I first off want to apologize for not updating my blog recently. I spent three nights and four days in Riomaggiore, Italy. I had an amazing weekend in this beautiful town nestled on the hills of one of Italy’s more beautiful natural parks, Cinque Terre. I took the train from Milan to Monterosso and then transferred to Riomaggiore. Cinque Terre is composed of 7 beautiful towns. The towns are La Spezia, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernaza, Moneterossa and Levanto. Each town has its own unique characteristics and where stunning. These villages where created by peasant farmers hundreds of years ago and have not grown much since. The towns have been carved into the rocks on the sea. Some of the towns are perched up on top of a mountains cliff overlooking the city. I have many photos but most of them are on a friend’s camera. I will contact this person and get a hold of those photos. I stayed in a hostel called Cinque Terre Holidays. It was just ok. It was fine for being an inexpensive hostel, but next time I will search elsewhere for a hostel. I am sure I can find a better hostel for the same or less money. The room I was originally in had seven other males who where all friends and from Australia. They were very nice and I was talking to them about their travels and where they plan on going. Three of the friends will travel in total for six months. I was taken aback when I asked how long it took them to save for the entire trip. One of the three kids said, “Oh, yeah, we saved up money for about six months”. I don’t know what kind of jobs they have that in six months they can save up to survive on the road consistently for another six months. I am sure they are having their parents pay a huge portion of the trip. I don’t really care how they are affording it but I just felt like he was suggesting I was stupid if he thought I would believe his bogus story. Getting back to my main point of this blog, I met three wonderful people in Riomaggiore. These three people lived below me in the hostel. I was on the third floor and they were on the second. The three people where three sisters from Barcelona, Spain. Their names are Nuria, Roser and Mireia. They all are one year apart in age, the oldest being 29. I met them in a very funny way actually. I was walking out of my hostel building and one of the sisters asked me if I had electricity in my room. Of course I had electricity in my room and asked if they problem was in the part of the room or in their entire hostel room (kitchen/dinning room, bedroom, bathroom). She said it was just in the bathroom and that while she was blow drying her hair the electricity turned off. I knew that she probably blew a fuse and they hostel workers fixed the fuse and the lights went back on. Since I am traveling alone I hung around making conversation and waited to see if any other of her friends would be coming outside. I saw two other females walk outside and I started talking to them too. To make a long story short I ended up becoming best friends with these three girls. I did not know how old they where till I asked them what they do for a living and I was told, a lawyer, school teacher and a nutritionist. I knew right away that they were much older than me. I didn’t mind I just did not want them to think I was a little kid and not take me seriously when I am almost a decade younger than the oldest sister. I hung out with the three sisters for three days and three nights. I had a great time hanging out with them and they really liked me. They actually invited me to sleep on their spare bed in their private hostel room so I would not have to stay in the 8 bedroom room and pay 25 Euros for an extra night. This was a really nice gesture and I knew that when they offered me to stay with them that they trusted me and enjoyed my company. They even took me out to dinner last night. It was an incredible dinner on the ocean. We had a great meal of seafood and pasta and a huge seafood dish, baked in a huge ceramic pot, and two bottles of wine. It was amazing. To make the night better off in the distance there was a Beatles concert (they actually sounded really good), and a pretty good firework show following the concert. The dinner was expensive and I wanted to pay my share but the sisters insisted that it was my last night and that they wanted to treat me to a special dinner before I left. I hope to remain in contact with these three Spanish girls and I made sure to get all of their contact info before I left. The oldest sister even offered me to stay in her apartment in Barcelona for free while I am in the city. I will text or email her to see if I can arrange for that to occur. This encounter has really opened my eyes to the types of people that you can meet in the simplest of places, and develop potentially a long lasting relationship. I invited all three of the sisters to come stay with me in Philly or New York. I hope that they can visit the U.S.A. and I can somehow return the hospitality that they showed me onto them. During the three days that I was in Riomaggiore I spent a lot of time thinking. I had dinner alone for two of the nights and watched the sunset on the ocean. It is truly a special thing to see and really makes you think about life and want you want in your future.
I have decided that I will pursue French classes again. I will take French class this fall at Drexel. My schedule already has 17 credits so this might be a problem. I can always take an online version with something like Rosetta stone. My friend Daryl who I met in Prague told me that he has a copy of Rosetta stone that will allow you to view and learn every language they offer. I will follow up and ask him about this. I also want to volunteer for the Peace Corps after college for one year. I really want to volunteer and get out and see the world. This is a great opportunity to learn another culture, add something unique to my resume, and help people who really need help. I will start the application process and figure out what I need to do to make this happen.
I did not take that many photos during my stay in Riomaggiore because my camera ran out of batteries. I took any photos on my friends camera and I will get them from her. I am writing this from the train that I am taking to Florence. I so far have had a great time traveling and it is amazing. I like how people I meet seem to think that an American traveling alone is something amazing. I guess they don’t imagine Americans being so ambitious and traveling so far away from home by themselves. That’s just makes me unique and I like talking and hearing peoples perceptions on American. I really want to explore American more. I have not traveled around America and it is a shame. There are so many beautiful things to see and I would like to see my own country before I go out and explore the rest of the world. I will try and go on road trips of long weekend trips to various parts of the country. It really is not as expensive as you may think if you plan ahead. Planning ahead and finding the good deals would be crucial for this to happen.
After I go to Florence I will head over to Rome and then into France. Since my encounter with my three Spanish friends I really want to go to Spain and experience the culture. It was interesting to hear how these three people felt about the country and how different the north of Spain is from the south of Spain.
I would like to come back to Europe with one friend. It is fun traveling alone but sometimes it is strange being alone in certain places in which everyone else is with friends.
I will write more later as I know that I will have internet connection in the hostel I will stay at in Florence. I actually have not booked a hostel in Florence. I will just wing it when I get there. Hopefully it all turns out well.
Turns out the hostel I am in does not have wifi. Sucks. I am at an internet cafe posting this.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Milan
Good afternoon!
I am in Milan currently and I had a marvelous day.
I walked throughout the entire city and saw many interesting things.
This morning I awoke in Prague around 4:20 AM. This was later then I had wished and I packed quickly and made my way out on the streets looking for the proper tram to take to the airport.
I was looking for 15 minutes for the proper tram and gave up. I was running out of time and needed to get to the air port quickly. Deciding that taking a taxi was a better way to the airport was simple, either miss my plane because I wanted to save 20 bucks or take the taxi and relax at 5 AM in the morning. I took the taxi. 25 bucks later I was sitting in the airport, first person at the terminal, waiting for the Sky Europe plane to Milano, Italia.
Let me go back a few days and go from where I missed. Nick arrived in Prague on Friday. When he arrived I had already finished all my classes and received grades for the classes (I got two A's by the way). I wanted to show Nick a good time and I think I did. The entire study abroad group has a closing dinner at this decent restaurant on the river. It was traditional Czech food and unlimited beer and wine's. It was a nice dinner. At the dinner we also displayed some of the photography prints that we made for Photo class. I picked my two favorite photos and will upload them to the blog to show you all which two are my favorites. It was a nice dinner and kinda of a sad ending to the marvelous trip and friendship building experience that we had.
After the dinner I went out with some friends to a relaxing bar and had a great night, Nick came to the dinner after we finished easting and I introduced him to all of my new friends and he came out with us that night.
The next night Nick and I went out on our own and hit up as many places to get a beer at as we could. We went to a beer garden in Prague. This is just a group of 100 tables with some background music and a bar inside a shed serving beer. Another shed is serving food and another one is serving mixed drinks. It was a relaxing atmosphere and I had a great time. Nick and I met these two Czech locals who just talked about how important tourism is to Prague and about life. Nick parents where staying at this really nice hotel called Landels. It was beautiful. Nick and I got a hostel one night and it sucked. The hostel was basically a school dormitory that was a hotels when the students are on summer break.
Milan today was marvelous. I got lost getting from the bus at Milano central station onto the subway. The signs where not very clear and I spend 20 minutes walking back and forth before I finally figured out where I was going. The person who I am staying with is very nice. He made me coffee and toast right when I got to his apartment. His name is Antonio and he has a three bedroom apartment. His roommates are out of town for the week so I am staying in one of their bed rooms. Antonio drew on a map for me where I should go visit and what walking route I should take so I don't miss anything important. I took many photos of what I saw and will be uploading them soon.
I also took videos of where I was because it is so much easier to see exactly what I saw from a video. I saw so many expensive stores while walking. I saw every Italian, French and famous fashion designers store while on my walk.
I walked into a few of these stores to check out what kind of prices they had. The only store that I loved and could actually afford was a store called Zara. It was amazing! I loved and wanted to buy almost everything in this store. The prices where also very reasonable. They have a few stores in America (22 to be exact) and will be going cloth shopping in this store in the future. They also sell women clothes and they also looked very nice and affordable.
I forgot to mention that on Saturday I went to Terazine. This was a concentration camp during WWII. It was a moving experience and I loved almost everything about the trip, besides the walking. I took photos of that trip too and will be putting those on FB soon.
I am tired from waking up so early and am going to fall asleep.
Love, Corey
I am in Milan currently and I had a marvelous day.
I walked throughout the entire city and saw many interesting things.
This morning I awoke in Prague around 4:20 AM. This was later then I had wished and I packed quickly and made my way out on the streets looking for the proper tram to take to the airport.
I was looking for 15 minutes for the proper tram and gave up. I was running out of time and needed to get to the air port quickly. Deciding that taking a taxi was a better way to the airport was simple, either miss my plane because I wanted to save 20 bucks or take the taxi and relax at 5 AM in the morning. I took the taxi. 25 bucks later I was sitting in the airport, first person at the terminal, waiting for the Sky Europe plane to Milano, Italia.
Let me go back a few days and go from where I missed. Nick arrived in Prague on Friday. When he arrived I had already finished all my classes and received grades for the classes (I got two A's by the way). I wanted to show Nick a good time and I think I did. The entire study abroad group has a closing dinner at this decent restaurant on the river. It was traditional Czech food and unlimited beer and wine's. It was a nice dinner. At the dinner we also displayed some of the photography prints that we made for Photo class. I picked my two favorite photos and will upload them to the blog to show you all which two are my favorites. It was a nice dinner and kinda of a sad ending to the marvelous trip and friendship building experience that we had.
After the dinner I went out with some friends to a relaxing bar and had a great night, Nick came to the dinner after we finished easting and I introduced him to all of my new friends and he came out with us that night.
The next night Nick and I went out on our own and hit up as many places to get a beer at as we could. We went to a beer garden in Prague. This is just a group of 100 tables with some background music and a bar inside a shed serving beer. Another shed is serving food and another one is serving mixed drinks. It was a relaxing atmosphere and I had a great time. Nick and I met these two Czech locals who just talked about how important tourism is to Prague and about life. Nick parents where staying at this really nice hotel called Landels. It was beautiful. Nick and I got a hostel one night and it sucked. The hostel was basically a school dormitory that was a hotels when the students are on summer break.
Milan today was marvelous. I got lost getting from the bus at Milano central station onto the subway. The signs where not very clear and I spend 20 minutes walking back and forth before I finally figured out where I was going. The person who I am staying with is very nice. He made me coffee and toast right when I got to his apartment. His name is Antonio and he has a three bedroom apartment. His roommates are out of town for the week so I am staying in one of their bed rooms. Antonio drew on a map for me where I should go visit and what walking route I should take so I don't miss anything important. I took many photos of what I saw and will be uploading them soon.
I also took videos of where I was because it is so much easier to see exactly what I saw from a video. I saw so many expensive stores while walking. I saw every Italian, French and famous fashion designers store while on my walk.
I walked into a few of these stores to check out what kind of prices they had. The only store that I loved and could actually afford was a store called Zara. It was amazing! I loved and wanted to buy almost everything in this store. The prices where also very reasonable. They have a few stores in America (22 to be exact) and will be going cloth shopping in this store in the future. They also sell women clothes and they also looked very nice and affordable.
I forgot to mention that on Saturday I went to Terazine. This was a concentration camp during WWII. It was a moving experience and I loved almost everything about the trip, besides the walking. I took photos of that trip too and will be putting those on FB soon.
I am tired from waking up so early and am going to fall asleep.
Love, Corey
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Last week in Praha
This has been an extremely busy week. I had a film that was due today and had so much trouble editing and bringing the taped files to my computer. I also had a photo project due on Monday and today. I have everything done now, but it took some late nights and a few nights of only 3 hours of sleep. This is the video that my group partner Lauren and I made.
I think I have finally tentatively finalized my plans for after Prague.
I will be going to Milan, Italy, on Aug 10th to the 12th. In Milan I will be couch surfing for my first time. On the 12th I will be going to Cinque Terre, Italy. I will stay two nights and go to Florence, Italy, for three nights. Two of the nights I will be in the country around Florence and one of the nights I will try and find a couch surfing place to crash at in the city. I will then go to Rome for two nights. I will either get a hostel or couch surf, possibly one for each night.
I want to then make my way over to Barcelona, Spain and spend 3 nights there. After this I will make my way over to France. I am not sure what I will do first in France but I will decide in the next few days on my plan.
I have to go to class but I will update my blog later with more plans and photos of my trip to Budapest.
I think I have finally tentatively finalized my plans for after Prague.
I will be going to Milan, Italy, on Aug 10th to the 12th. In Milan I will be couch surfing for my first time. On the 12th I will be going to Cinque Terre, Italy. I will stay two nights and go to Florence, Italy, for three nights. Two of the nights I will be in the country around Florence and one of the nights I will try and find a couch surfing place to crash at in the city. I will then go to Rome for two nights. I will either get a hostel or couch surf, possibly one for each night.
I want to then make my way over to Barcelona, Spain and spend 3 nights there. After this I will make my way over to France. I am not sure what I will do first in France but I will decide in the next few days on my plan.
I have to go to class but I will update my blog later with more plans and photos of my trip to Budapest.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Budapest
I had a great weekend at Budapest. They sure do know how to party in Hungary.
My trip to Budapest started at 4 in the afternoon on Thursday. On the bus ride to Budapest the highway was closed due to an accident so the driver had to reroute around the blocked highway and through the countryside. This bus seated 65 people and was at least 4 meters in height. Maybe this bus was the biggest bus I have ever been in. The small roads that the bus driver rerouted onto where only 4 feet wider than the bus and where extremely windy and had no shoulder. I thought numerous time that I was going to die and not survive this incredible bus ride. I took some photos of how small the road was and will post them on my Facebook.
When we arrived in Budapest Vince and I got lost and walked around for 30 minutes before we could find a cab. Walking around allowed us to see a lot of the city and how beautiful it was. European cities are gorgeous. We finally got to the Hostel and could not check in because we where to early. We where going to sleep on a lawn chair at the hostel but we made friends with these girls who gave us their beds because they where checking out in a hour. I have a lot of photos of our cool hostel that I will also upload to Facebook.
The next day Vince and I met up with our other friends at the Hostel who came earlier that day. We all ate breakfast and went on a tour of the city. It was a free tour that we went on. The tour guide relies of tips to make money. The tour was so boring that we left early and went on our own tour. I took a few videos and photos of our walk to the Budapest Castle and the surrounding areas. I walk to much in Europe that my shoes are so bare. I need to get new shoes when I come back to the states immediately. Vince, Mike, Andreas and myself went on a little exploration of this construction site on the Castle grounds. I have a video of where we explored and how cool it was.
That night we went to this awesome bar in Budapest. The entrance to this place was a tiny door on this small side street but inside revealed a massive bar that blew my mind away. The door lead you into a basement that lead out to 10 other basement rooms all with there own music and most of them had a bar. A staircase lead you to the courtyard of the building. In this courtyard another bar was 40 or so tables packed with people where placed. Then we found another staircase going upstairs. Another level of 10 rooms where packed with people. This level had 14 pool tables, an arcade, 20 or more tables, a huge balcony and a massive bar. In the winter when it gets to cold to be outside and at many of the outside clubs around the city, 5 more floors like the one I just described are opened up. This was one of the most massive and impressive lounge/club I have ever been too. The entire group I was with decided to do karaoke for fun. We sang an N'sync song and a Micheal Jackson song. It was so much fun seeing the locals at the bar giving us a thumbs down and laughing at our singing. After this bar we went to an outdoor club on an island. This place was packed and was so crazy. They party so hard in Budapest I was amazed. I was tired so I just mostly talked with my friends and watched everyone at this place.
The next day everyone went to this spa/bath called Gellert. It was amazing. The entry fee was 15 dollars but it was well worth it. I felt like a king when I was in this place. Budapest is know for the hot water natural springs and this bath uses exactly that. I have some photos of this place and will put the on Facebook because I can not describe what this place was like in words. Inside this bath/spa they have one indoor pool and one outdoor wave pool. They also have two massive natural spring heated hot tubs. A part of the spa was only for men and only for females. This was the truly impressive part of the spa. This area contained two baths, one was 38 C and the other was 36 C. They also had a steam room, cold tube and various other water message rooms. The decor, in this area was breathtaking. I will find photos and post them above this post.
Everyone should experience this when they go to Budapest and I will always remember this experience.
We ate dinner at this buffet. This buffet had unlimited beer, wine, champagne and food for 15 dollars. Not a bad deal. This will be the nicest dinner of the trip so I spoiled myself that day with the spa and dinner.
I later went to this massive outdoor party. I saw some of the most beautiful women of my entire life at this outdoor party. Every person I saw was just so beautiful. No one really speaks English in Budapest. This is from asking people if they speak and getting a mean NO as an answer.
The next day we took a bus ride back home to Prague.
I had a great weekend.
My trip to Budapest started at 4 in the afternoon on Thursday. On the bus ride to Budapest the highway was closed due to an accident so the driver had to reroute around the blocked highway and through the countryside. This bus seated 65 people and was at least 4 meters in height. Maybe this bus was the biggest bus I have ever been in. The small roads that the bus driver rerouted onto where only 4 feet wider than the bus and where extremely windy and had no shoulder. I thought numerous time that I was going to die and not survive this incredible bus ride. I took some photos of how small the road was and will post them on my Facebook.
When we arrived in Budapest Vince and I got lost and walked around for 30 minutes before we could find a cab. Walking around allowed us to see a lot of the city and how beautiful it was. European cities are gorgeous. We finally got to the Hostel and could not check in because we where to early. We where going to sleep on a lawn chair at the hostel but we made friends with these girls who gave us their beds because they where checking out in a hour. I have a lot of photos of our cool hostel that I will also upload to Facebook.
The next day Vince and I met up with our other friends at the Hostel who came earlier that day. We all ate breakfast and went on a tour of the city. It was a free tour that we went on. The tour guide relies of tips to make money. The tour was so boring that we left early and went on our own tour. I took a few videos and photos of our walk to the Budapest Castle and the surrounding areas. I walk to much in Europe that my shoes are so bare. I need to get new shoes when I come back to the states immediately. Vince, Mike, Andreas and myself went on a little exploration of this construction site on the Castle grounds. I have a video of where we explored and how cool it was.
That night we went to this awesome bar in Budapest. The entrance to this place was a tiny door on this small side street but inside revealed a massive bar that blew my mind away. The door lead you into a basement that lead out to 10 other basement rooms all with there own music and most of them had a bar. A staircase lead you to the courtyard of the building. In this courtyard another bar was 40 or so tables packed with people where placed. Then we found another staircase going upstairs. Another level of 10 rooms where packed with people. This level had 14 pool tables, an arcade, 20 or more tables, a huge balcony and a massive bar. In the winter when it gets to cold to be outside and at many of the outside clubs around the city, 5 more floors like the one I just described are opened up. This was one of the most massive and impressive lounge/club I have ever been too. The entire group I was with decided to do karaoke for fun. We sang an N'sync song and a Micheal Jackson song. It was so much fun seeing the locals at the bar giving us a thumbs down and laughing at our singing. After this bar we went to an outdoor club on an island. This place was packed and was so crazy. They party so hard in Budapest I was amazed. I was tired so I just mostly talked with my friends and watched everyone at this place.
The next day everyone went to this spa/bath called Gellert. It was amazing. The entry fee was 15 dollars but it was well worth it. I felt like a king when I was in this place. Budapest is know for the hot water natural springs and this bath uses exactly that. I have some photos of this place and will put the on Facebook because I can not describe what this place was like in words. Inside this bath/spa they have one indoor pool and one outdoor wave pool. They also have two massive natural spring heated hot tubs. A part of the spa was only for men and only for females. This was the truly impressive part of the spa. This area contained two baths, one was 38 C and the other was 36 C. They also had a steam room, cold tube and various other water message rooms. The decor, in this area was breathtaking. I will find photos and post them above this post.
Everyone should experience this when they go to Budapest and I will always remember this experience.
We ate dinner at this buffet. This buffet had unlimited beer, wine, champagne and food for 15 dollars. Not a bad deal. This will be the nicest dinner of the trip so I spoiled myself that day with the spa and dinner.
I later went to this massive outdoor party. I saw some of the most beautiful women of my entire life at this outdoor party. Every person I saw was just so beautiful. No one really speaks English in Budapest. This is from asking people if they speak and getting a mean NO as an answer.
The next day we took a bus ride back home to Prague.
I had a great weekend.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Budapest
Good afternoon:
Budapest is hot!!! It was almost 90 degrees today. The city is really nice though and I am taking a lot of photos. Today we walked around the city for 5 hours exploring so many cool and interesting things. I am with Vince and three other friends. Andres, Lauren and Mike. Us five are having a blast and I cant wait to go out tonight.
Last night was a mess we got into Budapest early and we had no place to stay for the night. I ended u making friends with these girls who where checking out at 5 am. I just talked and waited for them to check out at 5 and I stole there bed when they left. I basically stayed for free that night.
The hostel does not have AC so it gets very hot during the day and at night when you have so many bodies in one crammed room. The hostel is marvelous and so nice and new. It has only been opened for 3 weeks and it not even done being constructed.
I have a lot more to say but I am tired and want to take a nap. I have met a bunch of people so far and its really cool learning about them.
I will write more later, but I am safe in Budapest.
Next time I will explain about my bus ride and how nerve racking that ride was.
Corey
Budapest is hot!!! It was almost 90 degrees today. The city is really nice though and I am taking a lot of photos. Today we walked around the city for 5 hours exploring so many cool and interesting things. I am with Vince and three other friends. Andres, Lauren and Mike. Us five are having a blast and I cant wait to go out tonight.
Last night was a mess we got into Budapest early and we had no place to stay for the night. I ended u making friends with these girls who where checking out at 5 am. I just talked and waited for them to check out at 5 and I stole there bed when they left. I basically stayed for free that night.
The hostel does not have AC so it gets very hot during the day and at night when you have so many bodies in one crammed room. The hostel is marvelous and so nice and new. It has only been opened for 3 weeks and it not even done being constructed.
I have a lot more to say but I am tired and want to take a nap. I have met a bunch of people so far and its really cool learning about them.
I will write more later, but I am safe in Budapest.
Next time I will explain about my bus ride and how nerve racking that ride was.
Corey
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
I love Prague
Hello!
School is getting busy and I am going to Budapest this weekend. I have been busy.
I have been uploading photos that I have been using for my photography class. I hope you all have been liking them.
I have many more photos but these are just some fun photos that I have taken.
Today I went shopping and bought a few things that I really needed. I bought a bunch of socks and boxers. I also got a pair of white pants, a shirt, and a button down.
I have not went cloth shopping in a long time so it was nice to get a few things. I might end up returning some of the items because I don't really need them but I just liked the items so much I had to get them.
I want to do a coop abroad next year. Instead of working for six months in the US, I would like to spend the time working abroad for a company. It would be so much more fun and a good experience for myself. I am going to look into this being a possibility for my coop.
I am going to run to the gym and will write more tomorrow.
Corey
School is getting busy and I am going to Budapest this weekend. I have been busy.
I have been uploading photos that I have been using for my photography class. I hope you all have been liking them.
I have many more photos but these are just some fun photos that I have taken.
Today I went shopping and bought a few things that I really needed. I bought a bunch of socks and boxers. I also got a pair of white pants, a shirt, and a button down.
I have not went cloth shopping in a long time so it was nice to get a few things. I might end up returning some of the items because I don't really need them but I just liked the items so much I had to get them.
I want to do a coop abroad next year. Instead of working for six months in the US, I would like to spend the time working abroad for a company. It would be so much more fun and a good experience for myself. I am going to look into this being a possibility for my coop.
I am going to run to the gym and will write more tomorrow.
Corey
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