Home safe and sound

Sorry the blog somewhat disappeared into thin air but after Prague the group somewhat went their separate ways. After learning that it would take a 15 hour train ride to get from Prague to Amsterdam we all quickly weighed our options. John and Mitch decided it would be best if they just fly directly to London, stay a couple days, and catch their flight out to Seattle. Sam, Keagan, Darrick, and Drew bit the bullet and hopped on the train. Justin and I stayed an extra day in Prague and flew to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam was by far one of everyones favorite places. The character of the city is addictive with its uneven buildings and canals. Our hostel was in the red light district which created plenty of entertainment. As we were there Drew and Sam were the last to leave the group and fly home. From there Darrick, Justin, and I had to start making decisions for our last week. We decided to head out to the Flying Pigs beach hostel in Noordjik on the coast. It was nothing more then a sleepy beach town which allowed for some much need decompressing. We ended up staying two nights because we really had nothing planned.

After the beach we headed to Brugge, Belgium. The hostel was definitely the most un-liked of all. We assumed it used to be an asylum. Brugge itself was really cool, much like a medieval fortress. The chocolate was unreal and the beer was never ending. We had one great night at the Druids cellar, an underground Irish pub. The three of us had plenty of time to contemplate life and whats to come.

After Brugge we had a long traveling day. We headed back to Amsterdam to catch a flight to London, and then on to find our hostel somewhere around Hyde park. The hostel was nice with a great location. We spent most of our one day there wondering around Hyde park. The boys took a nap at one point. In the morning we had to be up at 5 and on the tube to get to Heathrow International. It was a long morning to say the least. After 18 hours of traveling we all landed in Seattle around 5. It has now been 5 days since we have been home and I am still feeling the ends of jet leg.

There are no words to sum up the trip we just had. All we know is the real world is looking awful. Some are already at work and others are avoiding at all costs.  But at least were all alive =)

Go Cougs

Prague

We are in Prague but unfortunately havent seen much of it yet. Yesterday we checked in to another St. Christopher's hostel which was built in 2010. After all 8 showers we napped and headed to dinner. Chinese/Teryaki was just what we needed. Prague is strange because of its currency. Every bill is a 100 or higher. When we pulled money out of the ATM all we got was a 2000 bill....its been strange to get used to. Plus Czech is a whole other language that we have no comparison or familiarity with.

After dinner we went to a local brewery and had sampler beers, including coffee, banana, sour cherry, and nettle flavors. We also learned that Caechs drink more beer per capita then anywhere.... impressive. After the beers we went back to the hostel and hung out in the bar/restaurant for the night with tons of other travelers. This morning we got up late and had burgers at the hostel. Just as im looking forward to having a salad...its smart that I dont because of the e.coli breakout.

Afterwards we headed to the train station to plan our travels to Amsterdam and hit a massive wall in the plans. Turns out the night trains are full and the available day train has 1 transfer, no reservations (so we would have to jump around), and is 15 hours long. After throwing out every idea we have come to the plan of splitting up as of tomorrow. Keagan, Sam, Drew, and Darrick are headed to Amsterdam on the 15 hours train. JW, Mitch, Justin, and I are staying in Prague another night and flying out on monday. JW and Mitch are headed to London since they have to fly home from there and Justin and I are just flying to Amsterdam to save train travel days on our pass. From their Drew, Keagan, and Sam are flying home and Justin, Darrick, and I are continueing for another week. Where we are going is still unknown but we hope to go to Ireland.

Tomorrow the four of us are going to see the Prague castle...the rest saw it today. Were just hoping that all travel plans go as smoothly as possible from here on out. Its simple to say tonight will be wild being our last night together!

Munich

Once again we failed to have reservations on the trains to Munich because the train station people don’t even know how their own system works. We sat on two trains for 5 hours stressing over whether our seats were going to be taken. We hopped around crossing our fingers that we could stay in one place long enough to get some sleep. Once in Munich it was still raining but we lucked out having our hostel only half a block from the train station… and it was called Jaeger Hostel, with a free shot for staying there. To say the least we were more than pleased to have in-suite bathrooms and amazing showers. We also split up in two 4-man rooms making it a lot easier to function.

For dinner we headed straight to the famous Hofbrauhause. There we had giant steins, brats, dumplings, and pork. Germans simply know how to do it right. On the way we saw the gaudy Munich town hall and shopping plaza. After dinner we hung out for awhile and eventually continued the night at the hostel bar and cheered each other with our free Jaeger shot. To put it simply, it was Justin’s turn to have a not-so-memorable, but good night. A KFC run was also in the mix.

The next day we slept in and saw the Oktoberfest grounds. Eventually JW, Sam, and I headed out to Dachau to visit the concentration camp. For me it was really special and something I had to do before I die. The camp is relatively small and a lot of it is reconstructed to keep it intact. It is free to visit and only 2.50 euro for an audio tour. We saw everything including the gas chambers and crematoriums.

The rest stayed back and wondered around, not realizing it was a German holiday and everything was closed. We all met back later and went to the Augustiner beer-garden. It was basically a giant berr-garden set-up like a park with hundreds of tables, a stage, children’s park, and hanging lights everywhere. Definitely another place to visit again. Afterwards we were all happy campers and continued the night at the hostel. Some went to bed and others ventured to another bar where old Germen men sang songs until late into the night. An old German guy had a lovely dance with Drew while they all sang. He has nothing to comment except that he is embarrassed =).

This morning we got up early as always and got on another train to Prague. We are here now staying at another St. Christopher’s ostel that was built in 2010. Let’s just say were finally livin’ on the higher side of life. Get back to yah later… we found Teryaki!

Interlaken {The Extreme Sports Capital of the World}

We once again had an early morning train to Interlaken which consisted of mostly sleeping. Once we reached the mountain area we all woke up to the most beautiful terrain yet. We had to transfer to a local train 20 min outside of Interlaken and got to ride along the lake with the windows down. Yes I was an extremely happy girl being in the mountains. Once we were off the train we were so happy to see a real sized grocery store and not so crowded streets. Sky-divers were parachuting between the hillsides and you could see chateaus on the peaks. Off in the distance were snow-capped mountains and seemed to be so close.

We stayed at Balmers hostel which had three lodges, bar, beer-garden, club, and a tent village 10 min away. Everything was very Swiss themed with fresh spring water fountains. After checking in we all signed up for canyoning and Justin, Keagan, Darrick, and JW also did a canyon jump. They left immediately to head up to the canyon where they free-fell for 150 ft. and swung like a giant swing at 250 ft. They all agreed it was the most intense thing they have ever done.

The rest of us hung at the restaurant/bar for the evening for happy hour. Over a matter of hours we watched a crazy thunder and lightning storm roll in right over our heads. The sky turned to dark blue as lighting came down throughout the valley. We stayed out until it started to down-pour…a little reminder of home. Later everyone went down to the underground (and only) club in town. The hostel also had a tent village down the road so plenty of people came down.

In the morning we had free breakfast and went tandem biking. As if three guys on one bike isn’t funny enough, JW and Keagan road one that faced opposite directions. JW steered and peddled forward while Keagan faced backwards and peddled the same direction…. It really was hilarious and you will understand when you see pics. It started to downpour again, and lasted all day. In the afternoon we went canyoning. It was easy to say we definitely wanted more time but it was really fun. The water was ice cold but we got to repel down rock faces, swings around cliffs, jump into waterfall pools, and slide down rock slides. If we had more time we would have done every extreme sport there was.

For dinner we (I should say the guys) couldn’t resist the urge for some Hooters wings. We hit the pillow the earliest that night of the entire trip. We could not have survived another night together in that tiny room. It continued to pour the next day as well and left the rest of Interlaken for another time.

Pictures!

We are now in Interlaken and I have a free computer to use so I've uploaded a post of just pictures. I cant do a lot because it takes forever but I know many of you have been begging for some. They are an array of everywhere we have been so far. Enjoy!



Beach in Barcelona

Barca: Darrick paid for the 'free' flowers

Barca: The worst sunburns you will ever see

Barca

Monte Carlo

Night out in Cinque Terre

Hike in Cinque Terre looking down on Vernazza

Hike in Cinque Terre

Rome: The Colosseum

Rome: Vatican, The Last Supper on Tapestry

Florence for the Man-U/Barca game

Florence

London: Buckingham Palace

Leaving London

Paris: The Louvre

Barcelona: Mitch had a candy meltdown at the market

Monte Carlo and the Meditteranean



When in Rome

After I last left off we met up with our friend Chelsey Elliott from home, and her two friends. We went down to the Scholars Irish bar for beers and enjoyed having other friends to hang out with (one of the little things you learn to appreciate). There was no doubt we all had a good night =). The next day we got up and made our way to the Vatican for a tour of the Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Our tour guide was awesome and extremely knowledgeable about art. He’s also written a few journalistic articles on Michelangelo and others for National Geographic. We got to see Da Vinci’s Last Supper on tapestry and the best of Rafael. As they say in Rome, everything that is of importance or rarity is in the Vatican. That is why Rome seems to be half vanished. Every piece of art and marble has been put in the Vatican as a literal Storage unit. They have 86 corridors of just statues of all kinds. The Sistine chapel was by far the most breathtaking. It is everything that it is anticipated to be but you wouldn’t nearly appreciate it as much without the history of a tour.

After the tour we went over to St. Peters square in the Vatican City (everyone knows what this looks like from the Da Vinci code). We then went into St. Peters Basilica (the largest church in the world). It also is truly incredible. Mass was going on in part of the church so JW crossed it off his bucket list. The marble floor is incredible and the mere size is unreal. It’s something you can’t miss if you’re in Rome and its free! Afterwards we planned to see the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, and the Spanish steps, but were way too tired and ended our day early. We saw the Pantheon and Trevi fountain in the morning and decided to save the Spanish steps for later in life. You would literally have to be in Rome for a month to see it all anywhere. We then made our way to the train station to head to Florence. We had our first sprinting-through-the-train-station moment after buying reserved tickets minutes before it was going to leave. The ride was only an hour and we bee-lined for McDonalds once in Firenze.

Here we also have two apartments that sleep 4 each in an awesome location. Ironically this is our third experience with a faulty water situation. The last two either had awful water pressure to the point of dripping and one would run out of water completely. Here the showers only have hand-held shower heads in a bath-tub. Justin went to turn on the shower and the hose went flying around the bathroom. I had an ab workout this morning just sitting in the tub trying to hold the shower-head. We’ve now named it the shath.

I finally got my shopping time in when Justin devoted a few hours to escorting me =). Later we headed to the bar across the street for the Manchester-U/Barcelona game and had the time of our lives. Justin and Mitch wore their new Messi Uni’s and we had giant tubes of beer. Darrick successfully drenched himself in beer and had to go home. Barca won and we went crazy. After the game we went back to the apartments and more friends from school who are studying abroad came over. Once again it was so nice to see other friends, especially girls =). When we went back out the streets were crazy and people partying everywhere. Mostly because of the Barca win and everyone was a college student wanting to rage in the streets. We saw more friends from home back inside the bar, two girls from my sorority, Lou and Shannon! I was loving life. The party lasted all night and everyone was having way too much fun. Unfortunately Keagan wondered off into the night thinking he was going home and managed to find himself miles away. John woke up to him yelling from the street early in the morning once he found his way home. He made a record of 50 calls during the night, but it was another great story in the morning.

Today was an extremely lazy and slow day. We somewhat slept in for the first time and walked around the river. After only 30 min and a lot of gelato we all agreed we were just way too tired. Our Pullman bodies are now having a hard time keeping up. We took naps and did just about nothing all day. We’ve all made dinner again and agreed to lay low tonight. We have another train at 9 tomorrow to Interlaken where the real fun begins =)…. A few are going bungee jumping asap.

Roma and the Colosseum

Last night we all ended up staying in and contued drinking Italian wines and playing cards. A few people tried to go out but no bars were open (were not used to that). This morning we got up and made our way down to the Colosseum and Palatine Hill where all of the ruins are.

We started with a walking tour that covered both the Coloseeum and Ruins, as well as skipping the long line to get in. Our guide in the Colosseum was hard to understand but no doubt it was mind blowing. From the inside it felt a lot bigger then the outside. Of course the outside is missing two corridors from the existing outside wall. Half of the upper portion is also missing, partly from earthquake damage. All of the original seating is also gone but it wasnt hard to imagine ampitheatre seating like any modern day stadium. We learned about the Gladiators, animal fights, and the efforts it took to construct it. During our hour and a half break Justin, Darrick, Mitch, and I grabbed some baguettes and salami and ate outside. We then continued another tour on top of Palatine hill, where all of Rome was founded and built. The emporors all built their palaces on the hill, as well as chariot racing tracks. There is so much history in the small area it felt impossible to take it all in. There were also areas below in the valley that are currently being excavated.

After the tour we all met back at the apartment. In no time, we were all passed out from the walking and muggy heat. Once we woke up everyone went to the grovery store and got more creative with their pasta dishes. The kitchen here is definitely not ideal for 8 poeple cooking different meals. It only contains two small burners and one counter space. We are now increadibly full. Our good friend Chelsey Elliott from school is coming over tonight with some friends that are all studying abroad and theres no doubt we will be hitting the bars!

Tomorrow is a Vatican tour, the Pantheon, Spanish steps, and the Trevi Fountain...

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, meaning 5 towns, sits along a cliff side on the coast of the Mediterranean in Italy. After Justin had already been there we knew it would possibly be our favorite place so far. Each of the 5 fishing villages are spread out along one cliff side.

On the way there we learned our first lesson about the Italian trains. We hopped on our first train to Genova that had compartment seating, thinking we were lucky to get a sweet little room to ourselves. As we stopped at each station we realized that most, if not everything, is already reserved. The entire ride became stressful not knowing if our seats were going to be taken from us. As more and more people got on the train we all had to move to the hallways, which also became more and more crowded with people. We ended up standing, or sitting in cramped hall corners, for an hour and a half. We definitely reserved seats on our next train out of Cinque.

We then got in around 2 and stayed in the first town, Riomaggiore, for two nights. Our hostel ended up being a small apartment that sat 4 stories up looking over the main road (or walkway you could say) with one bathroom once again (Im going to stay positive and say I didn’t mind). We also had two shutter windows with drying lines outside. After dropping our stuff off we walked down to the water, consisting of a small boat ramp for row boats and a small marina-like area. On our way down we happened to meet another Coug, Adam Holiday, in one of the smallest towns in Italy. He was the Cougs kicker in the ’03 Rose bowl and was wearing a giant Coug Rose bowl ring. He let us all try it on and agreed to have drinks later.



View of Vernazza from the hike



Down by the water we had a late afternoon meal on the Cliffside of just Italian pastas. The portions were small for the boys but there is nothing like an Italian pasta dish, especially when you’ve been anticipating it. After, the boys went to jump off cliffs and swim while I finally had time to shop on my own. Later we bought cheap Italian wine, pieces of pizza, and headed to the only local bar that was open. We all agreed the Mojitos were the best we have EVER had, made with all real ingredients and enough sugar to give you a heart attack.

On our second day we got up early to hike the famous hike that stretches along the cliff side of the 5 towns. It now costs 5 euro to do the trail and the portions between towns 2-3 and 3-4 are blocked off because of rock slides. We started in Riomaggiore and walked lover’s lane to the 2^nd town. It was pathed and flat the whole way. The second town was quant with great swimming holes. From there we took the train to the 4^th town, which is the most beautiful and busiest. We got back on the hike and realized we were in for a lot more than expected. The first part of the hike was simply a trick. This portion headed straight up the hillside on rocky stairs that never seemed to end. We were panting like dogs but the view just got better and better. The hike lasted a couple of hours just between the two towns and continued up and down the steep hillside. When we finally got to the descent our legs and knees were shaky. It made it difficult to carefully climb down the steep stairs on the other side. These also seemed to be never ending. When we finally reached the bottom there was no better reward then running straight for the Sea and bottles of water. The Mediterranean was calm and aqua blue. We stayed on the beach for a few hours and had kebabs and Gelato. To get back we hopped on a ferry, giving us awesome views of each village from the water. The feeling of being on a boat was so satisfying. Of course we then planned on doing some laundry but the washers just happened to be broken. After taking turns for 8 people to shower some went to get more pizza while JW, Justin, Keagan, and I went for a nice dinner. We didn’t hold back after the long hike and had Bruschetta, bread and olive oil, Seafood spaghetti and pizza. Later a few went back to lovers lane to check the town out at night and a view of the stars, obviously with more wine. In the morning we had to get up early to catch another train to Roma… and yes it was smooth.

When arriving in Rome we struggled to find our apartment from the train station. When we finally did we were pleasantly surprised with a newly remodeled apartment in an old Roman building. It contains three bedrooms, three baths, a kitchen, and a living room, and yes, I am the happiest traveling girl you can find. Aftering settling in some set off to do laundry. We also went down to a local market and baught Tortellini and Salad to cook ourselves. We have now eaten and are happily content hanging in our new digs.

Keagan has also already taken a bubble bath, and we learned that our water supply is definitely limited...the showers and sinks are now spitting water =)

We'll catch up with you tomorrow!

Nice is Nice

Most of the group arrived in Nice (besides Justin and Darrick) after three trains. The hostel was a short walk from the train station, just a block away from the beach. On the way there we went through Cannes and Antibes where the annual Cannes Film Festival was. We didn’t get in until 6:30 and settled in. We had an 8 bedroom dorm with one bathroom. It was definitely the smallest room so far. Let me tell you, it’s not exactly ideal having one bathroom for 8, I’d take the community bathrooms any day. The shower only trickled water and the boys managed to dirtier it up within 12 hours. We did have a giant window facing into a few backyards which was great. We then wondered to find booze and check out the beach. We also found a great kebab restaurant across the street. The night ended with bottles of wine and cards.

In the morning we got up leisurely and headed to the beach. We heard it was a rocky beach but that was an understatement. You literally cannot find an inch of sand on their beaches. Mitch and I weaseled our way into getting some beach pads and set up camp. While sitting there we had some unwanted viewers lurking. A very creepy old Indian man with his family was filming us (mainly just me) and other girls around. He become so obvious, standing only 15 ft away, I started yelling at him. He finally understood and walked away, but continued to film other girls around…. very disturbing. Mitch moved and sat in front of me while Drew stood up to block him. Within 20 minutes the rest of the guys were antsy and on their way to Cannes. Sam, Mitch, and I moved to a different beach and didn’t move all day. While the boys were in Cannes they visited their friend Shera and checked out all of film festival hype. They also stopped in Antibes and looked at all of the mega yachts and had dinner.

Later Justin and Darrick finally showed up after their long day of transferring between five trains. While they made their way to Nice, at one stop Darrick had a hard time opening the train door from the outside. Meanwhile, four poliza officers noticed this little man jerking the train door and ask him to step outside and gave him a strip search. While searching his bag for drugs, he gave them his U.S passport and they called it in to make sure it was real. After this minor altercation with the poliza he was able to step onto the train. Justin had been watching from his seat and was very happy Darrick was able to safely board the train.

Luckily the rest of us had 24 hours to calm our nerves from the loosing-Darrick experience and were all happy to finally have them there. We headed out to get food and wine and later walked the town. We eventually found the bar we were told to go to but of course it was “full”.

The next day we had fresh wraps and fruit for breakfast at the next door Brasserie. Justin, Darrick, Mitch, Keagan, Drew, and I then headed to Monaco (Monte Carlo), which Justin had been dreaming of going to since his last visit to Europe. We headed straight for the Casino to check it out, but lagged around for an hour while the guys drooled over every car in sight. The Casino and hotel was relatively small compared to what we’re used too but the view from the terrace was unreal. We then headed straight for the beach to continue our beach week extravaganza. It was small and crowded (being that it was Sunday) but had better sand then Nice and a swimming area. After roasting for hours we trekked back up to the Monte Carlo and went to the adjacent, not-so-strict, casino. Justin and Keagan threw down on the Black Jack table, facing men that were putting down 500 euro bills. It didn’t last long but Keagan came out on top and Justin only lost 10. It was more for the experience because we were there.

After Monaco we headed to dinner in Nice. Justin and I ended up going off to a restaurant and finally had some good salad and fish. We then wondered around the flee-market area and met the guys back at the hostel. Him and I bought a bottle of wine and headed to the beach for a few hours. In the morning we had to get up early to catch a train to Cinque Terre.

Where in the World is Darrick Mercer

Since this story is too long to tell and were somewhat behind on the blog i’ll give you a short run-down…

Basically Mercer got separated from the group for various reasons, one because he missed the subway on our way to the train station early in the morning. Justin had to go back for him and wondered Barca for a couple hours until they finally found out each other at Kabul hostel (mind you, Darrick already had his phone stolen). The rest of us went on and caught our reserved train. They then stayed an extended night in Barca and met us in Nice the next day.

In time, the full story will be told…

Barcelona Continued

As beach week continues the stories just get better...

We have strangely met tons of people that come from the same corner of the world. JW met two girls from seattle and one actually had the same bday as him. Drews buddy Drew also had two cougs staying in the same room at the same hostel, and two others guys played football for Idaho.... six degrees of seperation in full force.

After I last left off our night continued on with a pub crawl hosted by the hostel, only 7 euro including a free shot at each bar. We wondered in a giant group through back allys out towards the marina front. The first bar was quant and we all hung out outside. A vendor offered me free roses because he was going home so darrick decided to pay for them anyway...free shots will do that to you. Justin and Darrick proceeded to talk business the entire time. The next bar, Chupitos, was by far our favorite, providing a list of more then 200 shots. Mitch and JW purchased their B-52 plane tickets and ended up with flaming shots down their throats (hey, were in Barca right?). The third bar was hazy but we defintely made more friends and cradled our beers. At this point Mercer was walking down a zig-zag path. The group left back to the hostel and Rick (Darricks alter-ego) just had to continue his convo. Justin stayed back to walk with Merc and two new American buddies that live in the area. After about 10 minutes of no Justin or Darrick, Drew and I started to freak, walking back into the sketchy ally full people you normally wouldnt want to be around.

After 45 of no shows they finally showed up with the local american buddies.They had some run in's with back ally women and open bars. Apparently Darrick asked if he could call the bigger guy Lane (after our buddy Lane from home) as he was helping him walk back. Darrick crawled up to bed, Keagan went to the club by himself (he definitely wasnt letting a single moment slip away), and the rest of us continued with the night.

The next morning we all got up relatively early to check out the touristy spots. We went up to Park Guelle on one of the highest hills in Barca to see Gaudi's amazing architectural work. Built into the hillside full of colorful ceramic art as well as a bench that continues around the area. It also includes two houses that Gaudi had previously designed for a gatec community. From their we taxi'd down the La Segrada Familia, the famous Gaudi cathedral. Drew, Justin, JW, and I decided to go in and the others headed to the beach. To say the least, the interior is absolutely mind blowing. The outside is definitely a site to see but the inside is completely designed from Gaudis ideas of incorporating nature and the universe. The design started in 1882 and is predicted to be finished around 2030, following the plans Gaudi set out.


You can tell by the columns in the front that replicate the trunks of trees.

After the cathedral we went over the the Barcelona football (soccer) stadium. Unfortuntely it was way too expensive to go inside so we walked around and went into the team store (just as magnificent as a seahawks team store). After, we took a taxi back to Las Ramblas and wondered back to the Plaza Real. For dinner we paid 10 euro to go out to a traditional Paella dinner, including appetizers and a jug of Sangria. It was damn good, including Crawdawd, squid, and mussels. After dinner we wrapped up with a few beers while Keagan, Justin, and Darrick got ready to go out again.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS DARRICK MERCER post is coming soon...
(No need to worry, but a good story never fails)





Barcelona

We are now on our second day in Barcelona (Or Bologna as mitch calls it). We arrived early yesterday and managed our way from the train station to the hostel. Our hostel is called Kubal and sits in a square full of restaurants and bars. It has a great atmosphere and 5 stories of bunk rooms.



The birthday boy!

 We couldnt check in until later so we dropped our bags off and wondered the streets for three hours. We immediately fell in love with Barcelona, one to be away from the french and more familiar with the language, and two because its absolutely beautiful. A twist of Paris architecture and Miama vibes. Our favorite surprise was the Mercat Market (Yes we all loved the fact it was called Merc Cat). It is the most amazing market any of us have ever experienced. Pike Place cant even be called a market compared to this place. The fresh fruit was so colorful it seemed fake and the seafood was still moving (literally the crab and lobster were still moving their little legs). We al got fresh fruit since we have been deprived and living strictly on carbs. Afterwards we couldnt pass up sunglasses for 5 euro.

After checking in and showering we put on swimsuits and headed straight for the beach. Needless to say the boys were in foreign women heaven =). The walk is gorgeous along the marina and the beach stretches for miles with a giant Westin out on the point. There is also a gondola that moves across the marina right into town.The beach was packed and full of vendors. Beers were dranken fast and everyone had their swim in the Balearic Sea. After our much needed beach day we went to a nice dinner for JW's bday. Theres no denying that we have all had our pasta and pizza fixes.
Post dinner naps were a must have being that the night life here doesnt start until 1:30 in the morning. Later we played pool at the hostel, drank pitchers, and a few were lucky enough to get free pitchers for beer pong. Unfortunately I crashed early but the boys made it to club Opium at 1:45 am and lasted until 5. What happened there, only they could tell you.

Somehow Darrick, Drew, and Mitch got up and were drinking on the beach by 10:30, after their late night. Sam split off to check out some site seeing stuff and the rest of us got up at a slow pace and made our way down to the market for some more fresh fruit and yummy food. I was then determined to find a camera store since I dropped and mysteriously broke mine the day before. After I picked up my new pink camera we be-lined straight to the beach and better prepared then the day before. Darrick, Justin, and I all got 15 min massages for 5 euro and bronzed our beautifully white bodies for hours. Unfortuntely sometime while we were their Darrick had his phone stolen, most likely by a sneaky vendor. This lead to a mishap with some other foreigners who also had a phone stolen and and our vacation beach vibes flew right out the door.

We are now back at the hostel refueling for the night. Free dinner is served at 8:30 and stinky loads of laundry are going. Whatever awaits us in the next 24 hours we will get back to you on =)

(Unfortunately it takes WAY to long to upload pics so for now I can only get 1...Hopefully our next location will be better)

BARCA BARCA BARCA!

Paris

We are currently in Barcelona for our first day but I will cover Paris since we are slow on updating...

Paris started with an early morning train under the English channel. We arrived early in the morning and had to find the metro system again... we were definitely a little culture shocked when we got underground. Paris hit us with a full force of human stench and a very ancient and run down underground. We also quickly realised what most people say about the french....different and harsh to say the least.

We eventually found our hostel after lugging our packs around and was pleasantly surprised with the St. Christophers hostel right on the river (A very new building including 300 beds, bar, and a club in the basement). After checking in we headed downtown to go to the Louvre (it happened to be the night of museums which includes free entry to all museums until 2 am). Once we got downtown we came up from the undergound to a massive soccer riot, fireworks and all, in the square outside of the Louvre. We then wondered and found our beloved McDonalds serving beer. Continued over to the Louvre to quickly scratch the idea after a tremendous line. At this point some called it quits and a few others wondered around the area checking out the view. That night we drank multiple bottles of wine and hung out in the bar. Darrick had his first run-in with the French when they stole his lighter (they are definitely sneaky).

On our second day we slept-in for a decent amount of time (enough to miss the free breakfast) and made our way to the latin district. We wondered around the area near St. Michele and started a free tour walking tour lasting 3 1/2 hours. It was honestly surprising how long we all lasted on the tour, some not as happy as others =). The tour lead us everywhere including Notre Dame, River Seine, The royale palace, Louvre, Garden of Tuileries, and so on... (I think the history lesson took a tole on the boys). Afterwards we quickly made our way back to Notre Dame so that we could go inside. We were lucky enough to make it on a sunday while service was happening and the lenendary organs were playing. There was no doubt that we all had goosebumps at some point. After we roamed around the back allys of the Latin District and had some of the best food of our lives, we headed home to obviously start drinking wine again. Drew and I (Leah) passed out very early =) while the other crazies had some mysterious night down at the bar. All I know is they made a friend from Japan, took part in a Jager train, and eventually took their shirts off for free drinks (I really wasnt there).

On our third day we had to check out early so we stored our bags in their baggage room and went off to finally see the Eiffle Tower. I t was just as grand as we imagined. Most of the guys went to the top (Even thought Keags and Drew are afraid of heights?), and Same, Justin, and I stayed below to walk around. After we made our way to the Arc Du Triomphe (The guys were more interested in the 12 intersection round-about that is likely to have an accident every 30 minutes). Then we went back to the Louvre to finally go in and visit Miss Mona Lisa. All-in-all she sure is tiny, especially from the back of the giant crowd that is always there. Of course we saw other peices but that was obviously the highlight...

That night we had to go back to the hostel to get our packs and make our way to the train station to catch a night train to Barcelona. Justin, JW, Drew, and myself all had beds in a room while Keags, Darrick, and Mitch had recliners (Sam hopped on another, much cheaper, train). Little did we know the train would be so fun, especially for the night before JW's bday. We cracked beers and wine in our tiny room, met some other Americans from Indiana, and later went to the train bar. There was definitely a college style party going on in the late-night moving car, we had to be sshhh-d multiple times =). Proud to be Cougs once again...




Undefeated fans minus JW who willingly took the picture =)

 Sorry for any mispellings, I am rushed with minimal internet time and using a very small, spell-check-unworthy comp.. Also we will try and get pictures up soon when we have more time!

London

We have finally got the blog up and running, but a few days late so I will cover what we've done so far!

London started with a giant slap in the face from jet-leg. For some it was our first real experience with the bitch, but hey we managed to push through it. Justin, Drew, Darrick, and myself (Leah) arrived in London before the rest of the crew. We waited around for a bit until we decided we needed to get out of the airport and get moving. We quickly scratched the idea of taking a cab after we found out how much that would cost to our far destination. The Tube (subway) was our next option and luckily we figured it out fast. Arriving in London ended up being a good first destination because it allowed us to get ahold of the tube system quickly and understand foreign ways, but in english.

Our hostel, St. Christopher's Inn's, located in the Shepherds Bush district was decent yet small. We all fit into an 8 bedroom dorm (minus Sam who started in Amsterdam) plus a strange random from Aussie. The hostel had a great bar on the main floor, and required hostel registration at the bar. After all was settled we hopped back on the tube and went downtown. We all walked up from the underground and had our first aw-struck moment with the amazing buildings and New York style bustling city. We wondered aimlessly around the area and eventually stumbled across Big Ben, leading us to the House of Parliament and Westminster Abby. As delirious as we were, we couldnt believe we had finally made it and were looking at things we had only ever seen in pictures (besides Justin who is our experienced traveler).

On our second day we got up early and went back downtown. Drew needed to buy a Eurail pass and we all needed to book a night train to Barcalona. We finally found the right building but realised Drew and Keagan forgot their passports at the hostel (surprise?). We then wondered over to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the gaurd. It was grand but nearly impossible to see the show with the thousands of other tourists. Afterwards Drew and Keags went back to get their passports and the rest of us went to Westminster to go in. Little did we know it would actually blow our minds once we were inside. It was 13 pounds to get in with a student ID and included a voice tour. The place was so big we couldnt finish the entire tour. The gaudy interior was magnificent and the amount of historical figures burried their is uncomprehensible.

That night we succeeded to get our second nights sleep of about 4 hours... The next morning we were up at 5 (thanks to Darrick) and on our way to catch a train to Paris. As Keagan put it, we were Lon-and-done.

Note: Mitch couldnt stop calling the the double decker buses, 'cheesy double-deckers,' referring to taco bells famous double-decker (If only they were yellow he would have been obsessed). He also came up with a international conversion for rating girls (another surprise?)

Post Graduation

Our European travels have begun in London on May 12th. All friends from WSU and recently graduated; Darrick Mercer, Mitch Smith, Justin Bobson, Leah Christiansen, Keagan Rogers, Drew Zaborowski, Sam Hiatt, and John Willingham. Some are traveling for four weeks and others for five. The plan had started in London, continueing to Paris, Barcelona (specifically for John's bday!), Nice, Cinque Terre, and Rome. From Rome our destinations are unknown but we will spend more time in Italy and make our way north to end in Amsterdam. Backpacks are our best friends for the month and a half and the European rail system is all we will know of transportation. We will be staying in Hostels at each destination, as well as an apartment in Rome. We hope to see friends we know in the cities we visit and pray that no one gets locked up abroad!