Correction

*****Ok, oops. I totally already wrote about some of Bern, but I realized I had left some out the second time, so it's a good thing! Enjoy! <3

Czech Republic

We got to Prague at 6:30 am, and waited in a cafe until around 8:45, then took the subway to our hostel, where we dropped our stuff off at a locker and headed out to explore. Even though we were zombies, and it was still rainy, we took in the amazing sights, and enjoyed the beautiful.. EVERYTHING.. We walked across Charles’ bridge and up the hill towards the castle, and down again, then up AGAIN to the monastery. From the hill, the city was beautiful and all the red roofs were so cute, we went to the restaurant and ate goulash, a typical Czech dish, and drank the beer that the monks historically brewed. The waiter was super funny, and kept laughing at us for not knowing about beer at all. We’re 18! We’re not supposed to know about beer! After the delicious soup and beer, we decided to take the “short way” down the hill. It turned out to be a hike, but it was still beautiful, we just happened to walk by some castle-like steps and walked up a bit, then continued back down.. It was tiring, but fun! We were pretty exhausted by the time we got down, and were very happy to get into our nice hostel beds... The hostel was SO nice, it was like a hotel, and we met some great people after a long nap... Austalians, British, Brazilians, Argentinians, French, and some Americans also. The first night we walked around Prague and enjoyed the night scenes, and walked around the old town for a long time, we went to bed early, planning on an early start. When we got up in the morning, the skies had cleared! It was the FIRST time we got to see blue skies and we were so excited, we started walking around again and taking pictures of everything, we loved it. We found an adorable cafe, it had the best quiche and coffee and a great atmosphere. After sitting in the cafe, we headed out again and walked around some more. I could’ve walked around Prague until I had blisters, the city was so beautiful. The architecture is so interesting, and different. I wanted to stay forever, and I WILL be back. After walking around for a LONG time, we went back to the hostel and met another girl who we went to the bar with and talked about politics for like three hours... A group of pub crawlers came through to the hostel bar, and we met some that were really nice.. So we decided to join them! We didn’t pay and just tagged along and got into each place free, and had a great time, meeting new people, dancing and talking politics with the Aussies. The next morning we were VERY sad to leave Prague, and dragged ourselves to the bus station and headed out... It was pretty depressing. We were thinking about staying another day.. But we had already bought out train tickets and didn’t want to waste 25 euros.. We had a great time though! We arrived in Leipzig this morning.. More on this later..

****Because I’m traveling, and I really don’t want to wait for pictures to upload on here, since it takes SO long, pretty please just go to my facebook, where I do update photos. You should be able to see the pictures Kira has added as well, because I’m tagged in them. If not, send me a message or a post and I’ll change it so you are able to see them. 

*******Also, because it is 1:30 am in Europe right now when I’m writing this post, I’m really tired... I just really wanted to get it done so you all could see what I’m doing.. I’m too lazy to proofread or even look over it.. Sorry, I’m sure you understand though.. :) The better writing you see, the less I’m having fun! 

Much love! <3

Germany: Part I

Wow, I’m posting FAST! We arrived in Munich and called Matthias, an exchange student that had stayed on MDI when we were sophomores, he was one of the people that really inspired me to do an exchange year, and we all had gotten pretty close. We explored Munich for a little bit, and left our bags in the storage lockers, then got on a train to his house which was about 30 minutes outside of the city, when we got there we were overwhelmed by how gracious he was and so happy to see us! We got ready, and headed back to the city to explore. He showed us so many things in such a short amount of time, it was pretty impressive. He was a very good tour guide. We went to the Haufbrauhaus, a famous beer hall, and all shared a liter beer... That’s a lot of beer. After that, we went to a typical restaurant, we all shared suckling pig, grilled pig, sauerkraut, potato dumplings and more beer.. It was the most gratifying meal ever.. Delicious. He showed us the city at night, which was beautiful and we all got ghulwein, a heated red wine... I hated it, Kira loved it. It was like sickly sweet and smelled horrible... For me, at least. We walked around some more and enjoyed the sights, and he showed us some famous statues, and the only boulevard in Munich, which is pretty famous. Kira and I loved it. We got back to his house and just hung out and talked and met his parents! They were so nice, and offered tea and coffee, and food, and cookies, and anything we could ask for. SO NICE. The next day, Matthias had to leave with his parents to go to his grandmother’s birthday party, but they offered to let us stay there and hangout, because our bus was at 1 am.. We felt pretty humbled by the amount of kindness they showed, and seriously did not expect how much they would do for us.. Pretty amazing.. Kira and I left after our goodbyes, and went to the city to try and get some better pictures, which mostly failed because of the rain.. So we hung out at the train station for a bit and decided to bring some flowers to Matthias’ house to give them a small thank you for their kindness. We got off the train, and were crossing the street, and saw his parents taking a walk! They called us over and we awkwardly handed them the wrapped up tulips, and they insisted that we go back with them to their house. They made us tea, and gave us more cookies than we could EVER eat, and we just talked about MDI and Munich, and about everything. After they fed us with delicious meats, cheeses, breads, and sundried tomatoes, gave us a bag of chocolate, movies, and sparkling juice for the road, we thanked them again and we headed to the bus station with the directions they provided us. I really can’t express how nice they were. We waited in the bus station for an hour, and then got on the bus to PRAGUE!

Switzerland: Part II

Alright, So I’m writing this on my computer without internet.. And I honestly forget what I wrote about last because it’s been so long.. Sorry! I’m having fun! Isn’t that better than posting ALL the time?! Aren’t you all glad I’m having fun?! Right..? JEESH! JUST KIDDING. Anyway, last I posted, I’m pretty sure we had just arrived in Bern. Bern was really fun, but everything was so expensive! We could barely do anything, it was so annoying! It was really great to see Stephan though, I’ve missed him so much, and I got to meet his sister Korinna, which was awesome. Kira and Stephan got along really well and that was super gratifying. By the way, Stephan is pretty much my BEST friend from Panama, in case I didn’t already say that in my last post and you didn’t know. We hadn’t seen each other in almost two years... So that was exciting. We spent New Years Eve there as well! It was really fun, we had delicious fondue and later went to the main square to bring in 2012!! We went out later to a latin club and danced until the wee hours! When we got back to Stephan’s house, we called Silvia, our host mom in Panama, and talked to her, and the family for a while which was really nice to do with Stephan. The next day, Stephan went to work and we headed to the train station, on our way to St. Gallen. We were exhausted... We slept on the train and got to St. Gallen by the time it got dark. Marietta and her sister, Annina, picked us up at the train station and we all hugged and it was really exciting! It felt like we had only seen Marietta a couple weeks ago! It was awesome to see her though, and meet her twin! It was pretty funny, seeing someone you’ve only seen in pictures, but you feel like you know them because they look exactly like someone you know very well... Anyway, we got to her house, and her mom had prepared a delicious meal! Her mom was SO nice and her apartment had the most amazing view of the city! Her mom made a typical turkish dish and it was the BEST. We all hung out and talked, and later watched a movie together! The next day Marietta went to school and when she got home we were just waking up... Oops... We all went to the city and got Doner kabob! It was our first in Europe and it was basically a really delicious gyro in a tortilla.. Mmmm. Marietta went back to school and we went to the house and planned our trip to Munich! When she got back home around five, we all went swimming at a fitness center and talked and hung out in the salt water pools and hot tubs... So nice after a long day of doing nothing! Haha, it was very relaxing.. The next day we went to school with Marietta and Annina and it was so boring because we couldn’t understand ANYTHING... It was horrible! We wished we knew German! We went to an art class with Annina though, and they were learning about dance, so that was really fun. The teacher was crazy though! She was just really lovin’ dance. I met an Argentinian exchange student and we talked some about our experiences, which was nice. The day was so long, 8-5pm... How do people do this everyday! I wouldn’t be alive... The next day, Kira and I made a typical American dish for them.. Meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes and caramelized carrots. It was really good, and they loved it. Marietta’s mom was really excited and we ate almost an entire meatloaf between us five ladies. Impressive. The next day, we hopped on the train and headed to Munich!

I added this to my page, do NOT feel obligated to give me money, it's just there in case anyone feels like the want to do that. Thank you ahead of time, if you do!

Zurich and Bern.

We arrived in Zurich at 11 am after a 7 hour flight from D.C., and we were exhausted! Stephan, my friend from Panama was going to meet us in Bern at 11 pm, because he had to work that night, so we had 12 hours in a country we didn't know, to spend the day. The first thing we did was get rid of our backpacks in the lockers at the train station in Zurich after a short train ride from the Zurich airport, and bought tickets from Zurich to Bern which we would be able to use at any time during the day. We got out of the train station and started walking around the city and figuring out where we were... We hadn't planned on being in Zurich so we really had no expectations, and no idea of what there was so see, so we just walked up and down the river looking into shops and people watching. Everything was so beautiful, and CLEAN. The river ran right through the city, and all the way past the mountains, which you can see because all the buildings are relatively old and small. The weather was wonderful, and warm, which surprised us because we had expected super cold and snowy, but we were fine! By around 2 pm, we started to feel the exhaustion hit, and we decided to hangout in a small cafe and write in our journals for a an hour or so, to waste some more time, we had walked all over and were so tired! We sat in the cafe until 3ish and then found our way back to the train station, got our stuff, and got on the train. We slept on and off for the duration of the ride, a little less than an hour, always fearing that we might miss our stop. 

When we got to Bern, we put our bags in lockers once again, and did the same as we had done in Zurich, this time we went to a Cuban bar close to the train station after we had walked around quite a bit, we stayed there until around 9 pm, rejuvenated, we gathered ourselves and got ready to explore. We walked up and down almost all the streets, saw so many little statues, and churches, walked along a balcony by the federal building, and walked down the oldest street in Bern. Everything has so much history and beauty. Compared to the United States, it all feels so soulful and delicate.

Finally, Stephan got out of work, and we all went back to his house in Wabern, outside of the city. It was so nice to see him after so long! We both fell asleep immediately after being awake for more than 40 hours!

Kira and I woke up at 4 pm... Definitely jet lagged.. Stephan got back from work around 5ish and we took to the streets once again! The day was rainy and much colder than the first, and we noticed that every place that Stephan took us, we had already been! With the history that Stephan gave us, it was definitely more interesting though. We went to a Mexican bar, Desperados, and had a beer, than headed home on the tram. At home, we made Patacones from Panama, for Kira and watched The Devil Wears Prada, than headed to sleep. 

I woke up this morning feeling pretty motivated so I decided to start this blog, it may never be updated again, but I'll do my best! It's snowing this morning so we might stay in and hangout but we're definitely going to see the Berne Bears! It's a pit in the city with three bears... Strange, but awesome.

We love Europe so far, can't wait for the rest!