HOPE travels

Oh Barcelona, The Land of Fun and Friends

hopeschaberg — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 19:45:00 GMT

Wow! What can I say about Barcelona...

Well, first, as soon as I crossed into Spain I suddenly was on Spanish time* (See below for translation). Second, I made such great friends while being there. Thirdly, I happened to stumble into Barcelona during La Merce, this fantastic celebration that starts on a Thursday and ends Sunday night. You may have heard that Barcelona is a party place, but I dont think you realize the extent it can go!!!

In Barcelona I wasnt the usual tourist I tend to be. Usually I walk and walk and walk and tour until I want to cut my legs off (maybe I am being a tad melodramatic...) But in Barcelona that wasn´t the case. Spanish time really had an effect on me. I walked around enough, I did two free tours of the Gothic Quarter, I went to the ever famous Park Güell, I went to a huge famous market, I even went to the beach (amazing), but I didn´t see a lot of sights Spain has to offer. Like the Sagrada Familia, this amazing, huge church by this famous artist named Gaudi that has been under construction for ever and will continue to be for many years to come. I don´t regret not seeing certain sights because I realize thats not what Barcelona was supposed to be for me. During the whole of my trip I have been quite the loner, but I met some really great people at my hostel and thats what made Barcelona fabulous for me!

New friends. Let me just give a shout out to Michael, Anton, and Jereth. Three groovy dudes who were so much fun to hang out with! Michael and I got to hang out the first day I was there. It was good to walk and look around with someone who was extremely like minded! Michael left right after I got there. The next day I went on a free tour in the city and then went back to the hostel to rest (Spanish time) midday. While on the computer I met Anton who invited me to view the opening of La Merce with him and some other people from the Hostel. Soon after I met Jereth who would be going with us. After that we were inseperable. We did a lot of the La Merce celebration together, ate a lot of gelato (that was conveniently around the corner from our hostel) together, danced together, and went to the beach together. Anyway, what I am trying to say is Thank you guys for being awesome!

I can´t believe how fortunate I was to coincidentally be in Barcelona for La Merce. It is Barcelona´s largest street festival and it is honor of Mare de Deu de la Merce, the Patron Saint of Barcelona. And let me be the one to tell you that everyone gets down! The festival kicked off Thursday night at St. Jaume Square. It was a parade costumes, but the costumes were of people, dragons, other animals that were about 12 ft. tall at least. There was also a parade of devils. Then each groupe of people, animals, or devils took turn dancing around on stage. After the opening of La Merce we went to the hostel to get ready for the night ahead of us. It took us all forever to get out of the hostel, but it worked out perfectly. For we stepped out of our hostel door into a huge parade of more costumed people and lots of drums. We joined the parade, dancing behing this one group of drummers. We were literally DANCING THROUGH THE STREETS! Oh my lord, it was SO much fun. We followed this group for over an hour. It was originally me and the guys and about 20 other folks. By the end of the drumming and dancing there were well over 100 people behind us groovin to the beats! Then we found a stage that had Spanish Ska music and we danced like crazy. Upon getting back to the hostel we all stayed up talking and before we knew it, it was 4 am. Spanish time will get to you I swear... The next day we went and watched human pyramids being built. The idea is to make a pyramid of people and then have a small child around the age of 4 or 5 climb to the top and blow a kiss to whatever government offial is standing on the balcony of the government building where the pyramids are being built. These people aren´t stabalized on all fours though. They are standing straight up on top of one another using there core muscles and their clothing to climb up one another. Very impressive! Jereth and I about got suffocated/humped to death in the swarms of people trying to get in and get out of the crowd. Not as fun as it sounds.... We went to the beach after lunch. First time I have been to the ocean in 3 years! Oh man, it was glorious! The cool blue waves and Saharin sand. The sand is actually imported from the Sahara. Every winter it washes back out and every spring, boat loads of sand is imported back in. Weird, but enjoyable. Public nudity is legal in the city as long as you have shoes on, weird again. But on the beach there is no need for shoes. I luckily only spotted one naked old man at the beach and only one on the streets! Later that night Anton, Jereth and I plus Nic, Les, Claudia, and Barbara (two english guys and two spanish girls) went out again. We had grown extremely accustomed to Spanish time, so when looking at my watch when stepping out of the hostel, I was a little suprised to see that it was 00:45! We went back to the stage we had been the night before and danced, danced, danced. In Barcelona a lot of Pakistanians (not sure if that was correct spelling or grammar, my apologies) sell a beer for one euro. They walk around saying ¨beer? one euro. beer? one euro¨ It really is fantastic because they come to you and its cheap. It started to sprinkle a bit, but we kept dancing as long as the music went. After the music stopped we went to find something else to do. Thats when it started to pour! Jereth, Nic, and I had a spontanious dance party in the rain while everyone else took shelter. It felt great! Saturday night a couple of us went to watch Correfoc. Correfoc is simply a fire parade. There were huge dragon and monster things that had fire works coming out of their mouths. Also people were dressed up like the devil running around with fireworks on the top of their pitch forks! They are supposed to be emulating demons coming out of hell. When arriving at the parade, Jereth and I became a bit weary because everyone else had on full body clothing, scarves, and some even safety goggles. That is because these people stay in the middle of the street and run around while the people and monsters with fire are running around. Well, we weren´t going to let a little fire stop us from fully experiencing this parade. We must have looked crazy running around under the fountain of fireworks being sprayed at us. Hopping up and down to avoid being burned. I left with a few burn holes through my sweater and scarf. It was exhilerating! On our walk back to the hostel we walked through St. Jaume Square and happened to catch the end of this sweet light show! It was projected onto the govn´t building. I can´t even begin to explain how it cool it looked, lets just say it was worth seeing!

I left for Sevilla at the wee hours of Sunday morning, but really really wished I had booked more time in Barcelona. I was suprised at how hard it was to say goodbye to my new friends had only knowing them for just over 48 hours. In all, Barcelona was not like any other place I had been to yet. I don´t think there is anywhere quite like it!

*Spanish time: Taking your time to do everything and anything you do. Probably are going to arrive late to any plans previously made and take siesta during the day

Ruffpyre! My Southern France Experience

hopeschaberg — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Sorry this blog is coming so late!

When planning my travels I decided to plan a week where I would get out of the typical tourist role and into the country. To really see the land and the people. I chose France as the country to do so in through a website called helpx.net. At helpx people who need help with their project or small business (i.e. bed&breakfasts, ranches, farms, reconstruction projects, etc.) can post little profiles displaying their project and then people (like me) who want to help with some project can go to this website and search through the different profiles and pick a project they want to work on. Generally the exchange is your work for room and board. In my search through different opportunities in France I came across one in Mayran, France. It is in the hills in Southern France. The organizer of this project is named Nicolas (one groovy dude) and he has a large vegetable garden he needed some help with and he is also restoring a 13th century monks tower. In choosing this property I had not a clue what I was getting myself into. It turned out to be better than I ever could have imagined and much much more than a place to stay and eat for free.

I arrived In Rodez, France on Sunday, Sept. 12. I never took the time to orient myself with the area. I just assumed that where I was going to be working would just be super close to the train station. WRONG. Rodez is much more built up than I ignorantly assumed. Arriving on a Sunday, at night may I add, didn´t make figuring out how to get to the property, 20 km away, easy. After calling Nicolas and leaving a message I decided to figure out how to get to his property myself. First I thought I would take a taxi, but they wanted a wopping 50 euro to drive the equivelant of 12 miles. I decided to not do that so I checked out a hotel across the street, too expensive! So then I started scouting out the area for tree I could just pitch my tent in and camp. I figured I would have better luck on a Monday finding my way. Well, like I said Rodez is much more built up than I thought so the whole sleeping outside thing wasn´t going to work unless I wanted to pitch my tent in a square or something. No thank you. After a bit of panic started to set in Nicolas called me back and said he would be there to pick me up in 20 minutes. Thank goodness! In the meantime I am sitting outside the train station and some guy comes a sits next to me and tries talking to me. He speaks french, I speak english, so there really isn´t any conversation that happens besides a lot of confused looks on both parts. Anyway, I understand enough french to know that he was saying he could drive me to his home and I could sleep there for free. Ugh, deep shivers! He is harmless though, just extremely full of himself. I tell him no, but he keeps bringing it up like maybe I hadn´t understood what he meant. Eventually he asks ¨Pourquoi?¨ And I respond in a raised tone in blunt english ¨Because I don´t know you!¨ He stopped talking to me after that, just in time for Nicolas to pull up! He brought me back to Ruffpyre, the street we lived on, in Mayran and gave me a small tour of the property and introduced me to Kim, the other helpxer! Both Kim and Nicolas are extremely nice and really funny people. Soon after I hit the hay.

They next day we meet for breakfast in the rustic outdoor/indoor kitchen and then to work. That is how everyday starts. So on Monday I got to work in the garden. I helped uproot potatos, beets, carrots, and tomatos. I felt amazed everytime I would dig into the earth and out pops more food! I know it is common knowledge that this is how it has always been, but it was really powerful to experience it. Especially to cook with it right after you dig it up! After a few hours we meet for lunch. Then we worked on sanding down a really long, old table. It felt so good to be out of busy crowds and exhaust fumes and to be working with my hands! Everyday I did a little bit of everything. It was really nice to have versitality in the day, I didn´t ever feel bored! Also, I appointed my self cook. Nicolas and Kim both cook great food, but they let me take over because I really enjoyed it. Everyday I was baking fresh break sometimes putting different things in it like walnuts or cheese or honey. I just got to play around with all these ingredients and it was always well recieved, so I just kept on cooking! It was lovely having the garden right there also because there was always fresh potatos, carrots, beets, tomatos, and zucchini to cook with. And fresh eggs!!! We had 3 chickens who I love very much! They had lame names though like Ginger and whatnot, so I changed them to Franchesca, Josephine the Second, and Henrieta! My lovely chickens layed beautiful, tasty eggs!

Towards the end of the week two more helpers arrived. Allison (Scottland) and Stan (London). I couldn´t have asked for a better group of people to live/work/explore with! Nicolas threw an amazing party at the tower on Saturday so we could cut loose a little. Kim, Allison, and I prepared dinner which was make your own pizza themed. So we made pizza dough and it into 30 individual sized balls. Then we had a buffet of toppings you could add on yourself. Then Nicolas had prepared a raised fire outside. So essentially it was a fire on top of grill thingy so there was about 8 inches of space between the ground and the fire. Then on a long piece of stone the pizzas were placed and then put under the fire. Within a minute they were ready and SO GOOD! I also prepared a sauted pumpkin and zucchini dish (all ingredients from garden) for the side and the guest brought desserts, bread, cheese, and wine... lots of wine! After eating and a bit of digesting the party was moved into the bottom of the tower. Where Nicolas has a disco ball hanging from these ancient beams. He also has a spot light shining on the disco ball and speakers set up in this tower. Try to picture this with me. A 4 story tower made of stone, red dirt, and lime from the 1200s that monks used to live in, in the middle of no where souther France, with a disco ball and some sweet jams with 15-20 inebriated French/Scottish/English/American people dancing away in it. It was SO MUCH FUN!The French know how to get down.

The next day we all were a bit slow going. I made a huge brunch for us and then off we went to Albi. A town west of Mayran. We took the scenic route through the hills, which proved to make us all feel a little worse for the wear, but it was beautiful none the less! In Albi there is this huge old Cathedral that we went to! After walking around a bit we decided to head back home. After getting lost on more windy back roads we finally made it home where we just wanted to sleep!

Monday (my last day at Ruffpyre) we all worked really hard in the morning because we were going to call it a short day in order to drive to Montpellier. Nicolas had a rugby game and I was meeting a couple people there the next day to catch a ride to Barcelona. On the way to Montpellier we stopped in Belcastel, a beautiful old city with a sweet little castle Nic wanted me to see. It was worth the stop. Also, we stopped at the worlds tallest bridge. It is fantasitc! It is taller than the Eiffel Tower. After stopping to take pictures we crossed it! If you go to Google and type in ´worlds tallest bridge´ you can see pictures of it. We picniced at the stadium where the game was going to be. Then Stan, Allison, Kim, and I went and walked around Montpellier. It is a cool city with a lot of youth. We made it back to the stadium to catch the end of Nic´s game. It was the first rugby game I have ever seen. Then it was time to say my goodbyes. Leaving them was hard. It was like this little happy family that I obtained. We ate every meal together and really shared with eachother.

It was a great experience going to Ruffpyre. I definitely want to return in the future to see how the project has progressed. Nicolas has a really good thing going with the property.

Paris Has My Heart CONTINUED

hopeschaberg — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 23:20:00 GMT

~Sorry for any hurriedness, misspelling, etc for I am paying to write this and I am trying to rush~

Though I really enjoyed my three straight days of sight seeing I decided I had seen enough of the city to know where I wanted to hang out and I wanted to experience the city rather than just see it. So Friday was my extreme Parisian adventure day! Not so much an adventure and chilling out really hard at various places. I started off my adventure by walking past the Eiffel Tower to this little area across the Seine River to this Cafe that sits on a busy corner. It is probably a mile away from the Champs Elysees, but also near normal shops so it was a really good mix of people, perfect for people watching! I drank my weight in delicious coffee and wrote some letters and post cards, journaled and read a bit. Then I made my way back over to the Eiffel Tower where I layed in the grass and read some more. The sun was out and it felt amazing. When I started to get a bit hungry, I took the metro to Montmartre (the artists community) to find a sweet little cafe to eat at. After sitting at a place and getting up and leaving because of the all to famous arrogant Parisian waiter dude (sorry if I offended anyone with that one) I found this cafe on the corner at the top of the hill. The owner, a very nice woman, gave me an english menu. I ordered the cheese plate and a glass of wine. There was about 6 different kinds of cheese, some batard bread, and a glass of red wine made in Bordeaux. It was all to perfect! Then before catching the metro back to the Eiffel Tower I stopped at a pastry shop and bought myself a piece of chocolate. I have gotten really good at taking myself on dates! I arrived at the Eiffel Tower at 9 pm. Exactly in time to see it light up! It was pretty cool. Then I stumbled upon hundreds of people sitting in the lawn infront of the tower watching a huge screen. There were watching little TV show clips. It was funny, I only know that because people were laughing for everything was in french. It was fun just to sit amongst hundreds of people watching TV.

Today I went to Versailles with a group of extremely nice exchange students from Hong Kong. I met them at my hostel and they invited me with them. It was SSSOOOO expensive, but worth it. At least the garden was. And since we were there on a weekend day the fountains were on. I am really happy I went! Inside the palace it wasn't as cool as the Euros I paid for it made it seem. It was room after room of old furniture. I liked it and all, but I am pretty sure I saw about 500 chairs today :) But the gardens were just perfect!

I am now exhausted from my Paris adventure, but it was much much more than I could have even imagined! Everything here is so beautiful and delicate! (For the thing not so beautiful and delicate, see below) I definitely recommend to anyone to visit here! Alone ore with a partner I think it is just as romantic either way. The city just exudes romance! Au revoir Paris, you have my heart!

Things Not So Beautiful and Delicate:

Dog poop on all the side walks all the time. Every month there are apparently hundreds of accidents caused by people slipping in the dog poop
Gypsies trying to get your money! They are tricky and nothing of the romanticized images I've always had in my head
.... thats all I got, Paris is pretty solid on the awesome front!

Paris Has My Heart

hopeschaberg — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 22:50:00 GMT

I leave tomorrow for Rodez, France to work on some land for a week, but truthfully I am not ready to leave Paris. I can't really afford to stay hear, but I would like to! I love, Love, LOVE Paris!

I arrived at 8:30 Tuesday morning. I found my hostel and dropped my bags off and then walked to the Eiffel Tower. Which is only about a fifteen minute walk from where I rest my head at night. The Eiffel Tower is so big and beautiful! It just has this force that comes over you when you see it! I sat in the grass infront of it for a long while, but decided I needed to do more sight seeing. So I walked to the Champs-Elysees. It is at the top of a street that is lined with stores like Armani, Gucci, Louis Vuiton, etc. Crazy expensive area! After wondering aroung that area for sometime I stopped at a little side street cafe and had a cappuccino and sat to record some thoughts. Then I went back to the Eiffel Tower and took a little cat nap in the grass, for I had been up since 3:30 AM that morning.

On Wednesday I took advantage of the free tour that Paris offers. The guide was hilarious and I had met a friend at the hostel so we went together. The tour was really interesting and took us all around the Louvre, Champs Elysees, St. Michael via the Latin Quarter, the Seine River, Notre Dame, and many more remarkable places. It was a really good group of people, which equaled a really good time. Towards the end of our tour it starting raining. By the time the tour ended it was pouring. I had a rain jacket, but that was the most protection I had so I ended up getting soaked. I decided to stay out and walk around more. I mean, I was already wet and I am in Paris! There is no way I was going to go sit at the hostel. So I wondered around for hours. I found this cute little crepery called 'La Petite Tour'-The Little Tower. I got a chocolate and banana filled crepe to go and it was everything I could have wished for! Downfall of the day being when it starting raining my camera got a little wet. When I went back to the Notre Dame after the tour to take pictures, I learned that my camera just wouldn't. It turns on and I can view older pictures, but it won't take new ones! So I am sporting a very nice disposable camera!

On Thursday I spent the whole day getting to Sacre Coeur and Montmartre and exploring both areas. This area I am talking about is really far away from my hostel. But I decided it would be really nice to walk and so I packed a lunch and headed out. It took me a couple hours to get there. Keep in mind I was taking my time and I stopped for my picnic lunch on the steps of The Church of Madeleine. Sacre Coeur is this really extravegant, huge church at the very tip top of this hill in Paris. Upon reaching the top and turning around, you can see the city. Fabulous! The inside the church is beautiful as well (It has nothing on the Notre Dame, but it does well). I sat inside and journaled a bit. It smelt like Barmeo. After hanging out around there I went to the area that resides behind the church, which is Montmartre. It is this part of Paris that is the artists community. There are many many coffee shops and art galleries. I really really liked it, but after my trek up to Sacre Couer I was too tired to hang out, but I decided to come back the next evening!

Berlin °°° Part Zwei

hopeschaberg — Mon, 6 Sep 2010 10:15:00 GMT

This weekend of Berlin put my first two days to shame, it was so much fun! I got to see a different side of Berlin. On Friday I saw the built up, yuppy side of the city. Over the weekend I got to really see the city and the people.

I started off my Saturday by taking the S baun (Berlin public transport is perfection) to Kreuzburg. Its a very diverse part of town that has markets and all kinds of ethnic food. I looked around a bit, bought some ginger candy at the asian market. Then I walked all the way to Mitte Berlin to meet another free tour. The walk took much longer than I thought (I think it was about 3 or so miles) but I caught the tour group as they were walking away from the meeting point. This tour is called the Alternative Tour. It is led by a New Zealander who has dread locks, tattoos, and this super relaxed-friendly attitude. The points of the tour are graffiti (there is an endless supply of amazing graffiti in Berlin), squats, cool bars to hang at, and fun places to be like this one place that was a skatepark, climbing wall, artist hang out. It was also a few hours long. The group I was with was really fun too. Everyone was really friendly and talkative. There were 3 people from Poland, 4 from Israel, a girl from Sweden, a girl from Ireland, the list goes on. It never fails though that I am the only American. And its so funny because people are always asking me questions about the United States... " Is it true that in America _________?" It never fails! One of the guys from Israel said that for how large the U.S. is, he doesnt meet that many travelers and then the rest of the group agreed. I wonder why that is. Maybe because we are so seperated from Europe or that we feel like we have so much of our own country to explore. Who knows. The girl from Swedens name is Maria. Her and I hit it off and were really hungry after the tour so we went and got food together. I really wanted to try a doner kabab. Everyone talks them up. And its funny because doner kababs are Turkish, but its what everyone says to eat when you go to Germany. So we asked our tour guide to tell us the best one in town. He told us to go to this place called Mufasas. This wasnt the first time I heard about Mufasas. Toms friends rant and rave about this kabab stand. So Maria and I went there and had to stand in a 15 minute line in the rain (it rained a lot the first couple days) to get this amaying kabab. It was so worth it! It had a lot of fresh veggies on it along with the other typical ingredients. Then I went home and hung out with the roomies.

I got really, really great rest that night and on Sunday I went to the flee market with Elena. Tom left for the states Sunday morning. This flee market just wasnt any flee market though, it was huge! It was very stylish too! Everyone, being hundreds of people, looked so good. It was the the hipster, scene kids in CoMo multiplied by a thousand. I got a old man cardigan and a pair of jeans that fit perfectly for 11 euro. I ate some really yummy stand food. Afterward I walked down the street from the market and had a coffee and cake. Then I headed back to the market because they have kareoke. This just isnt any kareoke though. The whole market and all is outside and the kareoke stage backs up to a hill. So there are hundred of people sitting on the hill and standing around the stage cheering for the poor fella up on stage singing his heart out! The guy I saw singing was this older man singing his heart out! Everyone loved him. I love the market! I love the parts of Berlin that I have witnessed the last couple days. The culture is fantistic!

On my way home I stopped by the park near the flat to view something I had briefly heard about from one of the flatmates. It is this giant metal sculpture sticking out of the water. Its of 3 men fighting. It is so tall and powerful. Then I went home to check out train or bus tickets to Ludwigsburg so I could go visit my host family. Turns out if you want to travel to southern Germany from Berlin you have to be willing to give up a kidney or your first born child. It is crazy expensive. So I wrote a very, very sorry email to my former host family and booked a ticket to Paris! So it looks like I am going to Paris a couple days earlier than planned. I leave tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6:30 am and arrive in Paris at 7:55 am. It was actually cheaper to book a plane ticket than it was a train ticket. So thats where I am at today on this fine, sunny Monday. I will pack, shower, and go check out the airport today.

Thanks for reading my blog by the was :)

Berlin >>> The Ever Changing City

hopeschaberg — Mon, 6 Sep 2010 09:40:00 GMT

I love Berlin so much more than I though I would! Actually, I didnt have any expectations. But none the less, I have really grown to like it here. There is alway so much happening! Most likely the reason being that there a several different parts of Berlin. There is Mitte, Kreuzberg,Prenzlauer Berg, Charlottenburg, etc and they all are made up of very different people all looking for something new or fighting to keep things how they are. Also, they are still rebuilding from all the bombing that happened some 60 years ago. Sometimes they get a little rebuild crazy and want to tear down really old, still intact buildings and thats why the people have to fight. These are the reasons I think Berlin is an ever changing city. (If this was a school paper I would be graded badly for my thesis)

When my bus arrived in Berlin I thought I would have to find a hostel to stay in, but when I got off the bus there stood Tom! It made me so happy to see him, I literally dropped my bag and ran (or skip-jumped) to give him a hug. He brought me to the flat that him and his girlfriend, Elena, share with 5 other people. Everyone here is so kind! Since I got in at night we didnt see the city, but Tom and Elana brought me to their former schoolmates house and we had some wine and sat around talking. The next day, Thursday, we had a lazy day. We bummed around the house, made a big lunch, and then went to meet their friends at the sand volleyball grounds. I didnt really feel like playing and part of the Berlin wall was right next to the area, so I went and explored a bit. This part of the Berlin wall is called the East Side Gallery. Its part of the wall on the east side that is still intact that is covered in artwork. Each artist from varying parts of the world got a good section of the wall to do what they wanted. It is truly beautiful! I met back up with Tom and his friends to go check out this old abandonded squat. It was this huge building covered inside and out with graffiti. Very cool! Tom and Elena wanted to go back to their friends house, but I kind of felt like going back to the flat and doing my own thing. So we parted ways. Tom tried to give me the keys, but with 5 roommates I figured someone had to be home. So I made my way home, went up the stairs, rang the bell, no answer.... rang the bell again... no answer. I sat on the stairs waiting for someone to come home...nope. Oh and to top it off the light in the hall way turns itself off every 60 seconds or so to conserve electricity. So every 60 sec I am up turning the light back on in fear of scaring one of the neighbors by being the creepy American lurking in the hallway. So I remember there is a McDonalds down the road and I know that it is 24 hours and I was pretty sure they have free WiFi (to make clear, I did not want to go to McDonalds. When arriving here and seeing McDs, BK, and KFC I vowed not to go. I dont even go in the states! But desperate times calls for desperate messures). So I go to McDonalds and get a sunday. Internet isnt free. They wont give me water. At this point I am thinking dark hallway is better, but to top it off, the drunk old man who had been posted by the door is now putting his bag on the table infront of me and walks to the counter to get some food. I decided this is a good time to leave. So I start to leave and he puts an orange juice in my hand and motions towards the table. For some reason I go back to the table. My naive side is kicking in. He sits across from me. His eyes are so blood shot and I can just tell he has to be wasted. He keeps trying to talk to me and I keep saying I dont speak German. He wants me to drink the OJ. Hell no am I drinking the OJ. I decide to stop thinking everyone is nice for once and just get up and leave. When I go back to the apartment and ring the bell someone answered!! His name is Sebastian, he is a roommate I havent met!

Friday Tom and Elena made us a delicious breakfast. Then I went on the Free Tour around Berlin. It was wonderful! It took 3.5 hours and the guide was this Irish guy who was really knowledgeable of Berlins history, and he was funny. That took up a large chunk of my day. Other than that I just wondered around the city. I like to wonder because you run into things you would have never of seen if just sticking to main streets. The part of town where the tour took place is in the more high end part. That includes Mitte and Charlottenburg. All the huge buildings, expensive stores, and fancy restaurants are in this area. But it also includes sites the the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, part of the wall that still looks how it did years ago, churches, Museum island, and a lot more. When I got home I hung out with the roommates, all very funny and like to imitate my american accent.

So, I am going to break this up into two entries, but that was my first few days in Berlin

Antsy Pantsy

hopeschaberg — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:06:00 GMT

So, Prague is wonderful and beautiful, but I am feeling really antsy here. I don't know if its because it is much smaller than Budapest, or that it has been raining, or because it was built up so much in my mind, but I am ready to leave. So I think I am leaving tomorrow for Berlin!

I have had kind of a blah kind of day. With the rain and all I just kind of walked around a bit and then hung out at my hostel... oh, and I got a international phone, John Schaberg. I think I have been thinking about my expenses and future expenses and its got me a little freaked out. I couldn't get my mind off of it. I decided to walk to the train station and check ticket prices. 57€! I said 'NO THANK YOU' So I am going to take this super cool bus line for only 25€. But on my walk home I started thinking clearly and I feel much better now! I know I can get by on what I have and right now I am on an extended vacation in the beautiful Prague (no matter how gray it is right now)! So I have decided to breathe and not worry about the money. Of course still being cautious, but I shouldn't make it my focus because it just muddles things. Oh, and I didn't switch hostels. When it comes down to it, my hostel is only 6€ and I have met a couple really nice people. A girl from Paris named Charlotte and a couple named Deborah and Johannes from Germany. I am going out with the couple tonight! They seem a lot like me so it should be really good! And I will be finally tasting Prague beer. It is suppost to be the best in the world :)

Until next time!

sbohem

PRAGUE <3

hopeschaberg — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:40:00 GMT

Prague is such a cool city! There is SO much history here. The architecture ranges all over the place because of all the occupancy of different tribes and different dictating countries. And get this, there are a few vegan/vegetarian places here. I have been having coffee in the morning at this fair trade coffee shop called Mamacoffee. It smells like my first job at Figueros :) I have walked all over this city and still have two more days to dig a little deeper! I spoke with a Czech citizen for a while at dinner last night and he says when I speak Czech I have a Russian accent... weird- I know.

I am not diggin my hostel to much. It is called PurPur Crib 15. I chose it because it only costs me 175 koruna or 9 dollars a night to stay here. But it is this super kitschy decoration and atmosphere where the music in the lobby is something you might hear on Z 107.7 (you st. louis folk know what I am talking about). And the kitchen is under construction, so I can't use it. But, there is a bright side to this! I am moving hostels tomorrow! I am moving to a hostel that is right in the Old Town Square. It had great reviews.

Yesterday I went on a free tour and bought some groceries at this organic grocery store. Attached to the grocery store is a veg. restaurant so I went and had some healthy warm soup that only cost $1.50! Today I went to the coffee shop and explored Prague on the other side of the Vltava River. Starting with the ever famous Charles Bridge. Huge biblical statues line it! Everything from there is a steep uphill walk. I saw the Prague Castle, The Kings Garden, and Strahov Monastery! I would love to post pictures of all this, but I dont have a way so far.

Love you guys

P.S. 2 posts ago during my last night in Budapest I said I was going to call it a night, but when I got off the computer my two hostel mates asked if I want to go to this thermal spa with them. It was open from 10 pm-4 am. Budapest is known for its thermal spas. And this was an authentic one. It even smelt of sulfer! It was so relaxing after walking around so much!

In Prague

hopeschaberg — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:30:00 GMT

I am about to go to bed, but I just wanted you to know *mom and dad* that I made it into Prague about 2 hours ago! I cant figure out how to use the at sign so that rules out facebook and email. Its 1.30 am here and I traveled a lot today, so off to bed for me. Love you

Jó napot ( good day)

hopeschaberg — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:14:00 GMT

Today was such a good day! I slept in a little, had breakfast, then went and looked inside St. Stephens Basilica (beautiful huge church). I went and found a local coffee shop on a side street, which equals cheaper coffee. Here, its all espresso and cappuccinos, but I want to have a coffee that lasts longer so I have to be very specific when asking for Americanos. They probably think I am crazy. I sat there and journaled for a while. Then I walked around the Pest side of Budapest for hours. I went and saw Parliment which is tremendous and ate lunch (side note: I have discovered a new delicious dish. I call it apple bread. What is this apple bread you ask? Well let me tell you. Its when you take a bite of apple then a bite of bread and chew together. I think it is fabulous) in the park infront of a peculiar statue. Peculiar because it had Athena, Poisidon, Hades, and Hera sitting at the bottom, but on top was a man that looked eastern european in what looked like clothing from the 17 or 18 century. Maybe it was their rendition of Zeus... I walked to the Great Synagogue which my tour book told me, it was huge and full of history. Then I headed to the train station and on my way there I ran into Liz and Matt who were also going to the train station. I met them on the walking tour, they are the ones who had been traveling since the end of June. I bought my train ticket for Prague today. Only 5300 forints or 26 US dollars! I leave tomorrow afternoon and I happen to be on the same train as a Liz. So tonight I was going to go out and have some drinks, but it is raining and chilly, so I think I will stay in and rest. Good night all

Budapest >>> beautiful

hopeschaberg — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:25:00 GMT

I am so happy I took the advice from few good friends (Sophie, Holly, Wesley) to visit Budapest! Everything about it is beautiful! Before I start bragging on Budapest, let me start at the beggining of my trip...

Monday morning my mom and sister Amanda took me to the airport. We had a lovely homemade breakfast together and left in just enough time to get coffee at Picassos coffee house before my flight. They loaded up the car for me so I could run around the house making sure I had everything. I come out the front door to join them in the van when not 5 steps into this journey I am taking .. BOOM .. I tripped on my hiking boots and dove onto the ground! My mom said it just looked like I was rolling around in the grass saying goodbye to the U.S. I dont know about you, but I feel that for me, starting my trip out that way is only fitting in the clumsy Hope fashion I have obtained!

My flights all went well. I probably slept a total of 2 hours in about a day and a half or maybe 2 days... I dont know, time change messes with me. During my layover in Dublin, I stowed my bag away and caught a bus to O Connol St. It is one of the main streets in Dublin City. It was very chilly and wet, but still amazing in its way. The townhouse apartments that were all wedged next to eachother all looked the exact same, but each one had a different colored door. And not like, red, brown, white, gray; but blue, green, red, yellow. Very cool. I went I found a cafe/bakery on a side street and sat and had a scone with some combo of butter, peanutbutter, and jelly and a make shift capp. It was lovely :)

After that I took my flight to Budapest and arrived 8 pm Hungarian time ( we are 7 hours ahead of the midwest) to be greated by Veronika (my couch surfing host) and her friend Krizstina. Big hugs and smiles and cheese filled pastries! They brought me home and we stayed up talking for a while. Their English wasnt too bad and they understood me pretty well. Veronika, i think, went above and beyond any responsibility she had to me. She treated me like a sister. She wouldnt let me sleep on the couch and gave me her bed and gave me fruit and was just over all completely amazing. I really lucked out. First day walking around Budapest I went to the bank to exchange currency. Afterward I sat on the fountain infront of the bank at Vörösmarty tér (tér means square) and a woman approached me and asked if I wanted to join a free tour of Budapest. I said sure! So I toured around Budapest with a group of mostly Americans and met some nice people and learned about Budapest. The tour guide do it for tips so to get tipped more they let you in on tourist traps and cheap place to eat and party. It was perfect! Then I had lunch with a couple people from the tour. Two guys and a girl. Individually they had all been traveling Europe doing what I am doing, but longer. 2 of them had been traveling since end of June and the other guy has been backpacking for a year! Then I met my host and her friend Moha for coffee. Afterward I took a long nap and then Veronika and Krisztina and I went to a bar and had the official Hungarian liquor pálinka.

Today has been much different. I woke up a bit later, took my time getting out of the house, walked to the train station to check out tickets, learned first had the system of doing things here (i.e. i dont speak english go to next window, not the right window go upstairs, not the right window again, wait wait wait, you need to get a number, wait wait wait, finally I talk to the person and she tells me how much it costs to go one way to Prague and I say no thank you and leave. Then I didnt understand the bus system... at all... so I probably walked at least 7 miles today. I went to the market this afternoon and ran into Michael. He is the guy who has been traveling for a year. So we just walked around together and had coffee. It was good to speak clear english. We went to Veronikas home and had some food this evening and said our goodbyes. So now I am sitting in a hostel called Capitol Hostel. When I step outside I can see the St. Stephens Basilica! Tomorrow I am going to check out the inside of the basilica and parliment. Maybe I will leave for Prague tomorrow night, maybe not until Sat. morning.

Anyway, sorry for such a long message, but thats what I have been up to. Pictures will come sometime.

Love love love love

Hope

Night Before Takeoff

hopeschaberg — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:31:00 GMT

I am leaving tomorrow for my big trip! I am so excited for the unknown and a tad apprehensive for the unknown. I am just ready to be there already! Aaaahhhhhh!!!!!

I JUST CAN'T WAIT

So, tomorrow I leave STL at 13:40 and arrive at O'Hare. After I make my way to the international part of the airport I leave at 18:15. I then arrive in Dublin, Ireland at 7:15. I have an eight hour layover so... hello Dublin pubs ;-) I leave Dublin around 15:00 and arrive in Budapest, Hungary at 20:00. I will be staying on a couch owned by a woman named Veronika... thats all I have so far