First Day Back in Hawaii

After having an okay sleep we both woke up early this morning and hung around our houses. We talked to each other via phone but haven't done anything today. Its probably good that we are just resting though. We are both glad to be home and are ready to share stories. Thanks to everyone for all of your support during our trip and we hope that you have enjoyed reading about all of our European adventures. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have pictures to share with everyone. See you soon!

Tasha and Steph

Monday July 30, 2007

Well this morning we had to wake up pretty early so that we could pack up the last of our stuff and grab a quick breakfast before going to the airport. We reserved a shuttle to the airport for 6am so we had to hurry a bit but made it with time to spare. At the airport we had to wait for the Delta counters to open up so we could check in so that was kinda boring. When it was our turn we had to go through a checkpoint with an airline employee that asked us a lot of questions about our bags which kind of made us a bit nervous but we didn't have anything to worry about. We made it to our gate after having to go through 2 security checkpoints. Our first flight from Frankfurt to Atlanta was about 10 hours long and we slept most of the way except during the movies we wanted to watch, and when it was time to eat. When we arrived in Atlanta it was so nice to be off the airplane and to be able to navigate easily and understand the people around us. At the same time it was sad because we missed Germany. We got through customs safely and without problems so that was really nice. We barely even had to stand in line, it went surprisingly fast. We stopped on our way to our gate at a news stand to get some magazines for our next long plane ride. It was really exciting and comforting at the gate to see local people and hear them speaking. We used our cell phones for the first time in a 7 weeks to call our families to let them know we had arrived safely in the United States. Tasha and I had about 2 hours in Atlanta before our flight left for Hawaii so we just hung around and looked at all the different people. Our flight to Honolulu was smooth with only a few choppy spots and a couple crying babies. Overall the flight wasn't to bad except the food tasted pretty nasty. We were so excited when we landed in Honolulu because we had finally made it home. Everything worked out well and we got picked up at the airport and went to Tasha's house to eat dinner. The food was so delicious because we haven't had rice in so long. It was really good to see everyone but a few hours after we got there the jetlag started to hit us and we were pretty exhausted. We said bye and I went home and we both slept.

Sunday July 29, 2007

After a good nights sleep in Aunty Ruthlies's comfortable home we got out of bed and got dressed so we could go downstairs for breakfast. She prepared a beautiful breakfast for us, which consisted of an assortment of breads and homemade jams. It was all so delicious and fulfilling to our bellies. We helped Aunty clear the table and then spent some time relaxing in the living room while she started to cook for lunch. After only a few hours it was time to eat again for lunch. Tasha and I were still quite full from lunch so we had to eat pretty slow but we managed to eat everything. For lunch we had Kartoffelsalat (German Potato Salad, fried fish, and salad. After getting even more stuffed from lunch we had to hold off on dessert so that we could relax and try to digest a bit. We let about an hour pass before we sat down to enjoy some coffee and some delicious cake. After filling our stomachs to the max we sat down in front of the TV to watch a DVD of Tasha's brothers wedding ceremony with her aunty. It was so fun to watch it with here because she felt like she was in Hawaii and enjoyed being able to see everyone that she hadn't seen in so long. Soon after finishing the video we had to catch the taxi to the train station so that we could make it to Frankfurt before dark. Aunty Ruthlies rode with us to the train station where we had to say goodbye, which was really sad. We got on the train and headed to Frankfurt, but we had to stop somewhere else and change trains to the station at the airport. Once we arrived at the airport we had to wait a while for our hotel shuttle to pick us up and it was really cold so we got pretty chilly. We finally made it to our hotel and relaxed while unpacking and repacking out suitcases. Since there was free WiFi at our hotel we decided to take advantage and make some last minute phone calls via skype before heading off to bed for an early nights sleep.

Saturday July 28, 2007

This morning we woke up early so that we could get dressed and pack up the rest of our stuff before going to eat breakfast so that we could catch our train on time. We had another super delicious breakfast provided by the hotel and made sure that we ate plenty for our train ride to Stuttgart. After breakfast we went up to our room to get our bags and bring them down to checkout. Our room wasn't very expensive for what we got in the price and the staff at the hotel. Everything was so wonderful and we would definitely recommend the Forsthaus Graseck to anyone that is going to Garmisch Partinkerchen. We took a taxi to the train station as it would have probably taken us an hour to get there with our bags and stuff. It was a nice train ride to Stuttgart where we were to meet Tasha's Aunty Ruthlies. It was a good thing that we had seat reservations because the train was quite full. When we arrived in Stuttgart we hurried off the train so that we could walk to find Tasha's Aunty. As we were walking and got closer to the main area we spotted a woman with a wide-eyed look on her face and that was Aunty Ruthlies. She was so happy to see Tasha because it had been so long. She met us in Stuttgart at the train station and then we took the S-Bahn to Marbach, which is the town that she lives in. She had prepared a wonderful lunch for us that was a delicious soup from her hometown and it was soooooooooooooooooo good. After eating the soup she had baked 2 cakes that we had to try and that was no problem except that we were both quite full but we managed to eat a piece of each. We showed her Aunty and her son some pictures of our trip through Europe and they were so shocked that we had traveled alone all around the place. We spent some time relaxing after looking at pictures and eating lunch and then we ate a small dinner. For dinner we ate some bread, leberwurst, bratwurst, and cheese. It was all so delicious. After finishing with dinner Tasha and I decided to hit the sack early so that we would be well rested for Sunday.

Friday July 27, 2007

After spending our first night in beautiful Garmisch Partinkerchen we woke up this morning and wandered downstairs to eat a delicious breakfast. There were so many options and everything looked so delicious and tasty that we had a hard time choosing what to eat. We got stuffed off the delicious and healthy food and then took the lift down the mountain to go on our adventure in the town. It took us about 35 minutes to walk from the bottom of the lift into town. It was a really nice relaxing walk though because it was on a gravel road with cute little houses and farm land and a couple of pubs. There were people out in their traditional Bavarian dress so that helped add to the surroundings. Our initial plan was to make it to the train station where we would take a train to the Zugspitz mountain which is the highest peak in Germany, but the weather wasn't very good so we ended up just walking around town. We wanted to go up the mountain because on a good day its possible to see up to 4 different countries, but we didn't want to spend the money for something that we wouldn't get to fully enjoy because of the weather. We found some really cool tourist shops and wandered through some cute little towns. We ate Doner again which was not as good as the ones we had in Koln. After spending a while in town we decided to wander back to the Forsthaus Graseck, which was the hotel we were staying at to rest and relax. As we were walking we saw a horse carriage ahead of us and decided that it would be fun to take that to our hotel instead of walking to the lift. It turns out that after waiting a while a group of cute little old ladies had the same thought as us so they hopped in the carriage with us and we rode off to our stop. These ladies were so cute and had so much energy. They kept smiling at us as we looked around and took pictures of everything. It helped make the carriage ride a bit more fun. We didn't do to much the rest of the day except relax, look at the mountains, listen to the goats with their bells run around the grass, and pack up our bags for our trip tomorrow. We did eat dinner again at the hotel and it was so delicious. I think we are gonna miss the good German food when we go back.

Thursday July 26, 2007

This morning we woke up at about 8:15 so we could get dressed and pack our stuff before going to breakfast, which was included in the price of our room. It was really good and tasty too just like all of the meals we have had in Germany. After breakfast we went back up to our room and started bringing our bags down to the bottom floor. Once we had our bags down we checked out and paid for our room. The lady who was working at the desk even called a taxi for us so that was really helpful. We made it to the train station in time for the early train to Munich. Once we made it to the train station in Munich we ate some lunch and went to the next set of tracks for our train to Garmisch Partinkerchin. It was a short train ride compared to the others that we have been taking. The people in Germany are so much nicer than anywhere else that we have been. When we arrived in Garmisch we had to try to figure out how to get to our hotel and ended up asking a taxi driver, but were told that it was a 45 minute walk to the lifts so we decided to catch a cab. After watching the drive we came to the conclusion that it was worth it to take a cab especially with our heavy bags. The only way up and down from our Hotel is by a ski lift which we were kind of worried about since we have our heavy bags but it turns our that it didnt matter. We did have to travel pretty far up the mountain to our hotel. It is such a nice view and really home inside. Our room is really nice and cozy as well and we have a balcony for the first time in Europe that looks out onto the mountains. We decided to just hang out at the hotel and relax today so that we could have energy for tomorrow so we went to the spa downstairs in our hotel and had use of everything because it was self service. It was really nice and relaxing especially because we had the view of the mountains while we were sitting in the jet baths. For dinner we ate at the hotel restaurant which was decently priced and the portions were big and the food was delicious. We headed up to the room afterwards to catch some shut eye!

Wednesday July 25, 2007

At 6:20am this morning we arrived in Munich, where we had about an hour train ride to Frielessing and then another 45 minute train ride to Berchtesgaden where we are staying for the night. When we arrived in Berchtesgaden we were told that we would have to walk 500m from the train station and then up a bunch of stairs and another 500m to our hotel. Neither Tasha or myself were excited about that idea so we decided to treat ourselves and just take a taxi which was really nice and not to expensive. The Hotel Watzman was really cozy in the inside right down to the people that work there. It felt as though we had just arrived at grandmas house. The room was nice, but didn’t have a view. We arrived to late in the city to visit the Eagles Nest, but were able to take a bus to the Lake Konigsee where we took a boat tour around the lake. It was really a beautiful sight and the water was really clear for a lake. You could see the bottom, which is not typical of lakes, to bad it’s against the rules to swim in the water. We were so sleepy on the boat that it was hard to stay awake but we managed to do it until we reached the last stop where we could get out and walk around to another little lake. Along the path to the other lake were boysenberry plants growing so I picked some of the berries that were ripe and ate them. They were so delicious. We stayed around for about an hour before heading back to catch the boat to go back to the dock. We had to wait 1 hour for the next bus to take us back to central Berchtesgaden. We ate dinner at our hotel, which was super delicious and worth every penny. After dinner we went back to our room to relax, pack, and watch the news on CNN in English. We went to sleep pretty early so we could get some rest.

Tuesday July 24, 2007

Last night in the middle of our sleeping I was woken up by Tasha to close the complicated windows because it had started raining on us. We were on the top floor and the windows were above us rather than on the side of the wall so they were a bit complicated. While closing the windows there was a spider that had been hanging off one of the windows so as I closed it the spider went flying somewhere in the room but I chose not to say anything to Tasha until after we had checked out for the day. That was a bad idea, but better in the end because she got some sleep. After waking up we got dressed and went down to the pub to eat breakfast, which was really delicious, and all you can eat. While eating our breakfast we met this girl from Australia and chatted with her as we enjoyed our breakfast. On our way to see the Old Town we spotted a Bazaar so at the last minute we jumped off the Tram and started wandering around looking at all the black market goods. I ended up bargaining for a sweatshirt and got it for 250 CZK, which is only $12 USD. That is a really good deal for it because it is really good quality. I also bargained for a small suitcase for Tasha that ended up costing us 250CZK instead of the 800CZK the lady wanted for it. After we were done at the market we went to the famous post office for stamps and to take pictures. We started to wander through Old Town after the post office and stumbled upon the Powder gate, several neat statues, a Museum, and the Big Clock, which was actually kind of small. We stopped for ice cream at this café by the clock because we saw a sample of what it looked like as we walked by and were mesmerized by how good it looked. On the hour we were able to watch the clock dance. We found a bakery to stop in for lunch where we ate panini’s. We grabbed some pastries for dinner on the train before heading to the hostel to collect our bags for the train station. At the train station there were quite a few different people hanging around that made us feel a bit uncomfortable, but its ok because we had each other. Our train ended up being a 6 person room only for 4 people which we found strange and a bit cramped but we made the best of it and got some rest.

Monday July 23, 2007

After getting up early to hike down the 6 flights of stairs from our room to the reception area we successfully checked out and got back our key deposit and headed for the s-bahn station so we could catch a metro to the main train station. I had an interesting time getting my Prague Excursion pass validated at the station because I had two people telling me one thing and another person telling me another. I ended up not getting it validated at all so I just waited to see what happened on the train and it turns out that it wasn’t a problem at all. Getting our luggage up into the racks in our compartment was a bit of a task because they are big and heavy. Tasha and I worked together although it was difficult and then a man in our compartment helped us, which was really good. There were a lot of really nice towns to see along the way from Berlin to Prague. Prague from the train looks okay, but once you get off and get out its a different story. There is a lot of development going on in the Czech Republic that isn’t quite visible, but is there to make it a better place. It seemed as though there was a mob of people by the doors to get in the train as we were getting out. That was nerve-wracking because you fear the worst, that you will be pick pocketed. We were smart though and locked our bags before getting off the train so we just had some issues with people yelling at us as we pushed our way through but there just was no other way. We followed the directions that the hostel gave us to get to their place, but they told us the wrong way on the tram so we had to get off and get on a different one, but eventually we found what we were looking for. Sir Toby’s was really nice looking. We sat in the kitchen of the missing spoons while we waited to a few people to check out before we could check into our room. After checking in and taking the lift (elevator) to our room we packed our bags for the day and headed out to the center of Prague, where we visited the castle, a garden, the Charles Bridge, John Lennon Wall, museum of Torture instruments, and many gift shops. We saw a lot more than we had anticipated seeing, which was good because we are only in Prague for a day and a half. We ate dinner while in the center of town. Tasha and I thought it would be good to try some Czech food so I had dumplings stuffed with pork and purple cabbage and Tasha had beef Goulash with steamed bread. The food was quite salty and after eating half of our food we were both quite stuffed. We headed home shortly after eating and checking out a couple different gift shops and watching the sunset in the background of the castle.

Sunday July 22, 2007

Today we set our alarms for about 8am so we could see everything we wanted to see, but we woke up and then wanted more sleep so we fell back asleep until 10am. That wasn’t in the plan for the day, but I guess we really needed it so it’s okay. The weather today has been really crummy, as it has been raining since early this morning, but finally stopped around 3pm. The sun didn’t decide to come out until we got home, which was a bit frustrating. We weren’t to excited about Berlin because the weather was so nasty, but we managed to see The Berlin Wall Memorial and Checkpoint Charlie. We tried to keep it a pretty low key day so we came home early and relaxed in our rooms and used the internet in the common area. For dinner we had Subway, which we purchased when we were at Checkpoint Charlie. We decided to call it an early sleeping night because we have to get up early for our train in the morning.

Saturday July 21, 2007

I think Tasha and I had one of the best sleeps since we have been in Europe because it was so dark and quiet outside. It was nice to wake up and look out the window and see open land, animals, and flowers instead of the side of buildings. We packed up our stuff while Joanne prepared breakfast for us. She made us some Kona coffee that I gave to them as a gift for letting us stay with them, which was a nice taste of home. After breakfast Kim wanted to give Tasha and I some good Danish music so he burned a CD of Nik and Jay a Danish pop group popular among young girls. After relaxing a bit we loaded our things into the car and headed off to the train station for our train to Berlin. On the way into the train station Tasha’s bag decided to break so we she had to figure out how to manage a broken suitcase along with her new bag. She managed to figure it out with some practice though. Kim and Joanne sat with us until our train arrived and we boarded. We never thought we would get the chance to be sent off on a train but that was the second time. It felt so special. The train was pretty packed and not a lot of people thought about getting seat reservations so they were forced to stand up the whole 5 hour train ride, but thank goodness Tasha and I had reservations. For lunch we brought leftovers from dinner last night that tasted even better than they did last night and enjoyed them on the train. I think we might have made everyone in our car salivate because the smell filled the air with quickness. We just relaxed for the next couple of hours until we arrived in Hamburg where we had a 1-hour wait until our train in Berlin. In that one-hour both Tasha and I had a chance to step outside the train station and see Hamburg really at a glance. Once we got in Berlin we had to figure out how to get to the correct trains and metros to get to our hostel but eventually managed to do it while dragging our heavy bags up and down stairs. Once we arrived on the street at our train station we had to ask for help in finding the correct street and direction towards our hostel. We found it thanks to the nice German man that helped us. The hostel, East Seven Berlin, was really nice and clean, but didn’t have a lift and of course we were on the top floor so that was a challenge, but we managed to do it. Because we arrived late we didn’t have time or energy to do anything so we just showered, used the Internet, and went to sleep.

Friday July 20, 2007

This morning we woke up really early, well not that early I guess but it was 7:30am after a late night on the train. We had to get up early so we could gather our stuff together before our beds were checked on the train and breakfast was served. It was an okay breakfast for it being train food, which compares quite closely to plane food these days. After enjoying our breakfast with the scenery whizzing by us we struggled down the stairs with our luggage and towards the exit of the train. We were so excited to find that there was an escalator at the train station in Copenhagen, because it was a pretty tall set of stairs. I had no idea what my cousin looked like so we didn’t know who to look for so we had to call him and eventually met with him and his 18 year old daughter, Camilla, in the center of the station under a giant clock. It was an awkward moment for us because we didn’t know whether to hug, shake hands, or kiss on the cheek. There have been so many different cultural customs we have learned along our journey so far that it’s hard to know what to do for what culture now. After doing our little meet and greet we were lead to the car where we put our bags away and then went to walk around Copenhagen. It was a fun time in the city because my cousin, Kim had not been to Copenhagen since he was a young child so it was pretty new to him as well. We actually got to see most of the town in the short time that we were in Copenhagen because we walked from the car and we also took a boat trip around the harbor, and walked up a tower to look at the city from above. To end our time in Copenhagen we spent a few hours at the famous Tivoli, amusement park. We meaning Camilla, Kim, and I rode on several roller coasters and spinning rides while at the park, but we also did a few of the kid rides like the mine, and the fairy tale land, both which tell stories. After our time at the amusement park we drove to the town that Kim lives in with his girlfriend, Joanne. It took about 1.5 hours to reach their where my Aunt Miyoko and Uncle Kurt were waiting for us. They had dinner ready for us when we arrived so that we could put our stuff down and eat. Dinner was really good, we had all kinds of different meats and fish and bread. After dinner we freshened up with nice showers and then sat down to chat with my family, which we did for quite some time because it has been 17 years since we have seen each other. Overall our time today in Denmark has been very fun and interesting. There was more open land than we are used to as we have been in big cities for our entire trip until now.

Train Ride to Denmark

In order to get a whole day in Denmark and for some fun we decided to take a night train from Germany to Denmark to visit my family. Tasha and I agreed that it would be a good idea for us to get a 2 person sleeper so we could lock the door and put our stuff inside. We thought we had made our reservations for a room with a sink, toilet, and shower in it, but apparently we thought wrong because the room was the size of a closet. It was close to impossible for the 2 of us to stand up at the same time. At first we were quite frustrated, but we ended up being able to laugh about it. After about 45 minutes of trying to get settled in we finally were able to lay on our beds which felt really good. Tasha and I fell asleep around 1am and slept until 730am because we had to get ready to have our rooms checked and then eat breakfast. After eating breakfast we just sat back and relaxed while we waited to arrive at our station in Copenhagen where I was to meet my cousin for the first time.

Last day in Koln

Today we had our last day in Koln. Lisa took us into the shopping area so we could finish gettting the things that we wanted from this part of Germany. We spent only a couple of hours shopping and going into the different stores around the area. We ate a late breakfast so we didnt have to stop anywhere for lunch which was really good. After we finished shopping we went to Lisa's apartment to drop off our stuff and take a short bathroom break and rest before eating our Linner (in between lunch and dinner). We ate what is called a Doner (pronounced Durna) which was huge, delicious, and cheap. I am definately going to crave one when I return to the United states. It filled us up more than we could handle which was funny but good so we didnt have to eat the rest of the day. After stuffing our faces we went to visit Marike (pronounced Ma-Ri-ka), Lisa's roommate at the store that she works at for a little while. We had to go back to the apartment so that Lisa could get ready for work and we could do our last minute packing. Lisa walked Tasha and I to a pizza shop near her house so that we could order pizzas for our train ride to Denmark. She left us there so she could go to work and be on time, and I was quite sad because I knew the next time I would see her was to say goodbye. Tasha and I walked to the apartment to wait for Marike to come home and then we went to Rosebud where Lisa works and said our goodbyes. It was pretty difficult for me to say goodbye because I havent seen Lisa in almost 2 years and 3 days was such a short time. Marike was so sweet and kind to offer to take us to the train station, which we were quite thankful for because even she was confused with how to pick up our tickets. We managed to find the right train, but you must wait to hear about the train experience.

Third day in Koln

Today we woke up pretty late in the morning which was really nice and had a small brunch. We decided to go shopping for the day in Dusseldorf and had a lot of fun walking around, going in the different shops, and people watching. We went to our favorite store Hunkenmoller, lingerie, and got some stuff because it was on sale for 70% off so it was really good priced. While in Dusseldorf we ate lunch at this super delicious chinese restaurant and it was possibly the best chinese food that we have had in Europe so far. We were stuffed after eating every single peice of food on our plates because we were so hungry. Lisa took us for some really delicious and cheap ice cream. After eating Eis (aka Ice cream) at the most famous ice cream stand in Dusseldorf we drove home to Koln where we relaxed for about an hour before eating dinner which we had to make from scratch. There wasnt much in the house but we managed to figure out a really delicious plan. For our main course we had spinach and cheese tortelini in olive oil and garlic, for our vegetable we had fresh tomato and mozzerella cheese with basil and balsamic vinegar, and for dessert we had rice cereal (aka baby food) and it was really delicious. After dinner we decided to be girls so we sat around on the bed talking story and painted each others finger and toe nails. To finish the night off we watch at movie, Candy, which was really interesting. We called it a night pretty late.

I must appologize that these last few blogs havent been very good, but we have been going all over europe that its been a bit difficult to find the time to sit down to write them.

Second Day In Germany

Today we woke up around 9 am after a good nights rest and decided over breakfast what we would do for the day. Breakfast was so delicious; we had really good bread, salami, Gouda cheese, marmalade, and liver sausage spread. Today is cultural day for us as we will see what Koln has to offer. We started off by taking the tram into the city where we walked through the streets filled with shops, cafes, and college students. After walking for about 15 minutes we came upon the cathedral, which is famous because it was spared during the war because of its beauty. It was gorgeous inside, but after seeing so many different cathedrals they all start to look the same inside. The outside was really dirty looking because of all the dirt, but it is currently being restored. It was so tall, we had the chance to climb up the dome, which is one of the towers where the bells are. The bells in this tower are the biggest in the world. We had to hike up 509 stairs just to get to the top, that was a workout in itself. The views from the top of the dome were really pretty and you could see so much. We made the long hike down all the stairs which was kind of nauseating but thats okay because it was worth it. Afterwards we went to the Schokoladen Museum (chocolate) while Lisa went for a job interview. We got to see how chocolate is made and even got a couple free samples which was a real treat. There was a mini tropical rainforest that we went into and it was uberly hot compared to the rest of the museum that it made me want to pass out. We walked back to the pavilions and did some people watching by the river while we waited for to Lisa to meet us and we went for some lunch. We at at this really delicious place around the corner from Lisa's apartment where we at extremely good pizza that was really cheap. None of us could finish them so we saved them for dinner which was a really smart idea because we had leftover pasta and salad from the night before so we didnt have to pay for dinner and it was super good. Lisa's friends came over and we sat around the kitchen table talking story and drinking proseco which was really relaxing. Later that night we went to RoseClub where we met up with some people and had a lot of fun dancing around, but Tasha stayed home because she wasnt feeling well. It was a good night and we are looking forward to whatever tomorrow has to bring us.

First day in Germany

July 16, 2007

Today we left Every, France at 5am to go to the train station so we could catch our train to Orly Airport for our flight to Dusseldorf, Germany. We ran into a friend from the summer program at the train station, so it was nice to catch up and say our goodbyes while on the train, but at the same time it was quite sad. We managed to make it to the train station on time, but took the wrong set of stairs so we had to climb back up another set and then back down to the exit with our heavy bags. The people at the train station just looked at us and laughed, all we were thinking was ugh why don’t they help. We managed to do it and now we have crazy muscular arms…haha. We got to the airport with some time to spare so it was nice to not be rushing around to take care of things. They didn’t even check the weight of our bags at the airport, which is a really good thing because our bags were quite heavy. Our flight from Paris to Dusseldorf was only 50 minutes, which was really nice and short. Air Berlin even served us free drinks and a half sandwich, which tasted really good. Once we landed in Germany I got butterflies in my stomach because I was so excited to see Lisa since I haven’t seen her in a year and a half almost 2 years now.

We got in early on our flight so we had to wait for Lisa, which is fine. Once we saw each other we gave each other a giant bear hug. It was so good to see her in person as we have only chatted online through web cam. We spent the early part of the day at her moms house where we were greeted with breakfast and coffee. Lisa made a list of things that we could do and we made a plan for tomorrow. After breakfast we took care of some things dealing with the train and hung out with one of Lisa’s friends that just got home from Los Angeles. It was a lot of fun sitting around at the café, people watching and chatting about life. Lisa’s mom made this amazing curry with pineapple, peach, and banana in it and it was so delicious. After lunch and showering we drove to Cologne where Lisa lives with her roommates and made dinner with her roommate Marikah. We had homemade spaghetti sauce, with noodles and salad. The food was so delicious and we ate so much of it. After dinner we walked around Cologne for a little and found a place to have some happy hour and watch the people on the streets and we called it a night shortly after that.

Last day in Paris

Oh how time flies. Today it felt as if we had just arrived in Paris, but we have been here for a little over a month now. Its pretty exciting though because we know so much about the area we lived in and Paris. We are very excited to see new things as well as friends and family on this last stretch of our european journey. As of tomorrow we only have 2 weeks left and then we will head back to Hawaii. Nothing interesting happened today except we went to the train station to get tickets to the airport tomorrow and we had an adventure trying to find something to eat because sunday is the day that everything stays closed but luckily there were a few places open by the movie theatre. We spent all day relaxing and packing and looking up things to do in Germany. We even had the time to sit on the hill on campus and sunbathe for a while. There is a funny story to tell about that, but it will have to wait until we get home because pictures are necessary for the entertainment side of the story. We have to wake up early to catch the train to the airport tomorrow. We will have popeye muscles by the time we get home both on our arms and our legs from the lifting of luggage and walking and going up and down stairs. We now say goodbye to Paris and Hello to Germany. Check back for our German adventures tomorrow.

Bastille Day

Happy Bastille Day Everyone!!!! For those of you who may not know what Bastille day is, it is France's national holiday. Basically it is celebrated just like the Fourth of July, but with a military parade and lots of festivities throughout the day.

Today was especially strange for Tasha and I because we realized that we have been in France for 1 month now and everyone is gone. We are very excited to see some new things even though we have enjoyed seeing paris and what france has to offer. Early this afternoon Tasha and I went to the Musee D'Orsay, which used to be an old train station, but was transformed into a museum after being shut down. The Orsay Museum holds many famous and expensive paintings and sculptures from artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir. The museum itself is gorgeous and really does resemble a trainstation, more of one from a movie, but none the less a train station. We spent about 3 hours looking at all the different paintings and sculptures and staring at the ones we loved. After the museum we were quite hungry so we wandered down to the Latin quarter which is the student area of paris. This area is pretty affordable as far as eating goes. We decided to wander the streets a bit to find something cheaper than usual and we did. We were able to order a menu, which included a starter, main dish, and dessert all for only 10 euros. Thats pretty inexpensive for all of the food that we got and it was delicious and filling. We spent some more time wandering and intentionally getting lost after our delicious meal and ended up finding a cafe and having happy hour drinks and watching the people stroll by.

We made our way towards the area that we knew well and decided to check out Notre Dame to find the headless saint which is on one of the side panels by the front doors of the cathedral. We managed to spot it really fast and it was quite exciting because not very many people even know that it is there. After satisfying our curiosity we headed towards the Eiffel Tower to grab a spot to watch the fireworks and see the Eiffel lit up one more time. The fireworks show was really good and the Eiffel was so pretty. They made it sparkel with flashing lights, usually it is just lit up.

Friday the 13th

Today was our last day of class and for that we had a Mini Spectacular (performance) with our French classes to show the staff for the summer program that we actually learned something. It was pretty entertaining to watch the different classes perform their skits. The staff said their goodbyes to us and it seemed as if they were happy that the summer program was over, but sad to see us go. A few of them got a bit choked up. They put on a little banquet gathering thing for us before lunch with champagne and drinks and snacks that were really delicious. At the reception we had to say goodbye to our classmates that were leaving the following day and later that night. Its kind of sad to say bye even though we dont all know each other but we spent a month together everyday except sunday. Its back to just Tasha and I, which is a little weird because we got so used to having other people around.

The weather was really nice today for a change. It has been so cold and rainy the whole time we were here minus the first few days which were really nice. After resting for a few hours we decided to go out around paris and walk around. We walked around near the Paris Opera and intentionally got lost in the streets which was fun but we still managed to find our way to where we needed to go without problems. Because today is friday the louvre is free so we decided to go check it out again and see the things we didnt get to the last time we were there. We edned up spending 3 hours looking at paintings and walking around. We then walked over to the Jardin de Tuilieries (garden) where there was a carnival going on so we took a ride in the farris wheel and saw the city which was really beautiful. It was quite romantic as the sun was setting...haha! Then we headed home after eating ice cream and cotton candy and some dinner.

Exploring in Evry

Today was our last day of classes which is really exciting. We had final exams in both classes, but I think that these tests were possibly the easiest that I have had in my college career. Not to mention that this class was so much more fun that a class would be at school because we got to experience so much more through fieldtrips. During lunch we all spent so much money from our cards because we only have 1 day left to eat in the cafeteria at school. This afternoon we decided to not venture to Paris since we will be doing that this weekend because it is the national holiday. Instead we ventured around Evry where we have lived for the past month. We spent 2 hours wandering through the mall fighting the urge to buy things, then at some dinner at a chinese restaurant and visited the cathedral in our town. It was a nice relaxing afternoon. We have a little show tomorrow so we must get some sleep. We must also get ready to say all of our goodbyes to everyone that is leaving early.

A visit to Reims

Well today (July11) we went to visit the town of Reims, which is in an area of France called Champagne. Of course by the name you should be able to guess that this is the home of Champagne. The champagne that is produced in this area is the only real champagne. The stuff that is in the United States and the rest of the world is only sparkeling wine. Only about 20% of what is produced in champagne is exported to the rest of the world. We started off by visiting a champagne vineyard, which was really fun but a little cold. The building is really modern so it was a really nice trip. When we walked in there was a gigantic champagne barrel that could hold 20,000 bottles worth of champgane in it. We watched a little film about Mercier who was the founder of the champagne company mercier. After the movie we hopped into 2 glass elevators and began our journey down to the cellar. It was a really entertaining elevator ride because there was a scene set up with a couple in a hot air baloon, then we went down farther and there was a sculpted wall with grape pickers and stuff, and then farther down was a little replica of the moutain side of reims with the mercier champagne vineyards. Once we reached the cellar floor we got into a laser guided train to take a tour of the cellar where all the champagne is kept, approximately 16 million bottles. It was really neat to ride around the cellars that were so old and to see the different processes of how the champagne is tilted and stacked and shaken and all that stuff. There was a lot of history in the cellar, which I will not go into because it is to much. We got back in the elevators and went to the shop where we were treated to a glass of the famous Mercier champagne. It was so delicious and fruity. There were so many bottles to choose from and a few different types. This had to be one of the best field trips that we have taken on our trip.

After the vineyard we went to lunch at a restaurant called Le Chapon Fin where we ate smoked salmon, chicken and potatoes, and raspberry cake, and drank lots of wine. Lunch was really good even though it took them 45 minutes before we got any food. We then went to the cathedral of Reims which looked just like the Notre Dame in Paris. It was actually called the Notre Dame of Reims. We got back on the bus and headed back to Evry. Everyone fell asleep on the way home so that was a nice ride.

On a mission!

Today our mission was to find authentic delicious GLACE (aka in english as Ice cream)! We ventured on into Paris to attempt to go to the Musee D'Orsay, but there was a 45 minute wait just to get tickets so we set out on our mission to find ice cream. We took a stroll along the Seine River to get to a bridge behind the Notre Dame that leads to Paris Island. We chose a little cafe and sat inside to have some delicious ice cream and delicious it was. We decided after eating ice cream that we should eat some real food, you know a backwards meal dessert first then the meal. It was a French meal Ice Cream and a Crepe with ham and cheese that was yummy yummy yummy. That was the extent of our day today other than going to class in the morning. Bonsoir for now! (good evening for now).

Another day in Paris

July 9:

Today we went into Paris after class was over since it is our last week in France. The weather wasnt all that nice today which was kind of a bummer. It actually hailed today, which I found interesting because it is July. It was pretty interesting to watch the students from asia who havent seen hail as well as a few of the Hawaii students. Its cool though that they got to experience it in France of all places. We wandered around and tried to find a few different places but ended up being in the wrong place. We found an artsy district called La Defense where there was a huge statue of a thumb and several other odd peices. It turns out that we had to ask someone who pointed us in the right direction and of course what we wanted to see, the peace wall, was under construction because of Bastille day, frances national holiday this saturday. At least we found it that was a success. After finding the peace wall we headed towards Montmartre to meet up with some of our friends for some fun at this little place called O'Sullivans. It was nice to just sit around and talk with everyone. We called it an early night and headed back home around 11pm.

Mont Saint Michel

On Sunday we visited the most popular site in France, visited by 3.5 million people a year, the Mont Saint Michel. Once again we were hoping that since we were in a different place we would get something different for breakfast, but it ended up being the same, baguettes and corn flakes. I guess that is the typical french breakfast. After our breakfast we cleaned up our rooms and loaded up on the bus and headed for Mont Saint Michel. It is a beautiful site. The castle is built on a mountain that is pretty much in the middle of the ocean. It is possible to walk out into the ocean on the sand, but very dangerous because when the tides come in the currents are very strong. Apparently people are dumb and explore the parts they are not supposed to and get washed away. There was a steep incline to get up to the viewing points, but the exercise was well worth it. After this trip Tasha and I are gonna have some monster calves. It was really pretty to just look out and see sand and water for miles and miles. We went up into the Abby of the Mont Saint Michel, where you have more of an ariel view as well as seeing the cathedral and the saints rooms. It was really a pretty site. After wandering to the top we started to make our way down and stoped in the different shops and checked out all of the beautiful hand painted dishes, the rosary beads, jewelry, biscuits (sugar cookies), and all the other random souvineirs before heading to the bus for lunch.

For lunch we ate at a restaurant specializing in seafood, I ate vegetarian food. The starter was a smoked salmon moose with crispy bread, digester was calvados (alcohol), main course was fish with vegetables and rice, and the snack was cheese, and the dessert was apple tart. We were treated to a bottle of white wine which was quite delicious. There was a little market next to the restaurant that sold the different treats that are special to the area of Mont Saint Michel which include biscuits (butter cookies), cider (the juice left in the barrel after making apple juice about 6.5% alcohol) really delicous, caramels, and chocolates. We all piled back on the bus for our long bus ride home. It took us longer to get home then it did to get there because of the rain and traffic. Luckily most of us managed to fall asleep even though it was quite uncomfortable.

Saint Malo and Cancale

I appologize for not getting back to you in the last two days, but that was because we took a weekend trip with INT to Northern France. We visited Cancale, Saint Malo, Mont Saint Michelle, and Normandie. The weekend began in Cancale, which is directly on the coast which was really beautiful. It has been so long since we have seen the ocean and surprisingly the water looked really nice. The main food that it serve is seafood because of the town being located on the coast and the specialty was oysters. I am not a huge fan of seafood so it was a little difficult. While we were in Cancale the INT staff arranged a visit to an oyster farm, which wasnt that interesteing. We had the opportunity to try oysters, which I dont like so i stayed out of that. I dont even like the smell of seafood so I pretty much hung out by myself during that trip. After finishing at the oyster farm we drove to another town that is surrounded by a brick wall, called Saint Malo. The town was really beautiful from the outside, and there were beaches all around, but there was a lot of commercial shops on the inside, which took away from it being a historical site. We walked around for 2 hours going into the souvenier shops and checking all the stuff out. Our tummies were grumbling for some food so we decided to feed them at this cafe because the deserts looked so delicious. I decided to get coffee, and the waitress decided to screw us over by giving us the wrong thing and charging us for it. We were pretty upset with her and couldnt explain to her what the problem was because she was playing stupid that she didnt speak english when she spoke english to us when we ordered. We gave up because we were late for the bus. After our visit to Saint Malo we headed to our youth hostel to retreat for the night, well at least we thought we would get some good rest.

At the youth hostel we were divided up into all the rooms available and unpacked and relaxed for a few before heading down to dinner. As always we had hopes and dreams of a good dinner, but that was soon spoiled when we sat down to eat. There was this salad type thing with boiled eggs, shredded vegetable, and some sort of sauce. For the main course we had strange pizza, and desert was cheese and unflavored yogurt with sugar in it (yuck). It wasnt really that bad, but it wasnt very good. The hostel staff threw a party for us which was rather lame i must say because it started at like 8pm and it was still bright and shining outside. Myself, Tasha, and Mariah decided we should go to sleep early, but that was an impossible task because the "night club" was directly below our rooms and the music and the bass was up super high so everything was vibrating including my brain. Somehow we managed to fall asleep.

July 5th and 6th

July 5:

Well it turns out that we ended up staying out late for the fourth of July celebrating and had to take the late train home and walk a little extra to get to our dorms but it was well worth it because the night was fun. We had a fieldtrip for class today, but it was definately not worth it in any way shape or form. We drove on a charter bus 4 hours away to go to Paris's number 10 airport which was really tiny. We had a tour which took all of 5 minutes to go from one end to the other. They thought it would be exciting for us to see an airport, not like we all havent seen one before. Then we had to sit through a presentation on how the airport works and how the planes come in and go out and all of that nonsense. Needless to say we were pretty upset that we had to waste half a day just to see an airport.

We were supposed to visit Chantilly, which is the home of chantilly cream, a beautiful castle, and an equestrian park but the INT staff decided that we had seen enough castles, which was not true. They took us to the smallest town in France which was pretty much a ghost town because everything closed when we rolled in on our bus. It is supposed to be famous for having beautiful roses and flowers growing everywhere, but because of the cold weather there were no flowers that were alive. We ended up feeding these donkeys on the side of the rode to pass time. The bus ride back was another 4 torturous hours and we all went to sleep once we got home.

July 6:

Since we have been on the go the last few days we decided to have a chill day after a day in classes. We walked around the mall in Evry and just hung out all day. It was nice to sit back and relax for once.

July 3 and 4

July 3:

Today we just had class as normal, nothing really interesting happened. We did find out that we will have a surprise tomorrow in class, but you must wait to find out in tomorrows journal.

July 4:

Happy Independence Day!!! So it was a bit interesting celebrating the fourth of july in France, but none the less it makes for good stories in the future. The surprise for cross-cultural communications class this morning was a wine tasting from an expert. It was really exciting but a bit strange because it was 10 am. Wine for breakfast is a bit strange but apparently its the best time to taste it because your mouth hasnt been polluted with other types of drinks, food, and flavors. We were taught how to look at the coloring, smell with the first nose, the swirl, then smell again, then sip and swish in the mouth, then spit it out and figure out the different tastes. Edward, the wine expert brought some foods from his region for us to try. These foods included a really smelly cheese, french bread, cheese puffs, ham with basil and jelly, and sweet bread. Our class was pretty tired and happy after class and as 98% of the class is asian rosy cheeks were everywhere.

For French class today we had a treasure hunt which was not all that interesting nor was it easy. We ended up having to run all over the entire campus to find letters that were posted on walls, tables, chairs, desks, and shelves with the help of clues that were written entirely in french. I shall not discuss much about the treasure hunt because my partner and I are a bit bitter about how the whole thing was done.

As it was the 4th of July today and being that we are American we planned a big group dinner with the Viginia Tech students at the Hardrock Cafe in Paris. We managed to call ahead and make seat reservations for 20 people so we didnt even have to wait in line although we were quite late because of the train. It was interesteing travelling with 20 people but we managed to take care of it and get there. It was nice to eat some familiar foods but they tasted a little different than they would in America, but it was delicious.

A Trip back in time

Good morning or should I say good evening to most of you. It is now 8:40 on Tuesday morning. We have just woken up for breakfast and class at 9:30. This weekend was pretty busy and exciting. You have already read about our adventures to the castle on Saturday. On Dimanche (sunday) we went to Versaille which was about 2 hours away by train to see the palace of versailles. The palace was soooooooooo gorgeous and the grounds were GIGANTIC. You could walk endlessly through gardens by fountains in houses through mazes and so much more. If I remember correctly we stayed there the entire day from 10am until 6pm walking around looking at flowers, seeing houses. We visited the chateau which is the main attraction where all the important stuff happened and then we also visited Marie Antoinette's mansion. Her mansion was really pretty, small, and quaint. We stumbled upon a little fake village that was set up in the way one would have been during the time period where the peasents would live. The houses were so cute and little and covered with pretty colorful flowers. Each backyard had its own garden with flowers, vegetables, and fruit. In one of the backyard gardens there were raspberry bushes growing with fresh ripe raspberries so I sneakily picked a handful and we enjoyed them. They were so delicious. We also picked some fresh grapes but they were quite tart. We kept walking and ended up on some "farmland" where there were animals from chickens to pigs to goats and even miniature horses. It was so funny because one goat was trying to climb the fence to get closer to us, but we got kinda nervous so we decided to move on. I think it was because I was feeding it grass. I felt like I was back in Texas at that moment because it smelled like a farm.

After wandering around Versaille we headed back home on the train and went straight to the pizza party that the Virginia Tech sponser put on for all of us summer school students. It was really nice, there was so much food. The weird thing is that there is a bar on campus just 5 steps away from our dorm. The party was a lot of fun and it was really relaxing. Not much else has been going on since this weekend, its just a normal school week. Avoir for now