo sweet! And since it's winter, he has a lot of time off. I never noticed how much we depend on sayings and quotes in our language.  Others who don't speak English as their first language don't always understand because a lot of the quotes and saying we say don't make any sense!  I definitely have an appreciation for coming across and talking to people from the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia now.. don't get me wrong though, I love meeting and talking with people out here too.. I just really appreciate being understood as well without having to explain what I meaning 5 different ways lol. Any who, it's just really refreshing to have met and spent time with Monk, he was a great guy. He even came to the train station with me to figure out my ticket to Chisinau.  I'm soo happy we met, after we said bye and switched emails and stuff, I got an email later that night from him telling me that I was his "American Girl" (Tom Petty) of his trip.  :)

Next stop Chisinau Moldova to stay with some Peace Corps volunteers!

Oh, one last thing.. my pants ripped.
Good thing I wear leggings underneath! Because I'm sooo not buying new ones. I'll just chuck em or cut em before SE Asia!

<3 M

My New New Plan

Ok, I am currently in Kiev, and it turns out that my "new plan" has turned into an old plan, due to the fact that Kiev wasn't even in my old plan lol, so here is my new, new plan:

11-14/12 Kiev, Ukraine
14-16/12 Chisinau, Moldova
16-18/12 Brasov, Romania (I'm going to try to get here)
18-20/12 Bucharest, Romania
20-22/12 Belgrade, Serbia
22-23 travel to Salzburg, Austria!

I really hope this works out lol.

Just where have I been sleeping!?

My cousin brought this up to me the other day, and I realized I hadn't talk about it very much.. or at all, so here goes:

Not only where I've been.. but where I've been staying...

Earlier on in the trip, when my friend Leslie was with me, we stayed in hostels a lot, but we also decided to try couchsurfing for the first time... and then the second... and then third time.

Hostels:

I love hostels. I think that they are an AMAZING place to meet people to go on daily adventures with. I also love how there can be soo many cultures in just one building. The hostels I've been to range from being above a pub in London or Interlaken, to a skyscraper in Barcelona, to the bottom of a valley in a FairyTale land called Luxembourg City, or to a Christian Shelter in Amsterdam. They are great.. some better than others of course.

Some dorms have lights by every bed with a curtain that you can close over your bed for privacy. Some dorms are as small as a dorm room in college, but instead of fitting 2 people in it, they may fit up to 10-16.

Some dorms are all female, some all male, some male and female. A lot of hostels have dorms with bunk beds to fit more people. They also have lockers in order to lock your valuable things up or even your entire bag.

What else? There's generally some sort of common area.. whether it be a kitchen, a room, a place where you'd eat.. Generally this is where you can get wi-fi, and there might possibly be a tv there. A good place to meet other poeple..

Also, it's very easy to meet other solo travellers to hang out with in hostels, they might be a roommate, or you might just meet them in a common area.

If a hostel is a bit of a bummer, then generally it because there's no kitchen. Backpackers save a lot of money when they have a kitchen.. shopping at a supermarket for ingredients is much cheaper than going to a cafe or restaurant. Hence: kitchens are very important; they save money!

So all in all, hostels are great.. some much more affordable than others. Depending on the city you travel to, staying in a dorm could range from 3€ to 50€! 

I've also tried CouchSurfing.. quite a bit! 

I've done it at least a dozen times on this trip!  It not only saves on money, but also gives you the inside scoop and help from locals, and sometimes even someone to hang out with depending on your host's schedule! 

While couchsurfing, I have stayed on floors, couches, and beds. Sometimes I've even had a whole separate room, all to myself!  Generally I cook with my host, they'll have maps for me to use, and ideas of what to do in the cities I'm in.

I really love it. I haven't stayed in a hostel for the past month.. I've only couchsurfed!  So you can tell, I must love it.

I don't know how often I will do it in southeast Asia though.. I hear there're some awesome beachhouse hostels for pretty cheap.. I might be really taking advantage of that.

Any other questions on couchsurfing or hostels, let me know.. I feel like a pro on both by now lol.

<3

Lviv, Ukraine - cold and sick and wonderful

Ukraine is cold.

And Lviv was great. It was quite the adventure getting here; that story will come later. The buildings are a lot more colorful than I would have ever imagined. But the buildings, streets, and sights of this city were not what left an impact on me, it was truly just everything I've experienced the past few days put together, bottled up, and me not knowing what to do with it.. Let me explain.

I would say that this is the first place I truly feel on my own, and really feeling like I'm a solo traveller now. I don't mind it, it is an adjustment though.  I'm learning soo much about the world (well Poland & Ukraine for now) ,the difference in cultures, language and way of living in general.

There was a lady in Poland, she spoke very little english, and she helped me for literally 2-3 hours, maybe more, to get to the border. She translated for me, as best as she could, ran me around the station showing me where to go, then deciding to just take me where I needed to go, she bought me tea, and when her husband showed up, he bought me beetroot soup, making sure I was safe and sound before leaving me.. she spent her time to help me, she even had her husband come because he spoke better english.. What amazes me is that they didn't have to do any of that.. and they did...

I am soo humbled and moved by all these people that have no obligation whatsoever to help me.. but they choose to; they take time away from themselves, and their lives to do so.  I feel so honored to have met such amazing people, who have not only helped me soo much, but who have taught me much more.

I feel like soo many times we are caught up in our own lives and selves that we become selfish without realizing.. we forget that we are not the only ones living on this planet, struggling, succeeding, or simply just needing help sometimes. I honestly am not sure what I would do without some of the people I have come across. I owe so much to them, and what kills me is that I can never really repay them... The only thing I can do is to do the same for others.

On the trams here, younger people get up to let older people or children sit down. Even teenagers, middle aged people, in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s or 60s.. if someone is older or a child, you get out of your seat, and respectfully let them take it.. it's wonderful. I wish we had respect like that at home.. I think more times than not.. people forget they're not the only ones living.

What else?
Ah yes, my wonderful host. 
What can I say about Maxim? 
..soo many things.. he was wonderful. I got in really late when I first arrived in Lviv, and I was soo worried I wasn't going to be able to get ahold of him (because I don't have a phone, I had to wait until I got internet somewhere to even contact him), and I quickly ran into the train station, found an internet cafe, emailed him, and waited. Within minutes he had gotten back to me; I was soo shocked and soo happy.. I was suppose to have met him at 9 and it was midnight by this time. He said he lived 1.5 hrs walking distance away from the station, so he should be there by 1:30.. I was shocked, I offered to pay for a cab, but he walked. When he got there, I could do nothing but to just hug him.. and then I hugged him again lol.
We walked back to his place through the city center, it was beautiful. It was cold, but I could not feel it, I wasn't alone in a foreign land anymore, and I was ecstatic.

Max ended up being pretty amazing. Sure there was a bit of a language barrier there, but after awhile I could hardly notice anymore, just some extra explanation every now and then. 

The way he eats is more different than anything I've ever heard of, because Max only eats raw food.. how it's found naturally.  The food processor/blender is his best friend.. we had a lot of nuts, wheat, sprouts, vegetables, and fruits, all blended in different ways with spices, herbs, and seasonings. It was really cool because I've never eaten like that before.. I really want to go home and try it for a month or something, and see how I like it. He has been eating this way since about July, and doesn't plan on going back. Imagine being that healthy, and truly living off the earth! 

I started feeling a bit sick while I was there:( I think it started in Krakow though.. I only planned to stay in Lviv for 2 nights, and ended up staying 4 nights, 5 days, and I could've stayed more.. Max said I should get better before I move on.. what a sweet guy.  That meant a lot to me.  One day he went into work and I was able to just be human, and not travel for the day, it was great. I got to catch up on emails, look up flights to Bangkok, blow my nose a lot, rest, look at train times for eastern Europe, try to figure out where it is that I'll be going in the next week and a half, and just get better. I also did some landscape grooming (a saying that Liz introduced to me), which means I got to be a girl and fix myself up a bit, whether it be fixing makeup, eye brows, showering.. all that. It felt great.

Max also helped me figure out what train ticket I needed.. that was quite the affair, because Miranda could not decide where she wanted to go!  Just yesterday I decided I would be going to Kiev tonight instead of Romania... I figured I needed another Ukrainian city, then I'll head to Romania.. and I'm even contemplating Moldova next!

After taking me to the train station tonight and getting me all set up on the night train, and carrying my bag the entire way as well.. it was hard to say goodbye to Max.  I wasn't expecting it, but all of a sudden I was just overwhelmed with emotion. It wasn't a bad thing, more of a touching moment.. I just thought about everything I had gone through the past few days and all that he had done for me; he helped me out, gave me a safe place to stay, fed me, was really good company, and let me stay longer. I ended up crying when we said goodbye.. it was the first time that has happened since being away.

I am just soo touched by all the generosity I have been given on this trip.. it is seriously amazing.

Some humans seriously leave me in Awe. People are good, and it is soo beautiful.

<3

Also, hazelnuts are wonderful too.. thanks Max.. I swear, it was the birds who ate them all...

I cant imagine a world without wifi...

Well I can.. but it would just be soo inconvenient while travelling!  It's crazy how I am able to message home, my family, and friends, go on Facebook, post a blog entry, or send an email right when I get into Wi-Fi.. and it's everywhere here! 

I bet my mum would sure be a lot more worried about me if it wasn't for all this Wi-Fi!  Sometimes it even feels like I am home because of the amount I can text friends through the groupme app. Imagine if there wasn't Wi-Fi.. I'd probably only be able to call home every great days to a week, and hit up an internet cafe every now and then (which I did do yesterday because sometimes using my phone to search the internet for trains and flights is just a huge pain in my ass).

All this Wi-Fi isn't allowing me to feel as free as I had hoped, but I'm ok with it. I get to talk to people from home pretty much whenever I want, morning and night. In Asia, I expect that there won't be as much Wi-Fi, that it will be a bit sparse, but seriously, who knows, because I didn't expect to have access to it this much here!

OK that's all, just wanted to share a bit on my thoughts of Wi-Fi..

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague... what a beautiful city, it definitely met my expectations.  Our host was Stepan, he walked us around pretty much all weekend!  Right at the first bridge we walked across, I had to stop.. the river is just lined with beautiful, colorful buildings! It was soo pretty!

And that was the beginning.. it seems like there is probably no ugly building in all of Prague, they're all architecturally gorgeous!  We went across Charles Bridge which has statues liming the sides and there are people selling art and playing music all along it. There is also a wonderful view of the river, and the buildings all along it, along with the view across the river of the buildings and the Prague Castle as you walk across.

Later on we went to Old Town Square, there were TONS of people, because they were lighting the tree!  At first it was a little exciting because we had no idea and this is just a cool thing to experience.  But then, after it was over.. there was just a ton of people; we couldn't move.. we were stuck, there were soo many!  I did hear a lot of English which was kind of cool, but it felt like a crowded concert.. we kept being pushed together, it became hard to breath! At one point Stepan turned to us and yelled, "I don't know what to do!" We felt helpless.. Then Liz yelled back an awesome idea, "Follow the stroller!" There was a stroller by us, so we decided to follow it in hopes that people would stay clear of it. And we made it!  We got out!!  It was wonderful.

After that craziness, we decided it was time for food. We made pasta carbonara!  It.was.soo.good!  We rock! 

The next day we went across Charles Bridge again, this time during the day. There were many more venders with art which was cool to see. We decided to go back to Old Town Square as well, to have some positive memory of it, because yesterday night with all those people was horrible lol.. then we went to Prague Castle which was really cool because it isn't just a castle, it is a village, if you will, within the castle walls! We decided to go back to the castle a bit later because there is an alchemist section that cost money earlier in the day, but was free after 6pm! Basically Liz and I had one big photo shoot lol. It was great:)

Later that night we watched a Czech movie, found a host, and then packed up because we were headed to Krakow in the morning!

I ended up staying less time than I had planned though, because I met up with Liz (from San Diego California - the one I met in Gent and we also met up in Amsterdam), and decided I wanted to travel with her for a bit to Krakow.  We're on our way to Krakow, Poland now!!  On a train.. that has free Wi-Fi!  AND tea, water, and cappuccinos!! Best decision ever!

Note to self: smetona is a coffee creamer packet.
Also: beer is cheaper than water in Prague.

Krakow, Poland

What a fun train ride here.. we got Wi-Fi, cappuccinos, water.. all for free!  We could even charge our electronics if we wanted to!

We transfered to a different train in Ostrava, that was a pretty small city, but we had a 2 hour wait for our next train so we walked around a bit!  It was actually pretty cool there, I got a picture by a Christmas tree on the square.
Snow snow snow:)

The next train was to Katowice, a bigger station, not as sketchy as the one in Ostrava AND people were nice and a lot of them spoke English!  There was English on the signs too.. it was comforting. 

The final train to Krakow was a bit sketch.. kept slowing down and was really dark, and smelled.. incredibly bad!

When we finally got to Krakow we went to our host, Nil's flat (apartment). It was soo nice and warm and comfortable!

Our first day there, we literally just walked around all day!  We went all through the city center, Nil's flat is right on one of the main squares, which was awesome!  One the main square, there was a man singing opera, and a little girl across from him in a pink jacket in a stroller, singing along with him, it was ADORABLE!! WE watched them for awhile, then we walked to the Castle.  It was really cool and gave us a nice view. After, we went shopping for boots. Didn't find any. I found a cute hat and scarf!  ..but didn't get them.

We made dinner and just hung out tonight, and planned tomorrow out. We went to Auschwitz early in the morning. We decided to take the earlier bus, and basically we were running to it.. it had already started leaving, and we stopped it to make it on hah! It was a beautiful ride there.. the snow completely covered the trees.

It was a tough day though. We went to Auschwitz I first and then Auschwitz II, Birchenau. in Auschwitz I, all the buildings were still up, it was more of a museum. It was crazy going through it though.. very heavy. When we got to Berchenau, all I could think was Oh my God. It was huge. Only some buildings were still up and you could see the outlines of all the rest along with the brick chimneys that were once connected to the wood buildings that held 700 to 1000 people each. And there had to have been a couple hundred of them.. it was insanely big. Sickening.
It was a day of fighting back tears.

We slept on the bus ride back which was actually really helpful in getting our minds back to normal after all of that. We went to the shopping center again and both ended up finding boots!!  Which is good because mine must've been cheap or something because I got them about a month ago and they already had holes in the bottoms of them.

When we got back to Nil's, she had already started preparing the things to make... SUSHI!!  She taught us how tonight!!  It was soo cool learning how to make our own.. I felt soo accomplished after! It was awesome.  I can't wait to do it at home now...I should start making a list of all the things I've cooked/helped cook, so I don't forget them by the time I come home.

This was Liz and my last night together.. she was to leave in the morning:( it was a lot of fun travelling with her. It was soo nice to just have someone there and to share moments with, good and bad, and also.. to talk to. Haha I find that now I become very talkative around people who can understand me, because out here, they're few and far between lol.  We had fun together.. and I know we will reunite again.. whether it be back in the US or maybe travelling again!  Who knows!  I have a feeling life will bring us together somewhere again though.
I like travelling alone because it allows me to be completely me and to depend only on me, but it has helped me to really understand and appreciate having the people I do in my life:)

After saying goodbye to Liz, I spent the whole next day in an internet cafe, figuring out the best way to get to Lviv, Ukraine lol. And everyone was saying to take a train to Przemysl, then a minibus to the border, cross it on foot and then take another minibus to Lviv... I completely disagree.

Note to self - stick with direct trains when going through country borders.

Stay tuned, story to come.

Chao!

<3

My (new) Plan for this Month:

I'll be skiing at Flachau (Austria) and Garmisch (Germany)! And spending Christmas in Austria!

But in order to stay until mid January so I can board and celebrate Christmas here, I must not become illegal immigrant. Because the type of visa Americans get for Europe has to abide by the schengan agreement: basically I can only stay 90 days within 180 in order to stay legal..

So now I must leave the schengan territory for about 2.5 weeks so I can stay in Austria and Germany until mid January when I will fly to Thailand.

I've always planned on doing an Eastern European trip.. I just didn't plan on doing some of those countries this time!  Sooo... New plan before Christmas!

POSSIBLE 2.5 Week Eastern European Itinerary (before I have checked out the buses and trains):
Transylvania - Brasov, Romania
Bucharest, Romania
Sofia, Bulgaria
Istanbul, Turkey
Ohrid, Macedonia
Mostar, Bosnia
Sarajevo,.Bosnia
Belgrade, Serbia

The to Salzburg, Austria for Christmas and new years.

Now.. I am researching now so chances are, this could all completely be different by the end of the day lol.

<3

Leipzig (last place in Deutschland)

The fact that Leipzig is the last city in Germany I plan to visit this time in Europe makes me a bit sad:(

But I've decided my next goal in life:
Learn German and come back.
    I really wish America had a better method of teaching foreign languages, one that allows us to remember them maybe? Make everyone study abroad or something.. immerse students into the culture. 

Leipzig was awesome, I got there Thursday night and spend all day their yesterday. The first night there I made cookies with my host's roommate, Uli. Then her other roommate, Jorg, joined us for some carrot and potato soup, then Franzi got home (the one who accepted my friend request).  She made some chai tea, and we just hung out talking foe the night. It was awesome, by the time I went to bed, I felt so happy and comfortable there:)

The next day, Franzi and I walked around the city center, Leipzig is beautiful!!  I'm soo happy I chose to come to this city. There was literally one big WeihnachtsMarkt lining most the city center streets. It was great!  Like the whole city center was one big Christmas Market!!  I had a waffle with vanilla cream in the middle, roasted almonds, and another pastry with schicken und kasse.  We Also went to the Uni to go on the computers because get this, they don't have internet in their flat!  It was a bit freeing really to not have Wi-Fi for 2 nights.

Yesterday night I met Franzi's boyfriend Craig, and we went to the Christmas market, looked around and drank some GluhWein! It was awesome. Later on that night, we just had some tea and then had to say goodbye:( 

I had an awesome time in Leipzig. Craig and Franzi are going to Indonesia in February..  maybe we'll get to meet up!  That would be awesome!

Next stop: Prague (Praha)

<3

*Oh..
I totally forgot to mention, IT SNOWED TODAY!!!

**And...
I had the best hot chocolate that I've ever had in my entire life here.. it seriously tasted like pure melted milk chocolate with maybe a drop of milk.

***One last thing..
I am on the train to Prague, and just passed Dresden.. it looked gorgeous!  I need to make it back here, next time knowing German!

A Miranda Update - not what I'm doing, but how I'm doing:

So after receiving an email from one of my BEST friends back home asking how I was doing, I realized that I don't write much about how I'm doing or feeling, I write more on what I am doing.

So here goes my best attempt on sharing my feelings on how I am doing, because travelling isn't just about what you do or see, it's also about how you feel that create the experience:

I've been doing alright.. no, I've been doing good. I expected before I left, that I would get lonely sometimes, sometimes fearful as well, and other times immensely happy. Well, I've been on my own for a month now, and of course travelling alone is going to have it's ups and downs, the down moments being mainly loneliness.  I think me recognizing that I might get lonely, has really helped me cope with it, I've only felt lonely a few times. And maybe lonely isn't the right word.. because I'm not alone, there are soo many people!  And I've met a ton of people and am usually hanging out with someone I've met. Maybe the loneliness I'm feeling is loneliness from my friends and family. I have been soo blessed with such amazing friends and family back home, I could not ask for better.  But with all the love I have for them, comes more hurt when I'm away.  I am not homesick by any means (sorry guys, I still love you though!) It's just sometimes I think to myself, Awe this reminds me of so and so, or if so and so was here they'd love it, or if I was with so and so right now, we'd be taking pictures with every random thing in this city.

I was a bit emotional around my birthday, and getting all the birthday wishes were wonderful, but they also reminded me that I am not with those who I love most and who I am most comfortable with.  It did make me a little bit sad.. but I knew that things and feelings like this would happen, so I have been prepared for them, which actually makes me feel really proud of myself.

I think being away is really helping me to realize my true friends and just how amazing the friends and family that I have are. I started to get in a bad mood, maybe because I'm in this amazing place and sometimes have no one to share it with, which is hard, but bearable.  I've been meeting such amazing people and having such amazing experiences, I could not ask for more. The only thing with the loneliness factor though.. is more times than not, I'm not alone.. I meet people on tours, my cs hosts, I met a girl from Cali, Liz, and we went to Amsterdam together and we're going to meet up in Prague and Krakow! I'm excited about all the Christmas markets and things. I will say though, it does make me sad that I don't have enough money to buy anything for anyone and bring them home lol. Sorry duuudes!  But I knew that, and you knew that, before I left.

I am truly having an amazing time though.. there are ups and downs in everything, and what I am experiencing. How I am growing, out weighs the downs by far though. I have not regretted this decision yet and I don't see feeling that way in the future.

There is nothing quite like experiencing the world, and doing it on my own :) with only me as the decision maker, I can only depend on myself and that's what I think helps me to grow the most. Makes me feel like I can do anything! 

<3 M

I <3 Berlin!

I heart Berlin..

..it's all over every postcard in every color you can think of!
I <3 Berlin.

And its pretty accurate as well. I got to Berlin last Sunday night. I stayed at one of Sabastian and Luisa's friend Rene's place until Thursday (I think this sentence is just one big grammatical error #oops). He was great!  We spent the whole night just talking.. we meant to watch some Big Bang Theory, but it didn't happen because we talked so much!  It was great. I could already tell I was going to have a good time there.

The next day, I went on a free walking tour of course!  This activity is Miranda's favourite!  A chance to see the city, learn about the history, and meet other English speaking people!  All for free!  Well.. not really free, because you should tip at the end. There is soo much history in Berlin, it's unreal. I loved learning a lot about it on the tour. We visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews, but a lot of people don't like that, because it was not only Jews that were murdered, so people usually call it the Holocaust Memorial now.

We went to the remains of the Berlin Wall, which once divided east and west Berlin, and the wall is all chipped. This is because when people used to visit it, they would chip off a piece to take with them, it was a thing, everyone did it, but then they put a barrier around it to block anyone from getting to it, so they could have the wall there as a reminder still. We by n passed a bunch of Trabi cars and went to Checkpoint Charlie.There are TONS of Christmas Markets here!!  it seems that every square I went to, there was a market! 

During the tour I met a kid named Jordan, he was from Michigan!  I was sure to mention that OSU beat Michigan of course. He just graduated from a university in California!  Soo much cooler than Michigan.  After the tour we decided to walk around together and get a bite to eat later on. We went through the big Christmas Market by Alexanderplatz, it was soo nice to go through it with someone!  And not just alone. Later we got dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant!!  Haha not German at all!  Lol. Then we hung out the rest of the night and experienced some Berlin nightlife.

On Tuesday, I got a good message from a couchsurfing host earlier in the day. It was someone, Anson,  saying he got 2 tickets to Cirque du Soleil for me for my birthday!  We talked prior to this when he asked me if I would want them, and of course I said Yes! I met him that night outside the hotel that Michael Jackson dangle the baby off of, and got the tickets.  Then we we went and got a drink at a local pub. He works for Cirque du Soleil as a cook, and has been doing it for ten years! I met some of his friends, one of them being the Singer in the show! I met a famous person!!  ;)  We made plans to hang out the next night after the show for my birthday!!  Yaayy!!  I was soo happy I had birthday plans! 

I walked all around Kreuzberg, a really artistic area in Berlin the next day. Graffiti, many styles and buildings laced the quarter. It was nice just walking around there. I Also got to talk to Kevin this morning!!  I woke him up at 4:30am oopsies! Sorry! It was a perfect birthday present though:)

Cirque du Soleil-Corteo was amazing. I took Rene!  It was incredible. The stage ran though the middle of the tent and there was audience on both sides. It's soo cool How I'm awed by the acts and everything they were doing, the incredible flips, dancing,juggling.. but then realizing the music that's being played is actually from a small band in each of the four corners of the stage, and THEN realizing the singing is coming from the male and female usually posted at each end of the stage (one of which I met)!  It was awesome! 

Here in Germany, and maybe all of Europe, at the break or intermission, they sell alcohol right along with the soft drinks, popcorn and candy.  I like how it isn't seen as such a negative, irresponsible thing here.  It's nice that here, people don't just binge drink, they don't do it at home (in the US) either, but here just because you enjoy a beer doesn't mean you're an alcoholic lol it just means you enjoy the taste of a beer or a cocktail. They also don't have an open container law, you can have a beer walking down the street, it's not a big deal. I think that's great.

After the show I hung out with Anson and some of his friends.. I experienced a Turkish bar, a rocker pub, and a club. Haha that cracked me up.

Some cool experiences:
- Ping pong with locals.
- Big Bang Theory ...in German.
- Ferris wheels/merry-go-rounds in every Christmas market.
- Cheese and Ham filled pastries.. I don't know what they're called but they're German deliciousness!!
- Birthday in a foreign country.