Benjie: Off the Leash!

And now the conclusion to our story...

2009-06-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Beginning

The end

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

On April 8th I began a 50 day journey through Europe. I had no idea the types of challenges I'd encounter, if I really could handle traveling on my own, or if some random event would prevent my return. In the end it was a much needed trip; I met people from all over the world, saw places I could only dream of in the past, gained life experience impossible to gain in any other way, and grew a full beard many thought would always be patchy for me.

I would like to thank all who actually did read this through, those who joined midway, and those who read just to see if I wrote about them. It really does mean a lot to me that people found interest in what I had to say and my travels (or maybe you kept hoping for more and I left you disappointed, but what can ya do). I also thank leading blog commenter Josh of the Terebelo variety for his insight on many of the destinations.

And now we get to some of the favorites, the oddities, and not so serious thoughts. First I'd like to congratulate Tyler, for the best comment and revealing my secret that I never went to Europe. I knew people were on to me when my family started saying some of the pictures looked "photo-shopped" I reveal a picture that didn't make my cut, just couldn't get it right...

In reality, of course I went, I have witnesses (or a lot of confused people around the world as to why Benjie Klein is now friends with them on facebook), but I say go for the fake trip yourself, will save some money.

I've been asked numerous times my favorite places to have been and it's nearly impossible to say. As a country Italy was my favorite, there is so much history and each city/region I visited has it's own uniqueness. Also the people in Italy that I met were great too, which always made a city better when I genuinely enjoyed the people. From the group I met in Venice, to getting to see my cousins in Rome, and the people in Florence it definitely added to Italy. My favorite individual city I think was Vienna, maybe I felt it was a turning point in my trip, but from the Schoenberg Palace (and it's maze) to the beautiful parks and gardens I just felt it to be a real nice place. I thought the views in Athens and around the parts of Greece I made it to were some of the most picturesque I've ever seen in my life. The St. Stephens Green park in Dublin may have been my favorite of the parks and gardens, I thought Dublin itself was just alright, but I had a weird connection with that park. The Counting Crows concert was fantastic, the songs were perfect for my mood and helped take me on a retrospective journey with songs I hadn't actually listened to or thought of in certain ways in a long while. As for favorite days, nights, and people, it's so hard to really figure out. Possibly the most impact-filled and interesting day was my visit to Dachau. It's hard to explain what happens there and the feeling you get, but you learn and feel so much that it's a very rare and real experience. That accompanied with later finding out how my grandfather was one of the liberators of the camp make it an even more meaningful and intense experience. The Vatican was perhaps the most interesting of all museums, while the Louvre is filled with some incredible art. As for people, I've only talked to one person I met since I've been back, which if I had to choose one, it would be the person I talk to, but there were a few others out there I wouldn't mind having a random conversation with at some point.

The next topic, a favorite of many... the food. Each culture had their own culinary creations that are nearly impossible to compare. I will rehash some of my favorites though. In Lisbon the whole Octopus was a great meal, very simply prepared. In Madrid I had some good tapas and a solid morcilla (spanish blood sausage) bocadillo. Barcelona the first paella had great fresh seafood mixed in. I also had that mini wheel of garroxta starting a solid train ride cheese trend of mine. Paris had solid food, nothing that stood out above and beyond, but the foie gras did just melt in my mouth. Amsterdam doesn't really have anything special to them, the Indian restaurant and random chip shops were good, however, in addition to the daily cheeses I got. Berlin started off with some very good Currywurst, Prague starred with it's pork knuckle and ostrich steak, Vienna went back to German food with their schnitzel. Vienna also achieved the most disgusting food incident with the still haunting lard oozing hot dog. Munich's giant pretzel was a nice treat and Italy makes it impossible to put many meals ahead of the other. Florence stood out with Perini's special sandwich, true parmigiana reggiano, the four course Tuscan meal and the bistecca I had one night made for great meals daily. The homemade lasagna, gnocchi, and pizzas all throughout Italy in general are also special. And of course, nobody can forget Giolitti, the best gelato in the world from Rome. As for Greece it also falls in a similar boat as Italy, so many great options. I think the chicken souvlaki I had one night does stand out as do the grape leaves.

There were not many dislikes. Generally everyone I met was nice and in the same boat. One guy described it correctly that you skip all the bullshit when meeting people, you don't go through the full evaluation process, you're all in the same boat, and it's easy to get along. Were there people in real life I wouldn't be friends with? I'm sure, but there were probably people I would be friends with as well. There were no cities I disliked, maybe some that didn't live up to whatever expectations I had, but each experience was unique with weather, mentality, and timing all playing roles in each place.

I'd love to go back to Europe, some new places and some old. I'd like to see Barcelona again because I was sick for a couple days and didn't get to explore in full like I'd have liked. Paris I thoroughly enjoyed, but feel I missed a lot as well that could only be made up with another trip. Amsterdam I missed out on hookers and pot, but I probably wouldn't go back, I can get those at home, I did enjoy it though. Germany I wouldn't mind exploring some more as a country, Vienna I'd definitely go back to. Florence and Rome I'd go back to in a heartbeat as well as exploring a lot more of Italy in general. Greece I'd love to go to some islands and even go back to Athens for a couple days to hit up the closed museums that I missed.

As for traveling alone, I would totally do it again, however, the truth is I would hope my next trip to Europe is with at the least friends, some kind of school or business trip, and the most desirable with someone I love. Traveling alone is something I would never talk someone against. You meet people you wouldn't necessarily meet if you were with someone else or a group, you can make your own schedule, go where you want to go without having to come to a compromise, and you learn a lot about yourself, good or bad.

And now for those interested the rest of this is a semi-serious reflection of my mental thoughts and challenges throughout the trip, if you don't feel like viewing these, I won't be offended, but I do thank you for stopping by for the conclusion of Benjie off the Leash: The European Edition. I hope you enjoyed my writing (cause you know, I'm kind of about to start school for it) and the stories I told.

Mentally the trip started off where I had last left my mind in December. I had essentially avoided all thoughts for four months, I was resigned to the fact that mentally I had hit rock bottom and with this trip I would work my way back up. Was it a quarter-life crisis that many thought, I don't really think so, but more a culmination of thoughts and fears over the past couple years. All the framework was in place; I finally determined a future path by committing to Wisconsin, I felt (and still do) that I have more friends at this point in my life than ever before, and that it was time for a massive challenge. Before getting on the plane to Lisbon I no longer felt ready, the anxieties crept in, and screaming thoughts of both miniscule and enormous changes swirled around. It was my official way of starting at the very bottom. As the plane ride progressed calming effects of movies and the realization of controlling my own trip soothed my concerns. Not controlling in the sense of making everything happen, but taking the chance to meet people, go to certain places, and create opportunities for the good surprises out of one's hands was most important. I stepped into Lisbon with a new mind frame from where I had been 12 hours earlier.

As I visited cities early on I still had many days where I was hesitant in meeting people. The anxieties weren't as bad, but every 4th day or so I'd have a chemically unbalanced day. They were good to have though, because wandering around I realized those days will happen no matter where I am and what I do, even if the thoughts don't disappear still has a large impact on what lies ahead. If I fight through those days controlling what I can, even if I'm on my own and can't meet anyone or have anybody to talk to for the day, there are ways around it. I also heavily pondered the concept of people passing in and out of life. In the traveling world this scenario is magnified, you have dinner with a person you met one day and the next you may not even remember their name and will never see them again. Now compared to most "real life" relationships where a person disappears after a year or longer the impact is nowhere near the same, but the way in which people may impact you without your realization throughout life is exemplified through the travel experience. I can remember cities, I can remember the faces, and some of the conversations, but if something pops in my head at a random point I may wonder who it was that made the impact. I do hope for me at least some people I met I was able have some sort of impact on, maybe I'll never know, but it's always a good feeling to make a person think in a different way or even bring an unexpected smile when there was none in sight.

When I reached Prague, 20 days into my trip, I actually hit the bottom of my trip. I really enjoyed Berlin, the people, and had avoided many anxieties for almost a week, but then it all nailed me. The first night I arrived late and went to bed early. The next morning the weather was rainy, I still had a heavy lack of sleep, and I could not shake the feeling that came over me. I walked around all day seeing the sites and still enjoying what I was taking in, but something never seemed right that first day. I did a lot of walking and listening to music heavily sprinkled with Elliott Smith fighting with myself throughout the day. I don't think I looked like a homeless man screaming in the streets because most would not have ipods, but I'm sure I got some looks (just kidding, I never spoke to myself out loud). I also read some more from Infinity Blues, Ryan Adams' poetry book, which surprisingly helped. After that day the clouds opened up, I rubbed the good luck statue on the Charles Bridge and began to work my way out. By the end of that day I was social again, neither the rain at night nor the terrifying club could bring me down. I headed to my next stop of Vienna with a new sense of self and a new attitude. I still had lingering anxieties early that first night, but they dissipated the second day and it was relatively smooth sailing from there until the last week when thoughts of going home began creeping in. The Monday before I headed home I woke up with a semi-panic attack not ready to leave or not ready to be back home, I couldn't truly decipher which. It had probably been a year since I woke up like that. Part of the reason I'd love to go back to Athens is since it was the last stop, too many thoughts of going home and figuring out everything kept creeping in even though I tried to keep out thoughts of the trip coming to an end. On the plane ride back I almost had a similar incident, but fortunately the on-demand began to work on the plane and I was able to think in different ways. I panicked when I officially got home, probably the lack of sleep did it accompanied with disorientation as to where I was and reexamining every aspect of my life.

Dreams also played a large role on my whole trip. There were definitely moments I dreamt of on my trip. I'm entirely convinced that certain random scenes that seemed familiar had come from previous dreams. It happened 4 or 5 times where I'd catch something in the corner of my eye and take in the whole atmosphere knowing I had been there before in someway, it's really mind-blowing when that crazy deja-vu happens, so just thought I'd mention it. Also, for the first time in a while I had some of my most vivid dreams in years throughout the 50 days. When my mind is extremely active I dream about those thoughts that bother me most. It used to be one of the reasons I was a hardcore insomniac because why go to sleep if you're still facing the same thoughts that haunt you through out the day. This time around though I took a different approach of accepting the dreams and thinking through them the next day. Some would bring anger, like a morning in Rome where I hadn't felt that anger in years all from a dream, some sorrow, and different perspectives on bothersome thoughts, but it all helped give me an understanding as to where I was mentally and how to get through it.

I did a lot of writing on my own, outside of this place. Not as much as I would have truly liked, but definitely got things out. I tried a variety of different writing styles as well; straight journal, poetry, story telling, lists, some use of my favorite lyrics, and I even drew a face, best face I've ever drawn. I can't read my handwriting or I'd maybe put some here, but probably not. As for continuing writing, obviously I hope it works out for me and I can create insight, entertainment, and a unique perspective for the masses one day. I may continue a blog at school about my life, I'm sure in classes I'll have to have actual topical writings outside of my life, but keep reading if you want.

Signing off, for now,

Benjamin Adam Klein

"The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” - Samuel Johnson

Pictures

2009-05-30T11:24:00.001-07:00

For those who don't have facebook or haven't noticed I've begun throwing photos up there the process has started. They can still be accessed even if you're not a member at the following links, enjoy...

Lisbon

More Lisbon

Sintra

More Sintra and Madrid

Barcelona

Beginning of Paris

Tuscany, another day in Rome and some Greek Tales

2009-05-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

As I struggle to adjust back to normal suburban life, the eastern time zone, and not being in the fantasy travel world I grew accustomed to I still must finish my contractual duties to describe the rest of my time in Europe (and cause I clearly want to relive them). The Greek tales are a bit briefer (I think) than some of the others considering the amount of time I was there, but ask me more questions about Greece if you want.

I left off at around 7:30 a.m on May 21st, my sister's birthday (something I struggled to remember on and off throughout the day, but don't worry I called) where I had slept about 30 minutes the night before. I walked with the girls I met to train station and then we dispersed going our respective ways. I found my bus for the Tuscany tour and eventually got on. I was probably the youngest person on the whole tour and only one of three doing it alone so I was a bit weary at the beginning. The ride to Siena was about an hour, I struggled to keep myself awake while the tour guide started explaining everything. We got to Siena where we met an old woman tour guide to take us through the city. Her tour was about an hour long taking us through the side streets, telling stories of the Siena banking system and how they were the originators of a lot of important elements and ending at the Duomo in Siena. It was real nice church with awesome marble floors filled with tons of art on the floor and solid paintings throughout the church in general. After finishing at the church the tour group dispersed and we were given an hour on our own. For the hour I walked around the city for about 30 minutes and then headed to Piazza del Campo to explore and meet up with the group. Supposedly it's the world's 3rd most beautiful "square", I don't know what that means, but it is quite a sight. They also hold the famous horse race, the Palio, in the square area, which would seemingly be incredible to watch there.

The group went back to the bus after meeting up and we were heading on to our next stop, about 40 minutes away we were going to a farm house and winery for a very nice 4 course meal and 4 glasses of wine. They showed a video on the bus, which I was planning on staying awake for, but apparently the lack of sleep caught up to me and I woke up when it ended and we were 10 minutes away from the meal. We took a quick tour of the farm area, saw the wine processing area as well as the grapes and then got down to business. The meal started with bruschetta doused in extra-virgin olive oil made at the farm and garlic. The olive oil was extremely fresh. We were given our first glass of wine, a very nice white wine (Vernaccia Docg, I cheated I had looked it up). The good thing about the wines was besides getting 4 different wines you could refill any of them at anytime. The next course was handmade spaghetti and fresh meat sauce from there as well (with fresh parm of course). This time they gave us a Chianti to accompany the course, which was pretty good. Next up came some wild boar salami, Pecorino sheep cheese, prosciutto, another salami, fresh bread and more olive oil and another red wine (a Convivio or something from 2005). It finished with a dessert wine that tasted like brandy and Cantuccini biscuits which were dipped in it. During the meal I talked with a younger couple from San Fran, an Indonesian couple, and a few older folks one who was a Wisconsin alum and had overheard me talking about going there.

After the meal completed we headed off to San Gimignano, which was nearby. It's this awesome city on top of a hill, with real tall and awesome buildings. The place also holds the 2009 Gelato champion, though it still wasn't as good as Giolliti in my mind, so they are not my champion. I ate the gelato, and just walked around the place. I didn't have time to really go in anywhere because I climbed to the top of the hill to get awesome views of the whole Tuscan region. It was about 85 degrees out with no clouds, so I struggled with the heat, but was well worth the trek. The city has a real neat skyline too with the sky scraper type of buildings. After the hour there we got back on the bus and with a 1:30 ride to Pisa the tour guide told us to relax a bit. I passed out rather quickly and picked up about 45 more minutes of sleep. I wanted to enjoy the bus ride by looking out the window a bit more than I did, but what can you do. We got to Pisa around 5, stayed an hour, took the traditional pictures and got out of there. It was nice, but I'm glad I was part of a bus and tour and didn't take the train ride, spend a long time there and head back. I talked to a few of the people from the lunch for a while and we all took pictures of each other, however, the one above I took by myself and I think that's impressive. It was about an hour back to Florence and that concluded my Tuscan tour. I did laundry the rest of the night, hung out with a few people on the couches and tried to avoid my new found celebrity status in the hostel of being found alive, finally passing out around 1 a.m as everyone else went out.

The next day I woke up around 9, got myself a Perini special sandwich again, breaking my rule of eating at the same place twice, but because it was a meal for a train ride I didn't count it against myself. I waited for my delayed train to Rome and got there around 2:30. I stayed in the same hostel as before and I immediately passed out when I got there for about an hour until I had roommates enter the room and wake me. I walked around Rome for a little until meeting up with Randy and Cari for round 2 in Rome. We had a solid dinner, I got a gnocchi with some porcini mushrooms and I think oysters as we drank some wine. We then went around hitting up the tourist spots one last time, including a stop at Giolitti. The trevi fountain was packed more so than any night previous, so we quickly found a corner to throw in our coins to insure our trips back to Rome (I threw in two again, can never wish for too much love in the world) and finished at the Spanish Steps per usual. We went through the same Paraguay incident again with fake speaking to the street hustlers and went to sleep with plans of meeting up in the morning.

We met at the train station around 7:15 a.m since our flights were similar times. I was headed to Athens, they were headed home. I thought I didn't need a train ticket and in the end I didn't as nobody checked, but the guy told me my rail pass would be no good since it's considered a "first class" train, so I was a bit pissed about that, more so after when nobody checked. We got to the airport and checked for our flights. Mine was listed, but with the destination of Rhodes instead of Athens. I was quite terrified and became even more hesitant as the closer I got nobody mentioned that we are actually stopping in Athens before people continue on to Rhodes until the actual plane. It worked out well, though going to a Greek Island may have been fun. I got to Athens mid afternoon, but knowing I had so many days there I decided to take it easy for the day. I checked into the hostel where I met a few people as I waited for the reception guy to be ready. The reception dude was a bit out there, only answering a certain amount of questions from customers and blatantly making fun of them and he seemed to be stoned, but I appreciated the sarcasm.

While I waited and talked to some of the people checking in, one of the strangest occurrences of my whole trip took place. An older Greek woman walked into the hostel and began to stare at me and then she began to talk. "Animal, you're an animal," she shouted in my direction and quickly walked out the door. I was pretty shocked as the kid I was talking to cracked up at what had just occurred. I didn't really care and was still confused. About 5 minutes later she returned and actually approached me this time. She stared at me and once again spoke, "Baby, you look like a baby. Baby, baby cat. You're a baby cat, if you don't mind me saying disparaging remarks." Now first off, that's fine, I know the beard is a bit out of control, but the part that bothered me more is why the fuck this crazy Greek woman knew the word disparaging to say to me? Maybe I do look like a baby cat (hey, baby cats are cute, so I'll take it as a compliment), but come on, really?

After that I officially checked in and was actually moved to another hostel, about a minute away by the same owners with real nice rooms, however, the building was still under construction a bit so all the amenities were still in the process of being completed. I stayed there for a bit and met a few of my roommates before heading to eat. If there is one thing I know about Greeks, it's their food. Since I am doing a briefer synopsis of my time there I will now list all the Greek foods I indulged myself in from the beginning with a few comments, enjoy:

Spanakopita (a solid spinach pie, but a little too much of the crust for my liking), Saganaki (no "OPA" like we're all used to, but some solid kaseri cheese), gyros (both chicken and pork varieties), chicken souvlaki (was fantastic), lamb souvlaki (solid lamb), grape leaves (both vegetarian and regular with lemon sauce. One came warm, the other room temperature. One lemon sauce had no taste, the other was nice and mild, but both were quite enjoyable), mousaka (very nice as well), spicy feta spread (was a nice addition to bread), bird's nest baklava (awesome, got it at some small pastry shop). I believe that is the food list for my Greece travels, overall I was definitely satisfied.

After dinner that first night I went back to the hostel and headed over to the rooftop bar at the hostel. I hung out with a few people I met, including this one girl from New Zealand who had a passionate dislike for anything American. I found it entertaining because everything she hated about America didn't really make sense to me, but she baited me into arguments for about an hour and I found myself sticking up for America and Detroit. She figured I was Eminem's biggest fan cause I'm from the area he is from, I found that really funny. She was shocked to hear that not everyone listens to him or has boob jobs or any other stupid thing people want to associate with America. After I finished talking to her I took a few pictures of the acropolis from atop the roof and went to sleep.

The next day I took a walking tour offered by the hostel. I don't really know if it was good or not, the tour guide was this girl who really didn't seem to care about her job, not a good sign for tour guides. She told some good and random stories and was personable, but there were plenty of times of just silence and walking to unknown destinations until we get there. We saw all the main attractions around the Acropolis area and she showed us the flea markets etc. We didn't actually go in any places, we were told to come back and do it after, but at least it gave me an idea of where everything was. After the tour ended I headed back to the hostel, grabbed some food, and headed back up the Acropolis to check it all out. The Acropolis is real cool, but heavily under restoration, so it takes away a little bit from the overall site from certain angles. The Parthenon itself is an amazing building to think of and the way it looks, especially when you do get the clean angles of not looking at metal poles built around the area holding it up. The other old temples and structures like the Athena Nike also give great looks into the buildings way back in the Greek polytheistic days and how amazing it is some of the creations they could put together. I ventured around there for a while longer, the most disappointing part of the whole thing was the Acropolis museum was closed. It was supposed to reopen early 2009, but apparently May isn't early enough. The brand new building looks awesome structurally from the outside and I can only imagine the stuff in it.

After the Acropolis it was getting later, I ate and hung out with people the rest of the night, but nothing too exciting. The next morning I woke up semi early to make the trek to Cape Sounio, about a 2 hour bus ride that was definitely worth it. The temple of poseidon lies atop a cliff, which was in better shape than the Parthenon and quite a sweet site with the old marble. I don't think I had ever seen water that clean from below the cliff and the views out to the mini islands in the distance and other mountains were just stunning. The weirdest sighting atop there was the Green Bay women's basketball team from the Horizon league on a weird team trip to Greece, makes me think I should've been an athlete. I went with someone else to Sounion so we hung out there for a couple hours and then headed back on the bus back to town. He wanted to stop at some fresh water hot springs where you swim with fish he heard about, so we got off the bus in a random part of Greece. I walked over with him, but I didn't really feel like paying $8 to swim and the water area looked small so I decided not to do it. We split up and I walked around the beach area for a little bit, but just didn't want to swim so I headed back to find my bus.

Unfortunately the bus I took doesn't stop back in the area we were dropped off in so I had to find another bus back. I asked a local what bus to get on and he pointed at the one he was getting on and for me to join him. The only problem with this is I did not have a ticket. I got on the bus thinking maybe I could get a ticket and for the first time my whole trip I didn't have a legit ticket for the public transportation. I knew it was about an hour bus ride back into Athens, leaving me quite terrified someone would catch me and yell at me and fine me. For those who know me I already struggle with anxiety in many situations and add to that the chance of being caught doing something that I didn't even mean to left me uneasy. I contemplated getting off the bus numerous times, but the closer I got to Athens I knew I'd still end up on another bus without a ticket, so why tempt it. Luckily, I made it back with no controversy and someone told me the correct exit and directions as to where to walk. I took it easy the rest of the day, it was already around 5 so I did my normal get some food, hang out with random people, and got some early sleep since it would be my last night sleeping until I got home. I didn't sleep well that night, I woke up about an hour after I fell asleep in a complete panic mode that my trip was coming to an end and I had to face the realities of life coming soon. I considered ways I could keep myself in Europe, but I knew I had to head back.

The final day I woke up semi-early, but hung around until I had to check out of the hostel knowing I had all day to do whatever I wanted and no room to take advantage of. I hit up the rest of the ancient ruins, including the ancient Agora, which may have been my favorite area. It had it's own museum with stuff dating back 5,000 years and some pretty incredible ruins still standing. I then headed around to the Roman Agora, the Zeus temple area, and the old ancient theatre that were all included for my viewing pleasure with my acropolis ticket from a couple days before. They were all very interesting sites, I enjoyed the theatre as well a lot. I then decided I'd hang around Greece, walk to some outer areas and explore some more. I wanted to go to a museum, but the one I had in mind had the classic closed on Tuesday museum thing going for it. I walked around some random streets and then headed off to Lykavittos Hill, the highest point in Athens. I was going to climb it, and climbed up until I saw the funicular and since at that point I was already drenched in sweat, I spent the 6 euros for it instead and figured I'd climb down after. The views per usual were stunning atop the hill of Athens and I was there close to sundown so I got that nice addition as well. I then walked down, which was very easy and headed back to the hostel after dinner.

My plan was originally to go to the airport around midnight and hang out there, but luckily I became friends with the staff and hung out with them for like 5 hours, they were pretty entertaining. Around 2 a.m I went with one of the guys to grab a pizza as he took me down the street of transvestite hookers to pick it up telling me not to make eye contact, but then trying to say things to get me to look. I then got back, ate some pizza, and a couple others were getting ready to head to the airport so I joined them for the hour bus ride and we split up since I was able to check in for my flight and they weren't. I then got on the plane to Paris, slept for two hours, waited 4 more hours, got on the plane back to Detroit, watched Milk and slept for about 30 minutes as I panicked about actually being back home and then arrived.

So, that concludes Greece and my trip. In the next couple days I will officially end it all with my final entry filled with thoughts, favorites, mental notes from the trip, and of course the 50 naked pictures, one for each day that I took. Just kidding, I just feel nobody will have read to this part so I threw it in there to be cute, or awkward... you make the choice.

Thanks for reading, see ya soon,

Rome'n around and the adventures of Florence

2009-05-28T01:39:00.000-07:00

Well, for those who don't know I have arrived back home, however, I still have updates to get to and apparently a bit of jet lag as it's 4:45 a.m and I'm wide awake. I did wake up at an earlier point in the night petrified with no idea where I was, forgetting it was actually my room at home. Anyway, on to Rome...

I started my 3rd day in Rome getting ready to check out the history that makes the city what it is. I wanted to be at the Colosseum early in the day, so I woke up around 7:30 a.m and walked about 25 minutes until I arrived there around 8:45. I heard the tours started at 9 and wanted to join along so I knew what I was doing. I finally found a tour, was pretty cheap and joined in there. As I was starting my tour I ran into the kids I met in Venice from Tennessee, so we decided we'd meet back up after we finished all our tours and I continued on my way. I'm really glad I did the tour or I would've had very little idea of what I was actually looking at. The Colosseum is definitely an awesome site, the way it was built and both inside and outside show how world class it must have been. The guide used one of those layover books to show what it used to look like before the semi destruction in the dark ages of stealing much of the materials and the earthquake that helped try to take it down. It was a scorching hot day out so I tried to stay out of the sun the best I could, unfortunately it was not easy. After the tour ended explaining many of the misconceptions of gladiators and how the building really wasn't used as much as you would think we were given free time to roam until the tour continued on to the forum and old archaeological grounds. I weaved in and out of the different sections, went to the top level, took a bunch of pictures and tried to find shading in the building for a while. As I was watching the street I noticed a giant race going on, not until later did I discover it was the Rome Race for the Cure, definitely a cooler location than most I would have to imagine. I headed out of the Colosseum and still had tons of time to kill, so I walked around checking out the race, finding some shade, extra water, and just walking around. I did see one person pass out from heat stroke to continue an unfortunate streak I had semi-developed of seeing at least one person having to be helped by an ambulance per city, I may be the devil.

While I was exploring the outer areas of the Colosseum and watching the race I also started watching my street sellers. I got really angry as I watched them try to sell overpriced water and sun umbrellas to the racers. Luckily, for once, I was not the only one in this situation as the police set up sting operations to shut these people down for at least the race. I watched the umbrella guy get taken out from behind and it gave me some solid satisfaction. Of course after they took his stuff they let him go, but it helped clear up the area for the rest of the event. It was finally time to continue my tour so I headed over and met up with the group. We had a different tour guide for the forum, which was nice, since he ended up being a lot more entertaining than the woman for the colosseum who just stuck to the informative approach. At least with the Colosseum a slight idea exists of what you are looking at, but with the forum and other archaeological ruins without a tour you are essentially just standing on open land with random old churches, some marble, and flowers. I saw the private chariot race course, some of the basing for the palaces that used to grace the hills above and just a general understanding of Roman history. That part of the tour lasted a little more than an hour until we were able to explore more of the land on our own. It's hard to describe what everything is, being everything is at the most of shell of the building it used to be, but I found it all very interesting. I walked another hour around the area, filled up my water bottle with the fresh free Rome street water and got some food. I went with the expected lunch of pizza, nothing fancy this time, and had about an hour to kill before having to meet up with the other people. After pizza I went and tried a gelato recommended in my book featuring a honey gelato, which was very good and interesting (if you're into honey).

I finally headed back to the Colosseum to meet up with the kids from Tennessee. It was good seeing them again and having some extra people to hang out with. We only hung out for a few hours. We went to the Vittorio Emmanuel II building, climbed up those steps and then checked out the old prison where St. Peter was held for a while. They were at a different hostel so I walked them to their hostel. Everyone was going out for one of the group member's birthdays that night, but at that point I was extremely sunburnt and knowing my own history I get pretty sick from the sun, so I decided not to meet up with them that night. After I left them at their hostel I walked back, but ended up getting myself lost for another hour in the city, which I enjoyed. When I was back to my hostel, however, my regular sun sickness started to seep in and I immediately down 2 bottles of water, got a solid lasagna meal, and headed back to the hostel. I was considering seeing a movie, but when I made it back, the sun caused me to pass out pretty easily, so I just hung around the room sleeping off and on for the rest of the night.

The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed, which made me happy and it was time to head to the Vatican. The tour I had gone on the day before pushed their group for the Vatican tour, so I decided to stick with them, plus it was at 10:30, so I didn't have to rush to be there around 9 a.m. I didn't do much beforehand besides grabbing a quick bite, then I started walking to the Vatican. Unfortunately the meeting spot still wasn't right next to the Vatican and it took me nearly an hour to walk from hostel to the meeting point. The tour started around 11:15 and lasted until 4:15, it was extremely informative and per one of my usual habits I spent a lot of time talking to the tour guide. We started in the museum seeing all the important paintings as he pointed out things that would not be noticed if I were just wandering by myself. He was very good and he had a nice touch of humor added in to the tour to not make it bland. One of his games he liked to do was a spot the celebrity look a like in the paintings or sculptures. Pretty amazingly some of them, including a great Sylvester Stallone of the 1500s look dead on.

We finally finished in the museum, mostly skipping the modern art. He gave us some time to ourselves if we wanted to look through the area or we could venture early to the Sistine chapel. Being that there isn't any truly significant modern art at the Vatican and I had seen plenty, I went straight to the Sistine chapel to check it out. Early in the tour he showed us what to look out for when looking around the room, so I was prepared as I walked into the mass of camera flashing, yelling by security not to take pictures, and announcements demanding silence over the PA. I took a few pictures, but it doesn't even matter, it's impossible to do justice to the amazement of that place. To think someone created all that makes the Sistine chapel what it is, is still a hard concept to fathom. I knew what to expect, but even that doesn't describe what your eyes see. After that we headed on to St. Peters Cathedral for the tour, which in itself is pretty amazing. I walked around for a bit after our group broke up, but didn't stick around too long because as much as I enjoyed the tour, 4+ hours of information is a lot to take in.

From Vatican City I grabbed some street pizza and headed back to the Colosseum where I was slated to meet up with the Tennessee kids one more time. Unfortunately, they had emailed me earlier in the day to change locations, but I was unable to check being that I was at the Vatican all day. I waited for about 30 minutes until I realized they really weren't coming and headed back to the hostel. I finally had a roommate for the night, my final one in Rome, but it was only one, so not too bad. I left the room shortly after meeting him, checked my mail to see if the Tennessee kids either didn't really like me and didn't want to meet up or if I had an email from them. I did have an email and tried to email them back to meet me later that night somewhere if they wanted, but unfortunately it didn't work out.

I grabbed a fresh ravioli dinner that night at a restaurant by my hostel and did my walk to the Spanish steps, this time knowing where I was actually going. I hung out there for an hour just taking in the atmosphere knowing I'd be leaving Rome the next. It was a Sunday night, so not nearly as busy as previous nights and the fountain in front was even drained. I then walked back to the hostel knowing I had to be up to go to Florence the next morning. I talked with my new roommate for a while, who had an 8 a.m flight to get to, so he warned me of an early wake up and apologized ahead of time. He wasn't that loud, but for about 3 hours in the night more glass breaking and screaming from the streets kept me up. I probably slept about 4 hours that night.

The next morning I got antsy and headed to the train station a bit early. I decided to grab some Mcdonald's hashbrowns because they're fucking good and they don't have them in every country I had noticed. I grabbed a couple, and started eating when I ran into 2 of the kids from Tennessee. They were doing laundry in the area and cutting through the train station, so we sat down, ate and talked for a while. It was cool running into them before heading off to Florence and confirmed that it was just a mixup and I'm not that annoying. I then headed on the train to make my way to Florence. I took the fast train, which was nice, but it also meant I wasn't going to sleep since it's only 1:30 hours.

I got to Florence around 1:15 as my train had been delayed about 30 minutes, my first real train delayed experience of my whole trip. I walked to the hostel from the train station, about a 10 minute walk, unfortunately I did get a bit lost on my way turning down the wrong street and it was more of a 20 minute walk for me. I got to the hostel and was unable to check in for the first 15 minutes. I met a guy from Manchester in his 30s, he worked for the BBC, but used to be essentially a professional traveler, as he talked about a 5 year period where he went around a lot of the world living in different places. He was a really nice guy and it worked out getting to talk with him for a while. We ended up being in the same room, which worked out well, except for the fact that he broke all snoring records and sent out a search team for me, which I will get to in a bit.

Once checked in I went to the Accademie to check out Michaelangelo's David. There are some pretty important art works in general in that place, including unfinished sculptures created by M himself, but once you walk in the David just steals the spotlight from everything. The wait was about an hour, I met a dude from Texas who I hung out in line with and talked to for a while. He was a nice guy, helped pass the line quickly, though not too huge into art so some of the things he was saying and my being able to respond made me feel like an art genius, which I am not. Either that or I was making shit up and fed him all sorts of wrong information, but either way I felt good about myself. I stayed there for about an hour exploring the rooms and always going back to catch another look at David to figure out how it's so amazing. I then left and headed straight to the Duomo area to grab some food and check out the lines there. I did some quick pizza, some gelato, and saw an empty line to climb to the top. I checked out the inside of the cathedral first, it was cool, but then climbing to the top, seeing the ceiling painting up close and then climbing all the way to the outside was well worth it. The views from the top of Florence were great, although it was quite the terrifying climb up all the winding, narrow stairways and the 400+ steps that went along with it.

Afterwards I headed back to the hostel and started to take it easy. I joined my Manchester friend on the balcony where we sat talking with a bunch of people from the hostel, drinking wine, and eating fresh tomatoes, cheese, and even a few olives. There were people from all over the world and of all ages at the table so it made for some interesting talk. After everyone finished a couple bottles of wine Manchester dude and I decided to get some dinner. I was a little tipsy at that point, as a bottle of wine would do that to me. We decided we would get some steaks so the receptionist booked us a reservation at a place I couldn't tell you anything about at this point in time. I could tell you though, it was a hell of a steak. It was essentially a Tbone, but unlike any other Tbone I have had before. It was about a kilogram in size, so over 2 pounds. We were advised to split it, which I'm usually not a fan of, but it worked out well. We also got some sort of radish with melted cheese appetizer that was very good and one more bottle of wine. It ended up being like a 120 euro meal for the two of us, but it was worth it. It was pretty late at that point, he wanted to go out more, but I decided it was time to pass out. We walked back getting semi-lost in the city, then he went out to some jazz club and I went to sleep.

I woke up around 9 the next morning to start my day and immediately headed to the Piazza di Michelangelo. It was quite the walk and mini hike all the way to the top, but you get incredible views of Florence from a different angle than the Duomo and another one of the infamous David statues lie atop. I hung up there for a while and then headed back down, I walked to a bunch of the different Palazzo's out there and walked along the Ponte Vecchio until ending up at the Palazzo Vecchio. I decided to go in and look around, it was very nice instead and there were some decent descriptions so I knew what I was looking at.

After that I was starving, so upon the advice of my cousin I headed to the central markets in search of the Perini special sandwich. I struggled to find the stand at first, weaving in and out admiring all the meats and cheeses. Finally the stand stood in front of me and I went right to it. I took advantage of their samples on the counter indulging myself in some fresh parm, prosciutto, and anything else I could get my hands on. My turn then came and I boldly asked for the special sandwich, terrified that I would be at the wrong place. The man's face lit up as he got ready to prepare this masterpiece. The woman next to me in line asked what it was I was actually ordering, of course I had no idea, but he went step by step explaining what was on the sandwich for all to see. When he finished I grabbed it, took a bite and it truly was a special sandwich. I don't remember what he put in it exactly, but was quite incredible. I went on eating my sandwich and walked around the rest of the markets. I then came back to Perini and bought some parm for later in the day. From there I walked around a bit of the other church areas, checked those out and had plans to go to the Uffizi, instead I went to the synagouge. I went to the museum area first where I was given a private tour by this older woman who worked there. We had a big discussion about the American Jews who face a huge culture shock with the orthodox synaguoge in Florence and around Europe in general. She was saying how they have a tendency to be a bit annoying and ignorant, unable to grasp some of the old rules. Then the conversation shifted to Jews marrying other Jews in the states as if she was sent by my mother or something. We talked for about 10 minutes on the subject, it was more her how it seems in America it isn't nearly as important anymore and with so many different branches of Judaism it's gotten lost along the way. She then had to go and I went down to the actual sanctuary and explored it for a while with another mini-tour. This time there were a couple more people as part of the tour and of course the middle aged Jewish woman who kept complaining gave a clear argument for the other side as to why not to marry a Jew (just kidding, all women complain). After that was done I decided I would just relax at the hostel.

I got back in mid afternoon and my boy from Manchester returned around the same time as well. We hung out on the balcony thing again, this time eating more cheeses, I stayed away from the wine at that point in time and many people started to join us with the eating and relaxing thing. Slowly people trickled in and it was decided at some point we'd go to a bar. I wasn't actually in the bar mood, but I can't deny I solely based my decision on two girls that were semi-quiet when they joined us as to if they'd go or not. They decided to go and so I acted like I was gonna go the whole time. We all went to a bar right by the hostel, I broke my rule of getting a beer in Italy, I tried to stick to wine, but for some reason I ended up going beer there. We all hung out for a while, I talked to those girls a lot, one more so than the other. Part of it was the other guys were like the crazy drinking to get drunk at that point it seemed and looking to party, I was looking for the more relaxed atmosphere, which was found in conversation with them. They were the first Jewish people I had met since back in Madrid, and they were actually my age. As the drinking came to a halt at that bar the girls and myself decided to get some dinner and split away from the group to meet up with them later on.

Dinner was good, us three split gnocchi, some crazy soup, and a pizza as well as a jug of wine. We had a nice dinner and then one of the two wanted to head back, which was fine with me cause I didn't want to meet up with the others at the bar much. I escorted the girls back to the hostel and ended up hanging out with one of them for the night. For the first time a girl I met didn't have a boyfriend (at least I don't think so), which was refreshing because as much as I like hearing about current relationships, it gets tired after a while. We walked around Florence, hung outside the Duomo and talked quite a bit. It's one of those bittersweet things, it was great to hang out with her for the night, but totally the type of girl I would've liked to actually date. So now comes the story of how I supposedly went missing...

Since we didn't meet up with the other people at the bar and I ended up hanging out with this girl all night, at around 4 a.m the Manchester guy arrived back at the hostel. He didn't realize I was actually around and he starts waking people up, asking them about random stuff and then asking if anyone had seen me. I wasn't really in the position to tell him where I was at the moment, so he went to sleep not knowing. Well the next day, I left with the girls at 7:30 a.m, they had to get to the train station as did I for a tour of the Tuscan region I was going on. Thus, nobody saw me at all the entire day (in the next blog entry since this is long as hell I'll start there). I got back around 8:30 to the hostel where the receptionist came up to me immediately excited to see I was still alive. She told me she emailed me as to where I was (cause you know, if I was dead or lost somewhere that email would've helped quite a bit) and that the guy was really worried about me. Throughout the rest of that night random people came up to me staying at the hostel and even the 70 year old Italian owner was happy to see I was okay coming up to me.

And now I must end this, it's 11:50 a.m, I haven't slept since I began at 4:45 (though I took plenty of breaks from writing in between). I will reconvene with the Tuscan tour, an extra day in Rome, and then finish with Athens before my final entry where I'll give you a peek into my thoughts, various favorites throughout, and whatever else I can unleash on the world, including tons of pictures.

Benjie

The continuation of Venice and a sampling of Rome

2009-05-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

When I last left you with the tales of Venice I had just joined a group of Tennessee Volunteers graduates and was about to head off with them around the city. We went back to St. Marks as I had done the previous day, but what I did not do the day before was climb up the bell tower, which we all proceeded to do. It led to awesome views of the city and the potential for future ear problems as the bell went off as we were all up there taking pictures and checking out the labyrinth below. It rang for seemingly 10 minutes, probably more around the 2 range, but as soon as it ended it was time to head off down to the rest of the world. From there we headed down to watch the people feed the rats of the sky. I never got into the feeding pigeons thing, but a few of them wanted to do it so I observed wondering the disease potential for pigeons climbing all over you and eating from you. There was one missing a toe that fell in love with one of the group, standing on his shoulder, pecking at his ear, it seemed kind of romantic, but eventually the pigeon got creepy and had to be broken up with. We then headed to the Rialto and the other major sites of the city just to take some pictures and enjoy the ambiance of Venice. I grabbed some pizza on the streets for a quick bite, everyone else got some gelato for lunch, but I felt I needed some substance to my meal. We eventually headed back to the hostel to relax for a couple hours, some to take naps and others to do whatever they would like.

I went to the train station to get my ticket to Rome for the next day and do my favorite getting lost in the city act. I semi knew how to get back to my hostel at that point, but still took a while to actually get on back. I picked up some gelato to hold me over until dinner time and headed back. We all met up again and attempted to find a grocery store and meet up with the others who were already walking around. We finally found the correct store and got some stuff. I got water and of course some cheese for the train ride. Supermarket cheese isnt nearly as good as it is from the random street markets (though still often better than the States), but the parm was still nice to have for the next day. We walked back to the hostel where they were serving dinner for the night. Apparently I'm an animal because by the time people were finishing their first bowl of the shells and sauce we were divied up I already had engulfed my second. It was a good dinner, a lot of people from the hostel joined in adding to the crew created for the evening. There was also a bit of an item that wanted to claim the title of pizza, but unfortunately it didnt earn the title, especially in Italy. There was also some box wine at the dinner, better than box wine in the states, but box wine in Italy just does not seem right! One thing that did catch my attention at dinner, however, was when I mentioned basketball asking some Tennessee fans what happened this year to their team. I completely meant mens basketball, but instead the womens team was brought up in discussion. I was semi shocked, I mean I know that is the epitomy of womens basketball at that place, but come on, always assume mens sports when someone asks!

When dinner was complete we headed out to St. Marks again where the area lights up at night and numerous bands play classical music for people sitting at the restaurants nearby. It kind of seemed like a giant competition amongst all of them. We just sat and watched everyone striking up conversation. I talked to someone from Chicago who had joined up with us for a while about that city, since one of the people was moving there and a bunch of other random midwest things. We then pretty much all headed in around midnight. Was a fun, but pretty uneventful night. The next morning I woke up to head to the train station. The others joined me on my trek there as they were headed to Verona for the day. For those continuing on to Rome in a couple days we decided we would figure out a way to meet up while there. I then got on my train and headed on my way.

It was about a 4 hour train ride to Rome full of pringles and cheese for myself. I was surrounded by three Italians. One who looked like Howie Mandel, and a mother and son combo that were kind of annoying. The kid was probably a few years younger than me, but when you are sitting on a train in those table type seats there isnt a ton of leg room, meaning dont stretch out your fucking legs and take up my personal space. I would move my legs sharply every once in a while to kick them away, but was probably the most uncomfortable of my train adventures thus far. I then headed to my hostel, was easy to find right by the train station, which was a nice change. I got in there and it seemed like a possible shady place. I checked in, got to my room, which was a lot nicer than expected and had to go to the internet cafe because the one time I actually needed wireless not for my own obsession compulsions, but to meet up with people, both my cousins Randy and Cari who were to meet me the next day and the Rocky Top kids I didn't have it. I sent emails out to a bunch of people, hoping all the meeting up stuff would work and inadvertently stressed myself out about it.

From there I grabbed my ipod and walked straight to the Trevi Fountain with as many coins as I could find to wish upon the Roman Gods what I sought in life. It was a bit dreary out and drizzling, but that didn't stop me and my Lizzie Mcguire Movie flash back moments of throwing in the coins, opening my eyes, and maybe finding an Italian star to fall for (just kidding). It didn't happen, but I got some fun pictures, and did as they asked, threw in the 2 coins for the whole you'll find love scenario, as well as the one extra to make sure I safely return back to Rome one day. From there I proceeded to spoil myself with my first real meal of the day, I went to a nice little Italian restaurant and took down some pasta and a napoletean pizza, topped with some very solid anchovies. I then decided to walk around Rome and see where it took me. Apparently my heart was set on the Spanish steps as I ended up there initally. I went to the top, took some pictures and then headed off. Little did I know I would end up back at the steps 6 more times that night completed lost in my own circle. It was daylight the first time I was at the steps, but 2 through 6 it was dark. I sat on the steps about the 4th time for a while, right by two dudes who looked like they either play basketball in Europe or used to in the NBA, both around 6'5 or so. I listened into their conversation of going back to school one day, the NBA draft process, and life. There is no doubt in my mind at least one of them played for a basketball team. I actually saw them about 4 other times, 3 that night and once the next day walking. They probably thought I was stalking them. So by the 6th time I was at the Spanish steps I realized it wasn't worth the effort of trying to walk back, so I took the metro and called it a night. I got back to my room around 11 and to my surprise, no roommates! For the first time in 30 some days I was alone, a nice change, especially since I already had people to meet with in Rome, thus the meeting people thing not nearly as important as other cities. I went to sleep that night anticipating the days ahead, no longer stressed, and slept pretty well for once.

I woke up the next morning to a knock on my door, they deliver breakfast to your room, which was semi-exciting to me, but a lot more disappointing than I thought it would be. Just some really weird jelly filled croissant wanna be, coffee, and orange juice. I then headed off to the internet cafe to make sure nothing changed in meeting up with the cousins and waste some time for an hour or so. Plus I wanted to make sure I had the right address to actually find their hotel, was only about 10 minutes away. I hadn't heard from anybody so it looked good for the day and I headed off. I walked around a bit by their hotel just checking everything out. It was a beautiful day weatherwise, much better than the day before with a lot of sun. Around 11:15 I officially headed over to their hotel and for the first time in a long time familiar faces graced my presence. It was something I was really excited for, was not home sick, but always good to see people you know.

Their flight had just arrived a couple hours previously, so naturally they were quite starving and a bit tired. We immediately started our first mission of looking for a place that had been touted as having the best pizza ever. Randy took over the controls and weaved us in and out of streets seeking out Da Baffeto, a place that many dubbed as a top location. We struggled to find it at first, clearly the fatigue must have hindered his abilities to read a map, but finally after we all reached the point of starvation, we arrived. The problem was Da Baffeto was closed, luckily it's sequel, Da Baffeto 2 was open about 5 minutes away. We arrived there to a sea of empty tables, adding doubt to the claim of best pizza ever. At that point we were all quite famished and took the chance anyway. I went with the garbage pizza, well it was their specialty pizza, but it pretty much had every item known to man on there including, but not limited to, an egg, sausage, onions, olives (which although Im not a fan, they are truly better and a lot more tolerable in Italy) and a whole load of other crap I can't remember. I took out with ease to continue my animalistic eating tendencies. In the end it wasn't the best pizza ever, but did have plenty of upside including the extremely large size. It was more of the thinner crust variety, quite crunchy, but not as full of a pizza as some of the others because of that. From there we were headed to "the best gelato place," this was more believable as both Cari and Randy had previously taste tested Giolitti numerous times. We scoured the streets for a bit working off some of the pizza just eaten and finally arrived. This time the case was made that this was perhaps the best gelato out there. I went with After Eight (mint chocolate chip) and strawberry as well as topped with some of their crazy fresh cream they douse it with. The whole combination, including the chocolate dipped cone exceeded expectations with the freshness and flavors that burst out of the gelato.

Once the food portion of our tour was complete we headed over to the Pantheon (this actually may have happened before the gelato, but I dont have any sense of time or the order of events anymore) and we took some pictures there, I checked out for the first and it was definitely an incredible sight. The way that building was created, the fact that the Vatican even kept it, albeit turn it into a church (since they usually liked to destroy old Roman stuff back in the day) and just the general structure make it quite an incredible sight. After a few pictures headed over to the trevi fountain so they could make their wishes of returning to Rome, as did I, cause you can never give away too much money to a fountain that creates so much harmony in the world. Then we decided to take a stroll to the Vatican. We walked there with no problem and I got to see it for the first time, it is definitely an impressive sight. Finally it was getting later in the afternoon and being that neither of them slept, so after we would walk back we were going to split up for a few hours. We took a different route than we had walked there so we could pass the synaguouge and check out another part of Rome. The only unfortunate part is this was apparently the allergic route as well. We all started sneezing, getting the watery eyes, and struggled with the wind blow those tiny little annoying tree things in our eyes. It was quite the fight to make it back and it wasn't just us as many others we passed by found themselves in the same predicament. We finally escaped the treachery and they made it back to their hotel. I walked around and finally went back to my hostel for an hour after they went back. Still had no roommates, which was exciting and laid around for a bit. Finally around 6 I got back up, walked around some more and finally met up again with them for dinner. Their hotel had recommended some place to eat, so we went there. It was pretty good. I went with the veal shank (I forget what its called here, crazy languages) and we drank wine and relaxed. It was good, I definitely enjoyed the bit of bone marrow that graced my plate inside the bone as well. Afterwards we went to the Spanish steps, my favorite nightly hang out, and looked at the city for a bit. It was highlighted with being approached by the classic flower guy. One of my favorite ways to rid them is speak gibrish. Randy joined along with me and the guy started asking where we came from, he answered Paraguay and I still have no idea why. After the man finally went away we called it a night so they could wake up early and continue on their trip to another part of Italy. I still had no roommates for the night, which was fantastic, and slept decently until I woke up to the sounds of glass breaking and yelling by the insane people outside my hostel. These being the same people who sell the purses, alcohol to minors on the Spanish steps, and fake merchandise all over the place, I hate them with a passion.

With that I must end my Rome update to be continued at a later time, I am actually back in Rome for the evening for a little deja vu and remeeting up with the cousins. I fly to Athens tomorrow for my last stop on the trip, for all I know they still believe in the Greek Gods and there was no God of internet so I'm not sure if I will be able to update from there with the rest of Rome and the stories of Florence, including how my hostel thought I went missing, I even have the email from them asking where the hell I am, but fear not Benjie Klein is still here and never was missing. If I am unable to update, the rest will come when I arrive home, plus this gives people a bit of time to catch up. For all those slacking and thinking when I get home I will tell them everything about my trip, the joke is on them, I don't remember anything and will have to read this myself to catch up on what the fuck has happened in the past 2 months.

Peace out peeps

BK

Venezzzzia part 1

2009-05-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome back, it has been a while since Ive stopped by. I must apologize first for the lack of apostrophes that will surely irritate some grammar critics, I dont have time to worry about these annoying European keyboards, thus it wont look as nice, but Ill feel damn good not learning this keyboard. This update will also only include Venice as Im about to be done with Rome as well, but that would be way too long. Anyway, last I left you I was heading back on plane to Munich. I spent a quiet night when I returned to Germany one last time, though I did jump into one last Schnitzel and beer just for old times sake. I wandered around for a bit at night, but called it quits early and luckily had a relatively quiet room at the hostel.

The next morning I woke up and headed right to the train station to go to Venice. As soon as I got on I was pretty skeptical of the train as I entered a seating cubicle for the first time since Ive been in Europe. I was just hoping not to get stuck with some random non-English speaking smelly Euros, but it worked out as 2 college girls jumped in and just us three had the whole 7 hours together. Never once did any of us ask names, thats a weird concept to me, we talked a while, they slept for a while, I stared into the awesome views of Germany, Austria, and Italy, and we eventually made it 7 hours later. I considered asking for their name, but then I realized there was no point, I wasnt going to meet up with them in Venice so wasnt worth it. When I got off the train it was around 7 p.m, I was going to be crazy and try finding my hostel, but about 10 steps in there was no chance of that happening with my 30 pounds of luggage. I got on the Vaporetto (waterbus) and headed to San Toma. Luckily from there it was real easy to find the hostel and I checked right in. It was in a 400 year old building, and you could tell. Old school pull the chain toilet, semi-cramped room, and wireless internet access from the neighbor if you stand out on the balcony, but it turned out to be pretty good.

After checking in I headed out for an Italian meal, wasnt sure where I would end up, but I wanted pizza or pasta. I had no map since the hostel unfortunately didnt offer any so I wandered through the labryinth until I ended up at some place that looked pretty good and decently busy. It was close to the train station, but not close enough to be considered a crazy tourist place. I sat down and immediately ordered my pizza with spicy salami (essentially pepperoni) and a glass of red wine just cause I was in the mood and sick of beer. As I sat there one of the women next to me coughed and made a swine flu joke so I gave a sarcastic laugh, which prompted us to all talk throughout the whole meal. It was a mother and daughter from Vancouver, probably in their 60s and 40s, respectively. It was nice to have some company and talk through the meal. The pizza was fantastic and the wine wasnt bad for a random house wine. It was also my first real meal of the day, so that couldve made everything taste a little sweeter. I ate my meal pretty fast, per usual, but stuck around until the Canadians were done eating, semi in the hope theyd pay for my meal, but really just enjoying the conversation and being semi tipsy. Finally about an hour or so later we got up and headed our separate ways. One good thing was the placemat for the restaurant was a map, so I took my tomato stained placemat and went on my way. I again attempted to navigate the streets of Venice, this time at night, but after realizing I had no chance even with my tomatoed map without ever really looking at it I got on the night waterbus. It turned out to be a great decision as it took the long way to my stop and I got a full tour of the canals to take in the sinking beauty that is Venice.

I got back to my hostel around 10, pretty exhausted from a restless train ride. A lot of people were hanging out in the kitchen, but I wasnt in the mood. There was an Asian dude from UM who came up to the room at some point though and so I said Id come down for a bit. He was obsessed with grappo, so he wanted me to try some and that it was a good kind so you couldnt really taste the vodka. Either he has no taste buds or I shouldve gone with the dont trust anyone from UM mindset as that shit was pure vodka with a shitty grape aftertaste about 5 minutes later. Everyone luckily called it an early night there as they were emptying out in the morning, so we headed up to the room for sleep. I was excited for a possible decent night of rest even though it was slightly stuffy in the room. That lasted about 10 seconds until a massive pig emerged in my room, or some dude snoring and the fight to sleep was on. I blasted my ipod and eventually fell asleep, luckily the people left at like 5 a.m so I was able to get another couple hours in that morning.

I then went down for some breakfast and started my day. I went to St. Marks and checked out the area, I went in the church, even decided to check out the church art out of boredom and hung around that area for a while until deciding to move on to my next stop. I went through the streets of Venice until I ended up at the Guggenheim where I stayed for about an hour, it was nice, but not very big, which worked out well cause it was about the time I became starving. I grabbed some quick sandwiches from a bar, one with tuna and mozzarella and the other had mozzarella and eggplant (it was good, but I didnt actually realize I had gotten eggplant until I actually had it in my hand). It was a nice cheap meal. I was still hungry and knew I had been waiting way too long, but I finally got some gelato. I found a place away from everywhere and without the clear brandname gelato ads, so figured it was homemade. It was very good as I went with cherry and some sort of chocolate cookie gelato in a cone. I was satisfied I then figured Id find the old Jewish ghetto and realized Id have to let it find me because that is the real way to find things in Venice. I wandered up and down the streets and bam, the old gates of a Jewish ghetto and street signs indicating where I was entered my sight. I walked around checking out the small monuments and the kosher restaurants than went on the synaguoge tour. There was a guy with a Tigers hat so I thought Id strike up a conversation with him on the tour. He hadnt lived in Detroit since 1961 and was pretty conservadox so any conversation we had going did not last long. He did talk to me a few random times about other Jewish things to see in Italy, but sports were not in the picture. Him and his wife were also the question people, clearly agitating the tour guide with the same questions over and over, though it did make it more informative for everyone else. About 20 people were on the tour and the 3 synaguoges we were able to see all had some interesting looks and history, so it was worth going on. I then walked around some more doing what I do, ending up at the rialto and doing a walk through there admiring the overpriced gandolas, merchandise sellers, and crazy amounts of tourists. I then decided to get a dinner somewhere. I chose a random restaurant in an alley and made the semi mistake of going with the tourist menu. The food wasnt terrible, though the wine seemed slightly watered down and the piece of salmon I ordered, while tasty was quite tiny for my manly needs. I then did more of the walking thing finally finding out how to get back to my hostel and picking up some extra gelato on the way. I got it from the same place I did earlier in the day, not purposely, I didnt even realize it at first, but hey, was still good. Went lemon this time and some banana.

From there I finally headed back to the hostel. People were hangin out in the kitchen again, but it was semi late and I headed up to the room. Up there I met a few people that had just checked in since my whole room had emptied out from the night before. I talked with them for a little while, they were a bunch of Tennessee graduates and we all went to sleep. It was cool because I thought the snoring problem had disappeared, until it doubled on that night. As one kid snored, the other waited until silence to add in his loud snore. There was one point where I flicked the lights real quick, prompting silence, probably waking them and giving me just enough time to be lulled to sleep by the ipod, jackpot! I slept a little better in the end that night though than the previous night and that was good enough for me.

The next morning I headed down to grab some breakfast and joined all the Tennessee people as well as some extras who were eating. I talked with the whole crew of them and joined along with them and another straggler like myself lookin to hang out with everyone for the day...

With that I will cut this short and reconvene at another time as the internet claims I have 7 minutes left, but I hope this short, but sweet entry has you wanting more. For those who havent seen there are actually a couple random pictures up of me on facebook, not posted by myself, if you want to see how I look bearded. Recently I did add a sunburn to my repetoire so dont be surprised when I come back black with a beard after Rome, Florence, and Athens continue to burn me to shreds.

I shall hopefully return in Florence with the rest of Venice, hopefully a seperate entry for Rome, and probably Florence and Athens when I arrive home, as well as pictures, a final entry of my thoughts for the trip, and of course love for you all.

Now I go get some food because its fantastic out here...

BK

Irishing in Dublin

2009-05-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night I took my flight from Munich to Dublin and luckily made it. I waited for a while at the airport, which was fine, I really didn't have anything left to do in Munich and figured the airport would be fine. I sat around, ate some snacks and relaxed before boarding the flight. The flight itself was good until the end. We were told there were windy conditions in Dublin, never a good sign when it comes to turbulence possibilities. With about 10 minutes to go we began our rocky descent. It was one of the worst landings I've experienced, I'm pretty sure the pilot made some mistakes, which I figured would happen when I saw there was a woman pilot (kidding ladies!). In honesty though it was pretty bad, it felt like we landed on the side of the wheel when we hit the ground and took that big bounce before gaining stability. All the people surrounding me gave the sigh of relief and things were calm from there, at least for them. As for me I stood up and stretched my legs only to be met with intense stomach pains. I knew I didn't have much time to find a bathroom, but knew it may be a while. I rushed off the plane rushing past other passengers and darting ahead. I got to customs and had to enter the non-EU citizen passport line. The first window the customs agent had nobody, but was playing around with a passport seemingly left behind. The 2nd window had a man from an African country begging the customs dude to let him in Ireland, and the third was generous enough to be taking people in line. The first lady took longer than I would've liked, but from a distance it seemed like she was joking around with the customs woman, so I figured it would be an easy sail through get my stamp and go. I got to the lady and the questions began, apparently Ireland is the strictest country in the world. She badgered me for information about my visit, asked me when I planned on leaving, and required I show her my itinerary for my return flight to Munich. This led to an extra 5 minutes of me having to turn on my phone, her looking at it, and finally approving me to enter the country, only until May 11th. Really Ireland? I then ignored seeking my luggage and unloaded a barrage of body waste bombs on the Irish toilet. By the time I got out only my luggage remained on the carousel, luckily I grabbed it before they moved it to another area, grabbed a bottle of water and began to go on my way. That was until my body decided it wasn't time to go, I went back to trusty stall number one and finished the job. Hey, everyone loves a good shit story, get over it...

I had no choice but to take a taxi to the hostel, it was expensive, but the guy was a nice cab driver and who doesn't like the terrifying feeling of driving on the opposite side of the road. He didn't really know the exact hostel location, but he called up a friend who helped out and luckily I got there. We talked a little, but unfortunately I could barely understand his thick Irish accent, however, it was a nice change being some place that at least English is the chosen form of talk. I checked in and headed upstairs pretty quick, I was pretty out of it still fully clothed and passed out for the evening. The next morning I woke up feeling better, even though I slept awful, but I no longer had pains of death engulfing my body. I grabbed some free toast downstairs and began my day. I went on the free Dublin walking tour, it rained off and on for the whole tour, apparently one of the things Dublin is known for, but didn't make it less enjoyable. I talked with the tour guide (when he wasn't guiding) for most of it, he has some book about to be published and is moving to the US when he graduates college in a few weeks. I never realized the American dream still looms large for a lot of people, but I guess so. We got to see the whole U2 beginnings (the tour guide hates them though so it made it more entertaining), all the churches, the trinity college, and Dublin Castle amongst other things.

When the tour finished around 2 I figured I'd walk around Dublin more and slowly make my way to the concert site. It was about a 2 mile walk and with taking my time I arrived around 3, but nobody was waiting, which I was happy about so I could take time and get myself some food. I figured there would be a few people, but as long as the line wasn't crazy that early I'd be alright. I went to the College of Ireland campus nearby and grabbed a quick pasta meal since that was the only place that seemed decent. I then went to a grocery store for some snacks and went back. I got to the arena around 4 where people were beginning to wait, so I figured I'd stick around. Everyone in line was real nice and of course only one was actually from Dublin, while the rest were crazy people who travel to concerts (freaks eek). Though there were a few people that made me seem not quite as crazy as many people want to make me seem. There were people who had seen over one-hundred shows, travel to many more than I have, and just in general probably a bit crazier than me (hard to believe, I know). We waited in the off and on pouring rain and wind, one of the security guards gave us a semi-workable umbrella to fight off the downpours. Did get to see a rainbow though, in Ireland, I almost left the line to search for the gold pot, I mean it has to be here right, but decided not to. Finally around 6 the guards let us inch ahead closer to the gates. Got in around 6:30 and stood with a couple girls from the line as we waited. There were 2 opening acts, which I find irritating, at first I thought the 2nd band added was to sell more tickets since 02 is a big arena and they weren't going to sell it out (and didn't), but it was a band from America that nobody had heard of overseas. They were a decent band, a slower rock type group, even bluegrass/folk rockish in a way. The next band were a bit more known, the Hold Steady. The keyboardist was by far the most entertaining with his handlebar mustache and theatrics. The lead singer is decent, but his act of comedic gestures and awkward yelling gets old after 20 minutes. I don't mind their music, but a lot of it in concert seemed like yelling to go with their harder rock sense, seems they could have been better, but then again always tougher to sit through 2 opening acts when you anticipate the final one. Finally around 9:29 Counting Crows got on stage, I figured this meant I'd get about 1:30 of them (still more than I've seen in the states in a few years with all their co-headlining). The setlist for me was great, a lot of older songs, a couple I had been waiting to hear in concert like Another Horsedreamer's Blues and High Life and not many of the popular hits I had heard numerous times over. The concert ended around 11:10, I thought it was great, though I could hear the disappointment in much of the crowd with Mr. Jones, Round Here, and basically all of their heavily popular songs outside of Long December excluded from the setlist. As a bonus one of the employees at my hostel clearly went to the concert because Counting Crows on pandora has been playing throughout the building all weekend.

I took the 2 mile walk back with the girls I had met, I'd like to think I was escorting them for saftey on the streets of Dublin, but clearly I had no idea where I was going. They finally left me to get a taxi when I knew where I was (aka the same street my hostel was located on). I went back to the hostel, relaxed for about 5 minutes and scoured the area for late night food. I ended up at the "American burger joint" Eddie Rockets (apparently Johnny's cousin). It was a bit expensive, but I've come to realize everything in Dublin is expensive, quite possibly more so than any city I've been in thus far especially when it comes to food of any sort. Eddie definitely delivered, he was much better than Johnny's back home (either that or I was so starved and longing for a real hamburger anything would've tasted great) and having actual heinz ketchup to use with my meal added to the satisfaction. It was about 1 at that point so I headed back and read until I passed out around 2.

I woke up pretty early the next day with a new mission in mind, I'd head over to the Old Jameson Distillery for their whiskey tour after getting a bite to eat. I grabbed a bagel with lox and then headed towards the place. It was pretty hard for me to find since I didn't really read the street signs to point me in the direction, but finally arrived around 12:30, bought my ticket and waited for the tour to begin. At the beginning they had 8 people volunteer to do a whiskey taste testing in the end to compare Jameson to a scotch whiskey and American whiskey, my hand couldn't have been in the air quicker. She immediately handed me the tube to anoint me one of the participants and the tour began. We went through the different stages of the whiskey, how they put it altogether, the history of Jameson, etc. It was decent, though I don't think the tour guide really loved her job and was just going through a script she had memorized. Finally though we got to the best part. I sat with the other 7 around the table where they had the whiskeys labeled and wanted you to describe the differences and see how smooth Jameson is. First we went with the Jameson to feel the smoothness and get a sense for the flavors, then cleansed with water. Next came the Johnnie Walker black label, seeking the smokey taste it's known for and then comparing to Jameson again. Finally we came to the American whiskey and as anticipated it was my good friend Jack Daniels. I smelled the sweetness and took my sip, once again asked to compare to Jameson. Now although Jameson may have a bit smoother feel than regular Jack (I was hoping they'd be ballsy enough to put it against single barrel) I don't think it exerts as much flavor. We were then asked to try them each again and put your favorite forward. I was now left with a choice, do I stick with my roots, both familial and patriotic or do I give them what they want. I tasted them all again and looked around at my fellow participants. A few quickly put Jameson in front, I finally decided I had no choice. I proudly grabbed the Jack Daniels and placed it ahead of the other two to gasps and moans of the crowd. The others then placed Jameson ahead and I was the only one who went against the grain. The tour guide played it off to American pride and wanting to stand out, but I really do like Jack Daniels better it's what I've been bred on. We then received Irish whiskey tasting diplomas for our deeds and an extra glass of Jameson for participating. I proudly stood up after, listening to whispers of others, some who admitted the Jack was better to them as well and walked out with my chest held high. I can't deny and this may sound sad in the end I really did feel an extra sense of American pride. I walked out on to the streets and as I headed back and even past a few fellow participants I got the smile and nod, reaffirming the only choice I really had.

I then decided to celebrate with some food, I was feeling good, though not drunk and grabbed some fish and chips around the corner from my hostel. It's one of the more famous fish/chips places in Dublin, Leo Burrdocks, I looked at the wall of fame before entering and realized one day my name will be added to that list (okay, maybe I was a little drunk) and then got my fish and chips. It was very good, though I couldn't finish the whole thing, just way too much food. I had dreams of heading to guiness after, but it was getting later in the afternoon and I wanted not to have to rush through there. I ended up walking around the city, finding the Guinness storehouse for reference for the next day and exploring much of Dublin. I then walked to St. Stephens Green where I enjoyed the awesome park. I laid down on the grass for a while, but apparently it was the wrong grass since police quickly asked me (and others) to move to other sections of the park. I decided to walk instead of sit and gazed at the kids chasing peacocks, the beautiful swans being fed in the ponds, the flowers and the numerous statues spread throughout. I really enjoyed it and made the mental note to come back there the next day.

I then headed back to my hostel and figured it about time to find some dinner. I went to the Temple Bar area right by my hostel and searched for some Irish food. Every restaurant I entered I was refused. Some had legit waits and were nice about it, others blatantly lied so they wouldn't "waste" a table on a busy Saturday night to one person. I was pissed, hungry and didn't like the solo discrimination I had encountered. I stalked around the places that clearly could have sat me watching to see if the magical customers were to appear, they didn't and that was satisfying enough. I then walked around a little bit longer until I was so famished that no choice existed, but to find any sort of restaurant to eat at. Luckily the place next to my hostel was open, a decent enough Irish place where I enjoyed some Irish lamb stew. I even got to hear a fight with some drunk on the street and the restaurant manager as the guy tried to stumble in. I then headed back to the hostel around 11 and decided I'd see if I could meet anyone since it was a Saturday night in Dublin and I should take advantage of the city. This, however, turned in to passing out immediately when I went to my room to lay down for a minute and not waking up until 9 the next morning, apparently I had finally hit a wall.

On Sunday I decided it be about time to go to Guinness. I woke up at 9 as I said, but didn't really realize it until I found a place to eat breakfast. I rushed to go some place since a lot stop serving at 11 and I really wanted an Irish breakfast. I got there, ordered my food and looked at my watch realizing it wasn't even 10 a.m yet. I got my poached egg, breakfast sausage, canadian style bacon (I know, 2 more pig products, however, different varieties than Germany so it actually excited my taste buds), some potato thing, some toast, and some other random crap as well as free tea and orange juice. I ate it all and even drank both the tea and orange juice (I despise orange juice, but I need a cooler drink, didn't want to ask for water and it wasn't awful until the pulp irritated me). I then began walking around taking my time since it was so early and finally headed to Guinness.

I had pre-ordered my ticket since there was no service charge and I could still get the "student" discount online without a problem. It saved me about a 15 minute line wait and I got right in there. It's a huge building with seven stories. It takes you through the beer making process with some cool rooms and examples including a tasting room. I think the tour itself, which is self guided, is slightly overrated as to what they take you through. I understand why being the volume of people the places sees on a daily basis, but outside of the first 2 floors not much interaction exists and it's a lot of reading. Of course they make up for it all at the very end of the tour where you have a variety of options of where to enjoy your pint. I wanted to do the pour your own pint, but there was nobody at the stand and there was a line, so I decided not to wait and just went straight to the gravity bar where they do it for you. It's on the 7th level and it's an awesome place with a 360 degree view of all of Dublin, which makes the price of admission worth it right there. I took some pictures and then got my "free" pint where they poured it to perfection with the clover on the head of the beer. I enjoyed the visual for a few minutes and went to work on the pint. I drank it relatively slowly, but the final result ended up in me definitely feeling tipsy by the end.

I left the Guinness storehouse and enjoyed the first day with no rain at all around Dublin by just walking around. I got hungry around three and knew it was time to satisfy my Mexican urge. Many Mexican restaurants are in the area and I had read about one, so I headed over there for a reuniting with myself and the world of burritos. It was pretty good, the tortilla sucked, but overall the chicken, salsa, sour cream, beans, jalapenos, all hit the spot pretty well. I was glad I finally made the plunge for it. I then headed back to the park from the previous day to sit on a bench, people watch, and relax. I did get to see one of my favorite things as well there. I like to watch people take pictures, but not to see what they are taking of or who, but to watch the people who try avoiding "ruining" the picture as if there is no turning back. I'm at fault for doing this too, but when you see someone taking a picture and it's too late you have a few options. Lot of people stop and let them take the picture with the awkward you can go through, no just take the picture exchange. Then there are people who run through quickly hoping that didn't ruin the shot, respectable. And then my favorite, the people who feel that the camera will kill them so they either block their face in horror or duck real quick so the "bullet" doesn't hit them. I then headed off as the sun went down and it was cold.

I got back to the hostel, did a bunch of a laundry, grabbed some cheap pizza since I had been spending tons of money here and with Italy coming up only more will be spent. I pretty much laid low the rest of Sunday night, as did most people in the hostel it seems. I never really met anyone in this hostel, I talked to a couple people, but I think with me not being around much the first couple days I was behind on the curve so they probably thought I was anti-social, ah well. I went to my room around 12, surprisingly everyone was already a sleep in the room when I went in there, fell asleep around 2 and here I am before my flight back to Munich in a few hours. I'll spend one night in Munich, leave on a train early the next morning for Venice and start my Italian tour. It'll be weird going back to languages I don't know, just as I was getting used to some sembelance of English again. Only 16 days left, well 15 really since I leave at 7 a.m May 27th, good luck to me making it to the airport that day.

Flyin away

BK

The tales of Munich

2009-05-07T04:12:00.000-07:00

I was planning on having a quiet do nothing night on my first night in Munich when I first arrived, but it didn't quite work out that way. I met a few people in my hostel when I went back to my room. Two people from California, a girl and guy who I'm not sure if they were dating, best friends or just random friends who decided to come to Europe together were in the room. There was also a guy from Japan whom none of us could figure out his name in there as well. We all talked for a while. I realized I have a very hard time understanding Asian's directly from that region of the world and their English. It was the 2nd straight stop on my tour I've had at least a 10 minute conversation with an Asian, but could barely make out. Seemed like a nice guy, and he did confirm a belief longheld in the world. He was talking about how he went to the museum that afternoon and it was nice, but one of the problems was every 5 feet an Asian person would be taking a picture or ask him to take one of them. If anyone has seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall with the breakfast scene and the Asian couple taking pictures of their silverware and different breakfast poses, this does happen. It's entertaining to watch and now that this fellow from Japan confirmed the existence, I can no longer brush away those thoughts that maybe I'm just stereotyping, jackpot!

He left the room after a while, I hung out upstairs for a bit and then headed to the bar with the Cali peeps. They were real nice and good people to hang out with, we got our free drinks offered by the hostel at their bar, had another drink and headed off. I didn't really have dinner that night, just a late lunch, so the beer hit me rather quickly. We went down to a bierhaus, got some more beer and had some Brez'n (pretzels). The beers were good, I remember the place we went, but couldn't tell you what kind of beer I had. We then went to another place, just a regular bar endulged in another drink, and then came back for one more beer at the hostel. I was sufficiently drunk, though I don't think either of them really realized it, I've become good at hiding my lightweight drinking abilities. Finally around 12:30 headed up and passed out around 1:30.

I woke up around 8:30 the next day with the goal of heading off to the Dachau tour, I was a bit tired, but I got myself out of bed and headed to the meeting place. I arrived and saw a group of people, gathered around so figured it was the best area to go. The tour guide told everyone to grab a bit of food if they didn't have any because there would be nowhere to get food til after around 3:30. I grabbed a couple croissants, one vanilla stuffed the other chocolate and joined back up. We had about 20 people told on the tour, a solid group. I was a little worried about the tour guide because he did show up with a hangover, a scratchy voice, and didn't seem to want to be there, but as the day began he woke up a bit. First we had to take the train over to the camp, when we got to the station the ticket machine wouldn't take big bills, leaving the guide kind of screwed. I decided to be the nice guy, I offered him to use my money and he can get me back after, so it worked out and we were finally on our way. I also gave the guide one of my croissants since he clearly needed food, guess I just felt like being nice. Once at the train station we had to take a bus and then we arrived.

Getting off the bus and taking the walk right towards the camp doors definitely had a creepy feel. It was a cold gloomy day, something I just kind of expected when visiting a place so demonized from it's history. We stopped at remaining train tracks where the guide gave us an introduction into Dachau. It was the first concentration camp in Germany and used as a model for many thereafter. The grounds were also used heavily for the training/brainwashing of impressionable youths and how to use cruel tactics. He then told us the speech prisoners would hear upon entrance and we headed through the door. The land in front of us was wide open meant to have that sense of nothingness. We then started going into the first few buildings where the people slept, were checked in, and were punished. Many of them have been redone, but some original frameworks, items, tables and other things still exist. We first glanced at the table where people were stripped of their names and reduced to a number and then walked through looking at the cruel ways of punishment. The guide was good, let us look at the right moments, explained things well, and took us around. After seeing the tiny beds or boxes people slept in we walked around a few of the memorial signs. The "Never Again" signs always effect me for some reason, I didn't cry or anything, I don't know how to do that in public, but everytime something clicks with that and gives me chills. We had just missed Survivors day by a few days at the camp, but extra mini memorials and flowers were set up around portions of the camp. After that we went inside to get ready to watch the camp movie. I got kind of angry though cause I saw 2 kids kind of fighting inside there on what seemed to be a middle school tour, and I understand the comprehension at that age is impossible as to where you actuall are, but it made me really angry, which is rare. Finally the kids went on their way and we got to watch the very creepy 20 minute camp movie with movies of what the camp was like, the dead bodies, and the liberation. From there we headed to the crematories and gas chamber. There is a myth with Dachau that the gas chambers were never used according to the Germans at the time, but survivors claimed use, plus Jews and others starting in 1942 weren't deemed worthy enough to even be registered as prisoners anymore, so I have a hard time believing the never used story. Dachau technically wasn't a death camp, though over 30,000 regisitered prisoners died from starvation, disease, or cruel death again not counting three years of unregistered members. All that stuff was real eery to see and there wasn't much else to say after seeing that. I'm definitely glad I went and although it can never be described as a fun time, it was very interesting and I would have a desire to see other camps as strange as that may seem.

After the tour I did get my money from there train ride back for those worried ha and got myself a quick lunch. The day was still pretty cold, but I decided to do what anyone in Munich would do, go and find the Apple Store. I saw they were having a live in-store concert that night so I kept that in mind, it was a real nice store (as expected). I then walked around discovering more areas of Munich until finally getting hungry enough to delve into a meal. I had a German restaurant in mind and made my way there. The place was packed as most restaurants around here are basically beer halls and restaurants. I found one open table and ordered a giant wheat beer. It was actually good, I then decided to go with the Ox for dinner and see what this meat would taste like since I was getting pretty tired of pig. As I waited for my meal a German woman came up to my table, said some crazy German and pointed to the chair. I assumed this meant can I use this chair over at my table, but I was incorrect, she took a seat. I thought alright, this is fine, she can barely speak English and looks kind of old so should be safe. About two minutes later this huge younger German dude laced in tattoos comes and takes a seat to join us. I felt a variety of scenarios existed at this point, either I could get stuck with their bill (bad, but not the worst thing), they could be so grateful I let them sit and pay for my meal (I was a tad drunk from my beer), nothing could happen, or they could savagely stalk and kill me after the meal (what can I say, I'm an optimist). The Ox finally came, they ordered their stuff and I began to eat as they spoke German with each other. The Ox was good, some parts tough and others tender, but had a very brisket like taste to it. I finished rather quickly hoping to beat them to at least the bill and get out, but they ate their meals relatively fast. It turned out they were co-workers and were eating before heading off to work and needed to eat quickly. I made it out safe and stumbled my way back down the block.

I saw the line grow in front of the Apple store and felt I have nothing else to do, why not see the free concert. I got in line, was one of the final 10 remaining allowed in (felt semi-bad for those who were probably really interested) and headed up to stairs to the concert. I looked up and saw it was $amy Delight, German hip hop/reggae star (I looked up implies that actually knew who this Samy Delight was, but in fact I just saw a sign). One perk was getting 10 free songs from the German itunes store for being there, no idea if it will work when I'm home, but worth a shot. I stayed for the whole thing, it was pretty packed and besides the Deutsch words when he did more of the actual reggae style of song him and his band weren't bad at all. Apparently he's really successful in Germany, so was worth checking out. I then headed back for the night and tried to call it an early night. I got in early, didn't go out, but slept awfully for some reason, ah well.

The next day I woke up and reunited with the Californians. They were leaving in the afternoon, but we had time to go for a real german breakfast. For the 3rd straight day it was cold and rainy as we walked to the breakfast location. I had Weiß-wurst, the breakfast sausage made with cream and eggs. It was very good, though the skin must be removed before eating so that part was a little annoying. Both of them went with the traditional breakfast wheat beers with their meal, but I decided it wasn't for me and beer in the morning never has and probably never will go well with my body. Afterwards we headed back and then parted ways.

I originally wanted to go to the BMW open that was going on since I had never been to a pro tennis match, but with the colder weather and rain I decided not to. Instead I walked around the city, ended up at the Deutsches Museum and spent a few hours there. This is basically their science and technolgy museum. Half of the place has English, the other half not so much. I didn't feel like an audio tour though and could figure out most of what I was looking at. The place was huge and pretty impressive. From car technology, engines, aeronautics, astronomics, a planetarium, to musical instruments, sexual pharmaceutical technology, computer science and random chemistry experiments it had it all. I didn't plan on spending that long there, but so many rooms existed and it was easy to get trapped on the way to looking for an exit. I left there, got my train ticket for when I return to Munich on my flight to head to Venice the next day, and then searched for food. I was sick of German food, which has pretty much consumed me for 2 weeks now and felt it about time to change up. I longed for a burrito, it's been over 30 days now, I rarely go more than 3 meals without a burrito. There was a recommendation for the best tex-mex restaurant in the area so I went there. Apparently it's the best restaurant in the world because inside and out every seat was filled, the bar was filled, and people were waiting on the streets. I decided I couldn't wait any longer to eat so I let that dream die and got some decent spicy chinese food (it was actually really good, but I say decent due to the results of the following morning where the toilet ate my meal). I headed off and walked down the street. I decided to try Haagen Daas in Germany, I could've went gelado, but figured I'll be in Italy in a week anyway. It was good, I finished it and walked past the Apple store where another concert event was being held. I wasn't gonna go this time, for real, but the security guards were handing out stuff on the street to get in, it was a different person this time, and I was hoping this would mean 10 more free songs, which it did (if it'll work in the US). This time it was Cassandra Steen, not nearly as popular as the other dude. She was just a regular singing type. Not terrible, but I thought her backup singer had a better voice. I went back to the hostel, talked with my Japanese roommate for a bit, and went to sleep early, though again did not sleep well.

Today I got up around 7:45, I was gonna go back to sleep, the other guy had left to checkout and I had until 10, but apparently the cleaning crew here is real irritating. The guy knocked on my door at 8 a.m telling me I had to be out at 10, at first I thought maybe the 6 different sources of time I had were all incorrect, but turns out he was just a dick, especially since he came back an hour later and said it again. Instead I showered and got ready for my day. I finally checked out at 9:55 just because I was pissed and could. The day has good weather for the first time in Munich so I headed off to the English Gartens, walked around the gigantic park (its twice the size of Central Park) for about 2 hours observing my surroundings. I checked out the little surfing area in the park they had (a mini rapid by a bridge where people have a decent wave and actually surf, it's kind of cool) and then walked back. When I went in the morning I took the metro, but saw I had plenty of time so took the hour walk back. I grabbed a gigantic pretzel for lunch and then headed back to the hostel. On the walk back I also noticed a big Israeli concert/rally thing and checked it out for a minute and that was about it.

Now I get ready to head to the airport for Dublin. I'll be there for 4 days, see the Counting Crows tomorrow night, explore the whole place and then head back to Munich for a night before Italy and Greece to end the trip. I'm a little antsy about this flight ahead, but it'll be a good test run at a non-English speaking airport a few weeks before the trip home. I get to Dublin around 10:15 p.m on an Aer Lingus flight so I'll probably take a cab to the hostel since the directions the other way includes a bunch of buses and walking, which I don't think I'm wanting to deal with tonight. Tomorrow I'll probably explore Dublin, although 50s and rain is expected all weekend and I'm sure about 10 hours before the concert tomorrow I'll just start waiting in the general admission line (just kidding, I'm not that big of a fan or that crazy, uh). Anyway, maybe I'll see you in Dublin.

Dahnke Shan

BK

Wieeeeeen

2009-05-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

I've just arrived in München where it's cold, rainy, and gloomy so thought what better chance to update about my stop in Vienna. I arrived Friday late afternoon in Vienna where I was exhausted from the previous night in Prague. It was a bit rainy that day as well and I didnt want to do much that day. I met one of my roommates and then headed to walk the streets and check out the downtown area and get a quick lunch. I was starved and knew I'd be hungry again in an hour, but figured Id go cheap. I grabbed some pizza from one of the million fast food pizza type joints. I thought I was going for chicken, onions, and green peppers when i selected the pizza in the window, but turned out to be tuna. It was good, and I'm fine with it, but I could see some people being not happy. Afterwards I thought I knew where I was going, but I walked quite far away from the city center and my hostel. None of the areas seemed shady, which was nice, but definitely a very German feel based on how the outskirts of Berlin felt. It makes sense since Austria is a German speaking country.
Eventually I headed back to my hostel to figure out what to eat for dinner. I had done pretty well sticking to traditional Czech meals in Prague so figured I'd at least attempt that path early in Vienna.

The hostel I stayed at had a bunch of restaurant recommendations so I decided not to walk this time and take their Ubahn metro which seemed quite basic compared to some of the other cities I had been to. I got off at the real downtown this time and scoured the area for some of the restaurants I had remembered. I looked at some of the nice places around in the area, but had yet to research what anything actually was so it was semi meaningless and with the shitty weather I cared even less. After about 15 minutes I made it to a place that was said to have the best Schnitzel in town, apparently that was no lie because the wait was over an hour, first legit wait Ive encountered in any restaurant in Europe, wasn't a fancy place either so was semi surprised. At that point I was starving, so I walked around some more, lots of places were closed for May Day and the rest were busy. I headed back to the hostel, found a local bar/restaurant that was in one of my books and had some schnitzel and rice. It was very good, also got myself some sort of beer and headed back to the hostel. I got back there, ran into a person who was in Berlin on the pub crawl with me, he was all excited to see me, but unfortunately I had no recollection of ever meeting the person being that I was quite inebriated that particular night. I think he picked up on that, but what can you do. Afterwards I decided to do some research on what I wanted to see, circled some things on a map and went to sleep a few hours later.

I woke up semi refreshed the next day and thought it'd be a good time to explore, the weather was a little cool, but no rain and it was supposed to warm up later in the day. I walked about 25 minutes down to Schoenberg Palace, its away from the main city, but it was unbelievable. I spent about 3 hours walking around the gardens, "climbing" to the top of the hill that overlooked the palace and whole city as well as getting a bite to eat. I went to the restaurant on the grounds on top of the hill, but it wasnt too overpriced so i was fine with it. I got a potato pancake with spinach and baked mozzarella on top with some earl grey tea just to act like a member of a royal family (or I was cold).

From there I headed down and saw my next challenge in the gardens. I could either head inside the actual palace or head to the labryinth and maze area. Not a hard decision. I paid the 2 euros to join the families with kids, a few random old people, and some adventerous tweeners who didn't fit in either category. I decided I'd start with one of the labrynths filled with weird obsticles. There was some math problem to solve, but too many people were standing around, but then I stopped my new goal. There were three climbing poles with bells on top. I knew there could be no proof of me actually climbing because I couldnt take a picture of myself on top and I dont trust people, but I was determined anyway. I watched a few people try and then stepped up myself. I had no idea if I could do it, but I made it to the top with ease, I felt like a spider monkey on top of his game. I rang the bell and tried to grab for my camera and that officially ended my climb as I had to jump off or risk sliding down getting "iron burn." After completing that it was maze time. I entered it and was quickly lost inside the world of paths that lead nowhere. I dodged left only to be stopped by the irritating bush, follow kids thinking they should be better at that only to realize they're taking me to where I had already been. Finally I found another opening, started taking that around and saw the glorious ending in front. I climbed up the steps to the platform to overlook the maze and took a victorious picture of myself to weird gawkers. I took the short way out, did another labrynth with some crazy human kaleidoscope and a mario-esque avoid the fire balls (or water) by jumping on to different platforms. I completed my mission dryly and felt it about time to see inside.

Inside of the actual palace was nice, but way too crowded with tours and people to make it truly enjoyable. Some nice art, royal bedrooms etc., but the rooms were somewhat tiny and not good with hundred people per room. I finally made it out of there after an hour and was going to walk back to my hostel, but decided to head downtown to the museum quarter to see if anything intrigued me. I decided I didnt want to go into any actual museums, it was already 3 and most would close shortly anyway, but for the next day i'd keep stuff in mind. I took tons of pictures of the architecture, walked through the parks and gardens snapping photos of ducks, couples taking wedding photos, and random shots of myself being fantastic. I was also hungry again around this time so i found one of the markets, got some semi-cheap japanese food (which turned out to be ramen noodles with chicken, its hard enough ordering food in German, but Japanese food in german may as well just be written in hieroglyphics). I then walked past Hofburg Palace to see if anything intrigued me there, I found one thing I wanted to save for tomorrow so i checked that off in my mind and headed back to the hostel.

At the hostel I got back to my room and met a new roommate, he seemed like a cool guy, we talked for a bit and told him I'd see him down there. I hung out in my room for a bit eating a random chocolate bar I had bought and relaxing. I headed down to the lobby/bar area, grabbed myself a large beer for happy hour and sat around for a few minutes. From there I ran into another person from a previous hostel, this time in Prague, who I actually did remember this time probably cause it was only 2 nights before and i stayed mostly sober that night. Him and his lady friend knew a few people they had met at a different hostel staying there as well so everyone merged together with a few others to form a large group. We all hung out drinking in the hostel's garden. Around 11 the hostel shut down the bar and garden. From there the eclectic group from Liverpool, New Zealand, Australia, US, Netherlands and probably a few more places headed off to a club suggested to us. It was of the electronica/techno type clubs, clearly the kind I rarely go to. Being that I hadnt had a real dinner either I was feeling the 3 beers I had. We got there and headed down to the main club part. About half the group went down there, not many people were dancing at first, but finally the place got busy. I decided that was the best time to show my techno moves. Not sure if people were making fun or impressed by my style, but some healthy imitating of my moves commenced. I personally think my style is where its at for that music, but who knows. After a while the smoke caught up with a bunch of us and we went to the outside bar area. I retired from dancing for the night and hung out up there until people were ready to go. I also realized that I talked to the (British) girl with the boyfriend a lot too, I don't know how I keep doing that, it's strange. I mean Im personally not looking for anything, but come on. About 8 of us left the rest stayed at the club. We grabbed some pizza across the street, this time went the safer route, though still strange as hell by getting a pepperoni (it was actually salami) and sweet corn pizza. For how starving I was though it was the best pizza ever. We ate and then we were determined to try and make it back. We were told to take 2 night buses. We got on the first one we saw, got off where we were supposed to, and then got on a second. The 2nd bus driver probably didn't want us on the bus as the directions he gave us put us on the right street we needed, but 30 minutes away. We all trekked back and finally went to sleep.

The next day I slept in a bit, took a quick shower, and decided I wanted to explore the city some more. It was slated to be 70s and sunny so I just walked. I grabbed some breakfast on the way, a cheap omelet and the first place that gave me water for free. I got back on the road and stopped at the Hofburg palace area. The day before I had looked at the treasury as a place of possible interest. I decided why not check out the royal jewels. I went inside and it was well worth it. It was a nice change from normal art with crazy golden jeweled crowns, fantastic swords, and royal scepters. I picked out what I wanted from when I'm king in the future and went on my way. I decided to go Forrest Gump for the rest of the day, every time I would get to a place on the map I decided to keep going. I went to the canals, walked up and down that area, cut through side streets outside of the main city area, went back to the canals, passed by the end of some marathon that had just taken place, walked past an art museum and then decided I was good. Of course I was about 6 kms away at that point from the hostel. I walked back, grabbed some quick gelato which was very good. I was still and hungry and thought why not get a street dog. And yes, in that order. I got one of those where it's stuffed in a baguette and looks fantastic. I took a bite and the juices burned the hell out of my mouth, but I continued on. For about 2 minutes I fought with the heat taking out about half the hot dog when I decided to look down. Inside the hot dog grease/lard freakiness was oozing out of the dog. I was done at that point. It freaked me out, a lot, it was quite disgusting. I continued walking and cutting through parks, taking a quick breather in front of Mozarts statue to recover from the oozing lard incident and then finished back at the hostel. I took a 20 minute nap and headed to the bar where I hung out with the people from the other night. I had a train to catch the next day so i was not looking to go out, luckily nobody else was either. We played cards, a game called Shithead, it was like a real weird bootleg version of the card came asshole and then called it a night. Most people were heading to Budapest the next day anyway so we all had the early 10 a.m checkout to get up for.

Today I woke up exhausted around 8 after a pretty sleepless night with lots of weird dreams again, I packed up and headed to the train station. The train was delayed like 20 minutes, first time that has happened. It wasn't that long of a train ride, about 4 hours though i wasn't able to fall back asleep unfortuantely after the ticket guy woke me up for the 5th straight train ride leaving me tired and agitated. i got to Munich where it's cold and rainy, I grabbed a quick bite, went with a hamburger cause it was the first normal restaurant I could find as this place is swarming with the doner kebab and pizza places, which aren't bad in moderation, but it's the majority of what I ate in Vienna. And now here I sit. Tonight I'm going to try to relax, grab some dinner in a bit, and scour the city for random shit. Tomorrow I plan on going to Dachau and we shall see from there. Thursday night I leave for Dublin for 4 days to enjoy an English speaking country and see Counting Crows while I am out there, weird how they are there the same time.

I be gone

BK

It's already May! Prague and onto Vienna

2009-04-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

My first night in Prague was pretty uneventful. As I previously mentioned I got some good food, but after that I pretty much retired for the night. I went to sleep around 2 where a night of crazy dreams of teeth falling out, vampire teeth, and other weird things floated through my head. The dreaming ended relatively quick though because to start the second day in Prague a loud banging outside the hostel commenced around 6 a.m. There was some construction going on right by the hostel, I was able to get back to sleep, but woke up every 15 minutes until finally I had enough around 9. I lounged around the hostel for a bit and then headed out.

I decided I'd just walk and see where it takes me. The day was gloomy as the threat of rain existed all day long and it was slightly chilly. It turned out my hostel does laundry so I made the wisest decision I could before leaving. I decided it'd be a no socks or underwear day so I can make sure every piece of clothing (besides the shirt and pants I was forced to wear) could be clean for at least another week. I did wear a rain jacket as well, just in case. I walked towards the main part of the city and started exploring. I checked out the astronomical clock, which is real sweet, but impossible to read. There were people taking wedding photos in front, wasn't sure if it was some sort of presentation or legit, but I didn't stick around long enough to hang out. I continued on my way towards what I thought was the Charles Bridge, but ended up in Josefov, the old Jewish quarters.

I decided since I was there and most things I've read the Jewish Quarters in Prague were with checking out I took out my student ID and bought a ticket for 200 korunas for the tour, it's like $10 US, but just fun seemingly having tons of money, when in reality they charge normal prices. First I started at the synaguoge dedicated to the holocaust. It's pretty intense, inside over 80,000 names cover the walls of victims from the Czech Republic. I looked around for a while seeing how many familiar type names I could find. Klein was unfortunately one of the most popular Czech names for victims, which was interesting to see. There were at least a couple hundred. Continuing on in that synaguoge you go upstairs to see their exhibition of drawings by children victims of concentration camps. I think I realized that it's the concept of kids in the holocaust that effects me more than anything. The drawings came from the Terezin concentration camp with the only reason for drawings being that it was a camp often used for propoganda to show children and adults had "normal" lives there. Of course most died of starvation or were shipped out quickly to the death camps after being used there. It was amazing seeing what different kids would draw. Some had pictures of people being executed, others had stuff related to their past, some getting on the trains, and much more. Some were traditional kids drawings and others were extremely well done by kids who clearly if they would have been allowed could have been artists.

After that depressing stroll I continued on the Jewish quarters tour. I walked through the oldest Jewish cemetary in Prague, but most headstones were faded with some dating back to the 1400s. I continued to check out the other displays at the various synaguoges with their different torah coverings, history, old prayer books, etc. Nothing was as nearly impactful as the first stop I made though. Afterwards I decided it was time to eat. I at first had thoughts of going to the oldest Jewish restaurant in that area, it looked like a good menu until I saw that it was also the most expensive restaurant known to man. So I did the next best thing, went to a nearby restaurant and had a traditional Czech meal. First I started with Czech Sausage advertised with a spicy and sour seasoning. It reminded me of salami, stuffed with a pickle, and peppers surrounding it. Wasn't crazy spicy, but very good. Next up I went with the classic pig knuckle (knee) for my meal. It was fantastic, best decision I made. It came with some mustard and horse radish, but the meat itself could be eaten on it's own. If it wasn't for the concept of what it was, I think people would enjoy it a lot more.

From there I decided it was time to really find the Charles Bridge and see what it's about. It's under construction, which is semi disappointing, but was nice to walk across, see people rubbing the statues for good luck and check out the other part of the city. My camera battery was getting close to dying so I told myself I'd come back tomorrow and save up my pictures for the castle I was walking to. I went to the Prague Castle area, I didn't pay for any of the exhibitions or anything as most of it is open and walked around checking it all out. The church there was huge and real nice on the inside, and the rest of the land gave a great view of the city.

Afterwards it was starting to rain and get darker so I headed back to the hostel to check train times for when I go to Vienna and maybe go book that. It would've been a pretty long walk, so I only walked about 30 minutes until I got on the metro then a tram and took it the rest of the way towards the hostel. I started to check out times, found what I wanted and then passed out. Two hours later I woke up starving as it was around 7:30, I got my laundry which was done, took a shower and decided I'd head out. Moment I stepped out the door it started to pour so I went back inside for a while. About 45 minutes later I went out and walked through the drizzle to find some food. I ended up at a bar I had previously seen in my dreams (it's like the 4th time on the trip it's happened to me with a place or moment). I got some fried cheese and fries, a healthy Czech offering as well as a beer because beer is a lot cheaper than water, so may as well drink it.

From there I walked around a bit in the rain, but I was still groggy, not in the mood to do much, and hadn't met anyone. In my room of 8 beds, I only had 2 roommates the first two nights, a younger Asian couple who seems to speak minimal English and have been in the room getting ready to sleep by 10 both nights. I read for a bit and then called it a night, exhausted from a restless night, a day I stressed my mind out with, and the rain. Throughout the night I had more nightmares, don't remember them as vividly, but there must be something with Prague and my sleeping (many myths of Prague ghosts and haunted stories do exist, so who knows).

This morning the construction wasn't as loud, I slept til about 9:30 and felt quite refreshed. I expected rain again as the weather predicted, but instead it was around 70 and sunny, a good day to explore. I took a bit of a different path than the previous day, I wanted to get to the Charles Bridge again, not rush through and rub the statues for good luck so the nightmares will stop. I grabbed a couple Czech pastries of which I can't remember the names. One was like a twisted donut and the other a donut with a nice apple filling. I also bought my train ticket to Vienna, even though getting a hostel starting tomorrow and for this weekend with it being Labor Day in Europe has not been an easy task. I think I finally found one, but I could just end up sleeping in a park tomorrow as well. From there I figured out the best path to the Bridge, passed by the astronomical clock again as a new couple were taking their wedding photos and finally made my way there.

With the gorgeous weather there were a lot more people on the bridge, but it also made the walk across more enjoyable. I rubbed the gold dog on the statue for luck and continued on. I wanted to head in the opposite direction of the castle and get lost today, as well as check out a few things. First thing I looked for was the John Lennon wall right by the bridge. It's a pretty cool wall that has tons of Beatles/Lennon quotes, drawings, amongst other things that have been written on since. After that I decided I was going to walk towards the Petrin Tower area, a bootleg version of the eiffel tower. I had no desire to go to the top of the tower, but I did have a desire to hike to where it was. It took about an hour to walk all the way to the top, well worth it with the views and scenery. As I reached the top I was starved and dehydrated so I went to the first random stand I saw and ordered a water and a hot dog. The hotdog was probably not cooked and was smothered in vegetables and ketchup, but was good enough. I then reached the tower, saw for a "student" it was only like $2 and went for it. The views up top were great and the 400 or so stairs didn't matter at that point. I took pictures of the area, then began my descent.

I considered taking the tram they offer down, but that'd be taking the easy way out. I walked down in the opposite direction I had went up, though eventually they forced me back to that path. I even tried to avoid it, but when I started going down a path I created in my mind and slipping since my gym shoes couldn't gain traction I decided I'd rather walk down than fall down to my death. On the way down I saw a woman with her jack russel playing on the giant hills/park area, it made me miss my dog, so just in case he reads this I'm letting him know. I made it down in about 35 minutes, wasn't bad and then decided to do more walking. I explored regions that didn't have anything noteworthy from a tourist perspective, but it was good to see less touristy areas for a while. I picked up some gelato on my way, wasn't the best, but I needed some sort of food so I was satisfied and headed back towards the hostel.

I got back to the hostel around 3:45, met a new roommate from Australia, he wanted to go on the pub crawl that night and get some dinner later. Then another roommate came in from England and invited us to go to some club that all his friends were planning on going to. We figured we'd join him. We hung around the hostel for a while, then the Aussie and I got dinner around 8:15 at a pretty decent restaurant, got a nice Ostrich steak and roasted fries, was very good though the meal turned out to be semi-expensive. During the meal the guy was telling me all about his life, I thought he may be BSing for a while, but nobody could make up those stories and turned out he's an international award winning graphic designer with offices in LA and Australia. I did the google check just to see what kind of awards he won, was like 2nd for designer of the year and won another category. He wasn't telling it in a way to try to impress me which I respected. After dinner we headed back and met up with all the people hangin around the hostel. We grabbed a couple beers, I wasn't in the drinking mood so I didn't even drink the ones I bought, but it's fake money here anyway. It went from a group of 30 to 8 of us who actually went out to the club. It was like 4 Australians, 2 Canadians, a dude from England and me. I talked to the 2 Canadian girls for most of the night, mainly the one with the boyfriend, but I knew she'd want to leave early so it was a well thought out plan. The other Australians outside of the guy I had dinner with were real annoying college kids, they were so enamored with the "famous" Australian that they hung on to his every word, trying to see what kind of stuff he could hook them up with in the future. We got to the club around 12:30, it was called the Cross Club, supposedly one of the most famous ones in Prague. It was the most terrifying club I'd ever been in. The building was straight out of the movie Saw with the actual mechanical devices used to kill people. It was a giant warehouse set up as a maze, had all sorts of mechanical instruments hanging on the ceiling and popping out the walls and the people inside were shady Czechs. I was glad everyone else was sufficiently freaked out by the building and it wasn't just me. We hung out for about an hour and headed back to the hostel where we split up. Four of them went to another club and got back at 6 while me and 3 others hung at the hostel. Two of them were the Canadians, and the other one was an Australian trying to get with the one without the boyfriend. The one friend wanted to get back to her hostel, she was staying at a different one, but her friend wasn't gonna go with her so I did the nice thing and walked her back. Wasn't sure how far her hostel was, but luckily only about a 7 minute walk because I didn't feel like wandering around Prague alone at 3:30 a.m.

As for now it's the morning and I'm about to leave for the train station to go to Vienna. Not sure how long I'll be there, only booked two nights, but I'll probably add a third or go to a random Austrian city in between. And now I must go.

Peace

BK

Rest of Amsterdam, Berlin, and now in Prague

2009-04-28T13:41:00.001-07:00

It's been a while, which may be a good thing so people had time to catch up on the extremely long posts I've been dishing out of late for those who have survived reading to this point. Last I left you I had been in Amsterdam in the midst of looming decisions; prostitutes, hallucinogens, marijuana, gouda, ferris wheels, and more.

I'll begin with me reserving my train ticket to Berlin, it was a story I accidentally omitted last time. I headed over there looking to make sure I'd be able to get out at some point. I got in line, got to the desk and then heard a giant commotion behind me. I turned around to see one guy yelling at another, in what appeared to be friends joking around. The one dude getting yelled at had the look of I just pissed my friend off, but he'll get over it as he chases me, but like a person realizing they may die his face turned to a look of terror. The other guy took a big swing nailing him in the face. I was semi-amused until the woman helping me let out a blood-curdling scream. At first I thought this was security procedure, see a fight, scream and get security, but she was visibly shaken. At that moment from behind a wall this huge Indian guy about 6'6 and 300 pounds of pure muscle got in between those two guys. The one who instigated the fight got thrown back, he thought for a brief moment to fight the Indian guy, but he quickly realized he'd be dead instantly. Within another minute security rushed over and separated the two. The woman helping me was broken down in tears (she was in her 60s, and I don't think used to violence) and I had to be helped by someone else. I stuck around for a while to watch them get interviewed. The guy who started the fight ran away before being detained and I couldn't understand the language so had no idea what happened while they spoke with the kid attacked.

As for my last day in Amsterdam, I woke up early to walk around. There was not much more to see museum-wise, and I wasn't in the mood for that stuff anyway. I read about a cool music store went there, they had thousands of records, CDs, and tapes. It was a small store and you basically had to walk around boxes on the floor of records. I spent a little time in there and then I headed on to the Pancake Bakery my sister had been telling me about. I wasn't sure if she was just stoned when she had the pancakes to make them great or if they were that good, so I thought I'd try them out myself. I got there and the place was pretty busy, but very big so was easy to get a seat. I went with a banana and chocolate syrup pancake, one of their house specialties. It was similar to a crepe, but when you got towards the middle it had a solid fluffiness to it at well. I ate it up pretty quick, it was very good and headed on my way to walk around. I decided I'd actually do something that night and once again took my sister's suggestion to see Boom Chicago so I picked up a ticket to that and headed to the hostel. There I finally met a new roommate, so we hung out for a bit, got some dinner and he went on his way. I saw Boom Chicago, it's an impromptu show with all Americans as the cast. There were definitely some funny parts and I like yelling shit out for people to do. I was the random drunk kid alone in the front row, a solid role for myself. After that I decided to meet up with the kid I had met earlier. He was only in Amsterdam for a night so he wanted to walk through the red light district and then hit up some bars. I must say on a Friday night the quality of window girls improves a lot. I was convinced, so I paid about 50 euros for the best 20 minutes of my life, kidding. We did about a 10 minute walk and then did a bit of bar hopping around the city and called it a night.

I woke up the next day with the realization it was my last few hours in Amsterdam and I had choices to make. I apologize to those I mislead into thinking I'd be snorting coke off hookers. I decided against getting high and sitting on a train for 4 hours, I figured I'd be way too panicked. I bought some cheese for the ride and headed on my way. I wanted to get to the train early because I had to switch somewhere. I got on the train and then had about an hour wait at the next track. From there Berlin was an easy ride, getting to the hostel not so much. I tried to follow the directions from online, but couldn't find what they were talking about. I decided to take a chance and start walking. Not the best decision. With my backpack gaining strength as I weakened I knew after 45 minutes of walking it was time to find a new way. I found the closest metro and after switching three times was able to find my hostel, except I went into the Circus Hotel, not the hostel. So finally after being pointed in the right direction I got in to my hostel around 9 p.m at night, and it was Saturday, so I immediately ran to get food knowing I had little time before my night began. I went to a Mexican restaurant, in Germany, I know how sad. I got a chicken fajita knowing that was hard to screw up. I engulfed my first meal of the day and set up camp back at my hostel. Saturday was the NFL draft, so I sat on my iphone skyping with my dad for a few hours and tracking the in betweens on my phone. It may not be what most people do on their first night in Berlin, but I have priorities and obsessions.

The next day I woke up feeling I should meet people. I had met my roommates, 6 people traveling together from Spain. They seemed like a fun crew and were taping a weird movie of themselves singing American pop songs, but I never really spoke with them much. I decided to go on a Sunday flea market tour with my hostel. It'd be a good way to meet people and never know what I'd find. I woke up anxious that morning unfortunately so the ability to meet people was hindered by my own mind. The goal was to fight that feeling. We got to the first market around 11:30, I had yet to talk to anyone, but decided I was gonna wander myself anyway. There were some incredible music collections at the market. It pretty much seemed like a giant garage sale, which made the feel cooler. It wasn't just crap clothing, but truly random stuff like old video games, toys, music, books, and any random thing you could think of. I even saw an Ernie doll I used to have back in the day as a kid. My real mission though was to start trying some of the 1500 kinds of "wursts" that exist in the German culture. I immediately went for one of the most famous, the curry-wurst. A brat smothered in ketchup, curry, and paprika. It was quite fantastic, I was surprised because normally I'm not a huge catchup and sausage combo person, but worked well. We were all slated to rejoin as a group shortly after so I headed over to that area, grabbed a straight up bratwurst on my way this time and sat down with the group. Finally I started meeting a few people, who were all leaving that day, but at least I was able to talk with people for a few hours along the walking. They were students studying abroad, nice girls. I didn't buy anything at the markets, decided I'd head back with the girls who had to catch a train and do some site seeing on my own. I went to the Jewish museum there to see what kind of crazy Jew stuff they would have in Germany. The architecture on the building makes it real interesting to begin with, it's a very interesting set up. The museum took a couple hours to go through, the history was stuff I remembered learning, but they had some real cool actual art, some great history, and nice dedications to the past. The holocaust tower was quite terrifying though. I didn't actually read what it was, I just walked over there, opened the door, watched it shut behind me and realized I was in a pitch black empty cement room. The only light was a sliver of sun left from the outside. It definitely had a real eery feeling and got the point across. After that I walked around the area a bit more, walked down to checkpoint Charlie, took a few pictures. Walked around other parts of Berlin, passed by the holocaust memorial, saw their famous synaguoge and church and pretty much called it night. For some reason I was exhausted, it was pretty late. I grabbed some pizza around the block for real cheap and headed to sleep. On Monday I woke up a bit early, I wanted to do a walking tour, but I didn't make it on time to the first meeting place of the one I was going to do. I went to the Potsdam area, where they have a crazy Sony Center, a giant lego giraffe in front of lego world, and an overall creative area of architecture. I explored and by the time the other walking tours would begin I was too far away. I decided to do the Reichstag, it's free and you get an awesome view of the city. From there I headed back to the hostel after walking around a bit more and met all my new roommates.

One of the new roommates mentioned a pub crawl he was planning on going on. And so me and someone else decided to join along as well. It was a solid decision to go, met some awesome people and had a real fun night for my last night in Berlin. I figured I was recovered enough from my cold 2 weeks ago now that I could drink heavily and be fine with little sleep. I even met a dude who goes to Wisconsin, I finally know someone there. We got to the meeting place around 8:15 and nobody was really there yet so we hesitated for a while. We finally joined along, got our free beer and began. I ended up with 2 beers, and by 8:45 I knew I could be in trouble. We got to the first bar around 9 and immediately someone bought jager bombs. I had never actually had one, but after about 5 attempts at taking it down I finally did. From there the crawl leader handed out our "free" shots (they were like a thimble). The first shot was some good tasting cherry thing, second one was jager, not so tasty. Being that I was sufficiently drunk already I decided not to partake in the absynth shot that took place. During that time I struck up a conversation with some girl who I ended up hanging out with for most of the rest of the night. She wasn't about taking the shot either. We headed to the next bar shortly after where I was immediately handed a "party" shot. Not sure what was in it to be exact, but I had about 3 over the 45 minutes we were there, whoops. I chatted with people, we all took a lot of pictures, and then continued on to the next bar. At the bar the girl kept saying some weird term about getting drunk, I couldn't understand her, but next thing I knew she bought my a long island iced tea, so I wasn't turning that down. With every drink you get a free shot as well, so I figured this would be my last alcoholic endeavor for the evening. I took the shot, drank the long island and was still standing, a great sign. We all headed to the next bar, some semi-beach club type set up. I don't remember much about that place. I ended up on my own for a while as I stumbled drunk into the 16 different sections of the bar/club. I danced a bit, joked a bit with some people, and time flew by. It was finally time to head to the club, so that's what I did. I do remember one of the guides for the pub crawl looked exactly like Matt Nathanson though, it freaked me out. It also allowed me to introduce more people to the wonderful world of Matt, jackpot. The 20 or so of us headed on to the tram, I reconnected with people instead of stumbling around and we made it to the club. We all got to the club, I danced for a while with the girl I met and the others from the crawl. After about an hour at the club everyone got hungry, we all took a cab back to the hostel and ate. The girl had a 5 a.m train to catch and stayed elsewhere than us, so after I bought her the meal (I wasn't gonna let someone buy me a drink and not reciprocate) she had to go. I gave her a hug goodbye, realized I had probably established myself in the all too familiar friend zone about 3 hours ago (or 10 minutes into actually meeting her), laughed at myself and went on my way. We all passed out around 4, but was definitely a fun night.

As for today I hung out with a few of the people from the night before, ate a croissant, ate some sushi and went back to the reichstag with a friend of mine. He needed to know where the train station was and we were right there so we headed on up, it's free and the views are awesome so I enjoyed going again. Afterwards I headed onto my train and took off. I arrived in Prague around 9 p.m, I was a bit nervous. Other cities at night I was fine with arriving in, but this had a weird feel to me. The language is even stranger than others and the directions from the website were a bit odd. I walked through the park they told me to head through after going on the metro, got onto a tram, and finally found the place. It was a lot easier than imagined. I dropped my stuff off, went to a bar across the street to eat. Went with some beef goulash and Czech potato soup, both very good. I liked the place because it had old St Andrews Hall poster for a few concerts as well as other music memorobilia. Anyway, the computers are shutting down here and it's late. I think this was a bit shorter than in the past, maybe I'm doing less or forgetting more. Anyway, I'll try to be back soon. Hope everyone else is well out there.

-BK

Paris and the Dam I look good.

2009-04-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

Last I left you I was getting ready to begin some alone time in France. I was going to get myself a solid meal, walk around a bit and see where the night takes me. I decided on the consistent badgering of Josh I would finally try out Le Academie de Beire. It was only about a 10 minute walk from my hostel, so I figured if I drank a beer or two I'd still be able to make it back. I went to the place, got myself a bucket of mussels, some fries, and in the end 2 Belgian Beers. The first beer I had was a Grimbergen I think Optima ( truthfully I don't remember, but I took a picture for reference) and the second was a beer called Nostradamus (the 10% of content of the first beer left little options of what I could actually pronounce correctly without seeming drunk and what was easy to remember). The mussels, fries, and bieres were very good, I definitely enjoyed the first beer the most though. From there I stumbled back to my hostel and decided to take it easy for a bit.

After taking it easy I got real bored, so I thought why not wander the streets of Paris drunk! I started going down side streets I had yet to truly discover, probably not the best idea. I wasn't really lost, but as I was walking around a man started yelling at me. I thought it was just another you're a tourist let me sell you something deal, so I crossed the street. The man did the same and I kept walking faster, he came right up to me and all I could do was say no to everything he said. I don't know French and I wasn't in the mood to deal with him. He finally went away screaming at me for coming to Paris and not speaking any French, unfortunately for him there are quite a bit of my types around that city. After that awkward exchange I felt it best to find my way back to the hostel. It was about 10 and I figured I could pass out, but instead I got a call from the people I had met earlier in France. So I decided to do the next best thing, run to the metro and meet up with them. It was about a 25 minute metro to their part of town, the plan was to find the Moulin Rouge to just check it out (from the outside, 150 euros is a lot for a show). I met up with them and 2 Aussie friends they had met from their hostel. We walked around, as the man from Sydney claimed he knew where it was. About 15 minutes later we realized that the man did not know where to go. Finally after looking at a map and seeing the direction to somewhat head in we began a trek. We started walking when finally we were able to ask for some semblance of directions from a local. He sent us to the nearby metro. On our walk we noticed something strange, police in riot gear and a very quiet town. I hadn't seen police in riot gear since my days at MSU, but these cops seemed a little more intimidating as to not be here when whatever was to happen was going down. We quickly shot up to the metro station, watched nothing happen from a distance and got out of there to the sex district of Paris. We walked up the street, passing all sorts of sex shows until we reached Moulin Rouge. Many people were gathered outside doing the picture thing as we all did as well. We got back on the metro around midnight, got off at the riot stop where the clear smell of burning suffocated the air and got on our respective metro changes as we all parted ways for the last time as they were headed back to their studyin abroad.

The next day in Paris I was determined to get myself some solid French food and go to the Orsay. I immediately headed down to the Orsay and got myself a crepe before I waited in line for about 30 minutes. It was worth the wait, I really enjoyed the it there, it's more modern art and a lot of stuff I know. I did wonder though, how the man "guarding" the painting titled "The origin of the world" feels about his life. I mean it's a very well done painting, but having to stare at it all day has to make him a little disturbed (the painting is very famous and also of a hairy vagina for those wondering). After spending a couple hours there I decided my next stop was to get lunch. I had read about a place called L'as du Fallafel, it was written in one of my books (for real this time) and supposedly is pretty famous. They had all sorts of celebrity pictures on the wall and are known to be the best fallafel in France and possibly Europe. I'm not a huge fallafel fan normally, but decided why not. I got the fallafel special and it was awesome. It was fallafel in a pita with a lot of radishes, some sauce I put on it, and some other stuff that I can't remember now. I accompanied it with fries and an orange fanta, both excellent choices by myself.

After the meal was complete I realized I had stumbled into the Jewish quarters of France. Surrounding me were delis, kosher pastry shops, and orthodox Jews walking up and down the street. I hung around the area checking it out and taking a bunch of pictures. I continued my trek through the neighborhood when I stumbled upon the Jewish art history museum. I wasn't gonna go in, but I was intrigued. Then I looked and it was gonna cost me 5 euros and I definitely didn't want to go in, however, I felt like a bad Jew cause I could pay money to these other art museums in France and this could go to a smaller place. Plus I was wondering what kind of art history, would there be paintings? sculptures? just old torah dressings? So finally I went in. After the strenuous security check point I finally got inside to pay. I went to pay and jackpot, it was free in the end. I walked around for about an hour, the traditional Jewish known pieces of art (seder plates, torah stuff, a special section on a bris in which I will never be the same) reigned supreme. I was slightly disappointed in that regard because I had seen much of that stuff before, however, the scarce paintings and drawings that did exist by Jewish artists were quite awesome. In the biographies of a lot of the painters they didn't seem to make Judaism a huge part of their lives, thus I think part of the reason they didn't feature stuff by them more so, but what can you do.

After that it was already getting late, I walked back and hung out at my hostel for a bit. Then I decided it was time for my meal. I had discovered a great restaurant area when I had been wandering around earlier in the day so figured I would head back. Of course I never actually do that and took a chance by getting off at a different metro stop. It worked out well, I was in the Bastille area where plenty of restaurants garnished the area. I finally found what I was looking for, stepped in and took a seat. I ordered a ravioli dish with foie gras... I figured if I was spending 20 euros on the very off chance I don't like it, I'd at least have some additional substance with my meal. I got myself a glass of red wine, toasted the night and went to eat. The foie gras was good, it melts in your mouth, which is always fun for food. I'm sure as an actual meal it's prepared a bit differently, but there was a good amount and it was all on top of the ravioli, so I was able to taste before mixing anything else with it. During my meal Ben and Jerrys were passing out mini tubs of ice cream to people, but I unfortunately didn't make it to them in time. I was going to get something else after my meal, but headed back to the hostel and realized the red wine I had was telling me it was time to go to sleep so I passed out for an early night (it was 11 at the time, so not that early).

The next morning I woke up, got myself one last pastry (some chocolate filled thing) and headed to the train station. I decided to mix things up on my train ride this time, watch some Boy Meets World on my ipod instead since I missed out seeing French Topanga while I was there, thought why not watch the episode. I was slated to switch trains in Belgium, my ticket was for the fast train there and a slow train back or I could try to pay to stay on the fast train. Instead I acted lost, met a nice conducter type dude, and he let me stay on the train for free. I got to Amsterdam a couple hours earlier than anticipated, walked 10 minutes from the train station, smelled an aroma in the air making me check to see if certain friends of mine had actually met me (realized it's just the way the city smells) and ended up at my hostel (which also happens to be a coffee shop).

I decided I'd explore the city, one thing I really liked was although they may not have a specialization of their own food tons of restaurants, cheese shops and street vendors exist here. After walking around for about an hour I realized I had only eaten some pringles and a chocolate thing that day so I stopped by a restaurant called Oorf. I ordered a club sandwich and cheese sticks. Now I figured they wouldn't be normal cheese sticks so I wanted to see their take. It was the best decision of my life. I'm not sure the cheese it was filled with (tasted like kaseri, the saganaki cheese) and the fried outside was the spring roll/egg roll/tempura type filling. It was 6 sticks of heaven, who needs to smoke when you can have shit like that here! After I decided to wander the streets some more, it wasn't dark yet, but was beginning. I walked pretty far away from my hostel, the streets are easy to navigate though. As I walked I had a flashback to the French dude on the streets. This time it was 2 punk kids hanging out who started yelling at me. I was sober this time and just left as they called me a motherfucker for not taking a second to chat with them.

I finally headed back to the hostel as the darkness set in and the red lights of the city shined brightly. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the evening, hadn't really met anyone, but decided to walk the red light district. I wasn't sure how people would react to the kid with the black hoodie walking by himself. I tried to join along with the old people tours (so many of them, kind of insane) that would go up and down the alleys with amusement. There were some beautiful women, lots of them smoking or on their cellphones in the window. There were also some really ugly women and most just stood there. Every once in a while you'd see a man slide up secretly to negotiate some prices, but not too much. After an hour I got hungry again, decided to hit up some "New York Style" pizza joint on the street, was pretty good and walked around some more til I was tired. Went to bed around midnight after mapping out the next day.

I woke up this morning with the intent of getting some breakfast and then to go straight to the Anne Frank house. I stopped at the cheese shop next to my hostel, grabbed 3 euros worth of gouda (which turned out well, I ate about 3/4 throughout the day until I realized by 6 p.m it probably was not good to still be eating from my pocket). I wasn't sure how I'd react to Anne Frank, especially by myself. I got there in the cold weather in about 15 minutes after walking from my hostel. I waited in line for about 15 more minutes and got in there. I was hit pretty hard by it, I read the book as a kid and the holocaust has always had some effect on me (I still remember my most terrifying dream in 8th grade after reading that book of being taken by the Nazis), but I was a kid so it's not the same. I walked through looking at what remained, the quotes, and the steep staircases to walk through. I didn't cry (I don't do that in front of people), but something definitely hit me emotionally. It was an awesome place though, I recommend it to anyone. I feel like maybe I should read it again, but I don't know if I could handle it mentally to be honest, it was pretty intense in there. I decided to go to the Van Gogh museum afterwards, it was about a 30 minute walk, but much needed and worked out great. By the time I was there my mind was cleared, I had thought through everything and made it to the museum.

I wasn't gonna go to the Van Gogh, but then I saw the adds for a special exhibition of Colours of the Night of Van Gogh. They had borrowed Starry Night from New York and had a special exhibit of how he built up to that painting. The whole museum as a whole was great, I really enjoy his art, but the exhibit made it more than worth the price of admission. I had always wanted to see Starry Night (with the whole Boy Meets World connection of course) and it was pretty awesome. After the hour or so I spent there it was off to the Rijksmuseum. It's under heavy construction so it was actually a pretty short trip as to what you could actually see. It did have some amazing paintings, but worked out well with the amount since I had just been in another art museum anyway.

I grabbed a hot dog on the street (decent, not great) and headed what I assumed was either for real lunch or the hostel. Instead I bumped right into the Heinekin brewery and thought what better time than now with a pretty empty stomach to get free alcohol. It was a pretty sweet tour, taking you through their history, tasting the beer in different steps, tasting the barley, getting a couple free drinks, stealing a free coaster (I was drunk, nobody noticed) and they even had a motion ride of the beer making process. Afterwards I headed up the street, grabbed a bagel with tuna (I thought I was at Brueggers I guess), they put capers and olives on those sandwiches, was good tuna on it's own, it don't need that stuff! I quickly sobered up with food and finally headed back to my hostel. It wasn't too hard to find, I used previous places I ate at to guide my way back.

As for the smoking, the brownies, the spacecakes, I'm still undecided. I have one more day here. I think if I was with someone else or had met more than the one guy in my hostel (he's just staying here to look for a place to live in Haarlem) maybe I'd do it and I still may. It's not a lack of knowledge or afraid of what I may accidentally put in my body, I'd like to think I actually know a decent amount about the stuff for someone who doesn't smoke thanks to unnamed people, but it just doesn't have that same feel by myself. Of course tomorrow, a day I basically have of freedom maybe I'll mix things up and go for it, we shall see. Anyway, it was a long one, but hope you enjoyed what you read. Berlin on Saturday, Amsterdam tomorrow, and who knows whereelse I'll be headed.

I be out (and yes I'm in a coffee shop using their internet and probably am high off the 2nd hand smoke cause I just started smiling randomly, eeeeeekers)

B K

Barcelona to Paris

2009-04-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I have about twenty minutes to attempt an update (the computers here are timed), so I will see what I can do. My final days in Barcelona were good, but more of an attempt to get healthy and relax more than anything. I probably missed out on a few things, but I also got to walk around, doing my own thing, and sleeping to get healthy. I went to the Sagrada Familia one of those days, walked around the outside. I didn't feel like paying to go in, I'll probably doing that at enough churches, plus the mystique of the project not being completed I think adds to it more than anything. It does make me wonder if they ever do actually finish it in 15 years, I think that would take something away from the attraction that's been created. After that I walked around Las Ramblas, had a solid meal of fried boquarones and some meat thing that I once again didn't know what I was getting, but was fine. I must admit by the end of all the random pig, I was ready to move on to other animal meats. Afterwards I headed back to my hostel for a nap since I was still sick (on Friday). I got to my room where new roommates existed. A girl was passed out cold on the top bunk, so it looked like a good idea and I took a siesta on my own (it would've been awkward to hop in the bed with her). Later on I woke up, met her, she had just arrived from New York and traveling on her own. My other roommates were the Belgians that had already been there previous nights, but had a room change. We all went to dinner, got some more paella and talked. Everyone was going out that night, but there was no way with the smoke and the 5 a.m nights of Barcelona I could've survived. I did enjoy one of the receptionists trying to get me to come out. Heavily reminded me of Hank Azaria playing Claude in the movie Along Came Polly. Every time he'd see me he'd say the same thing, "You go party Benjie" "nah not tonight" okay then, you should party. About 20 minutes later the same exact conversation, just subsitute party for scuba and you have your character. Another thing I found entertaining, however, was the story the girl told at dinner before coming to Europe. She said a big reason was she freaked out when her boyfriend asked her to move in. She regrets it and think she made a huge mistake, but just didn't want to move in so didn't know how to react. Fast forward to 5 a.m when people are getting back from the bar and you can clearly hear her drunk in the hall being hit on and making out with the irritating English dude down the hall. Irritating because it was 5, I was trying to sleep and dude was loud as hell trying to get in the room, luckily she did have enough respect for me to say there is a sick kid in the room. I know things happen, people get drunk, but for some reason I think girls like that (and the drunk English guy who wouldn't take no) are the ones who make it hard for a normal guy like myself to get a girl in this world. For the dude who is probably depressed at home, I hope she doesn't try to get back with him and he is able to do his own thing. To end my time in Spain I decided to check out all the local markets open on Saturday. There is a Catalunyan one (basically I was semi-lost and stumbled into it) that was big time for the locals. Lots of meats, cheeses, less touristy restaurants inside the market, solid fish and seafood, as well as a lot less people who could speak English. I wanted to get some cheese from there, but being that I barely speak Spanish, don't speak any Cataylun (or whatever the hell they want to call their own language in a country that already has a language), I was unable to get past people to actually attempt to order. I decided I'd walk around some more and stumbled into the Las ramblas food market. It was semi for tourists and semi for locals. Probably a bit more pricey than the other one, but a lot more stands and options overall, plus more English. I walked around, gazing at the goat brains, whole pig heads, hearts, eye balls and what I think were skinned rabbits. I wasn't able to find really any of that stuff at restaurants, but probably for the better. I finally found a place with a nice cheese stand that I figured I should order, I found a cheap mini garroxta wheel, bout a kg worth of cheese for 10 euros. Figured it'd be a nice treat for the overnight train. I headed back, got some dinner and then the next train ride began.

I didn't have a sleeper car this time, just a reclining seat on the train. I was fine with that, assuming it'd make things better and I wouldn't get freaked out. I wasn't freaked out in the sense of the people around me, but once again I was doomed with nightmares. The movement on the train apparently rattles my mind (and probably eating a ton of cheese before sleeping didn't help) as dreams of being chased, stormy weather, and girls of my past (semi-kidding, I mean they were in some of the nightmares, but I just found it funny to add in that in a nightmare way, clearly taking away from it with this long explanation). I was able to get more sleep this time in a regular seat than sleeper car, so hopefully any remaining overnight trains can be taken in this manner. I arrived in Paris at around 8 a.m, pretty tired, but with a feeling that my cold was nearing its end point. I jumped on the metro, headed right to my hostel and found it with ease. I checked in, but there is a policy of not being in the building from 11-4, so I immediately had to store my bags and depart from the vicinity.

I decided I'd go on a walking tour that I saw posted. They're free and they were offered in other cities I had been in, so I went for it this time. It worked out well, an Australian chick led the way on the tour, which lasted about 4 hours. On the tour we all had to mention where we were from, 2 people said Detroit or so I thought, but I was too far away to hear and the tour guide thought they said Sweden so I ignored that. Finally like 20 minutes later she asked them again and this time Detroit was correct. It turned out there were EMU students studying abroad. I ended up striking up a conversation with them and after the tour we all hung out around Paris. We started at the Louvre to check out the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo and other historical pieces there. I enjoyed the place (the 1/4 of art work that I probably actually saw) and we continued on from there. We walked around, got some ice cream and finally made the trek over to the Eiffel tour. I was really excited to climb it. We got in line, only about a 30 minute wait (not bad at all). In line we met a woman from the UK, I had never heard someone talk so much in my life. She was extremely nice and had good stories, but nobody else was able to get a word in for much of the next four hours. On the way through the line we got to the security checkpoint. Everyone got through, except me. I started beeping like crazy. First I took out my phone, then my camera, still went off, then took off my watch and took some change out, still went off, took off my glasses and finally didn;t go off. The best part of the whole thing is the swiss army knife in my pocket that did not beep. I had been using it to cut cheese and forgot it was in there til after. I'm glad a camera and phone will go off, but not a knife. We got our ticket and turned out we were in the wrong line to walk. I tried to convince the others to walk up, but to no avail we took the lift up. We went up, took pictures, went up some more, took some more pictures. It is a pretty incredible view and I was satisfied with seeing it and being up there. I'm glad I had a few people with me, although it'd be fun on my own as well, it was good having some company. By the end I definitely made sure we would at the very least walk down. We did it, didn't take long at all. The English girl went her way after another 30 minutes of conversation. The good thing about her talking so much was the ability to witness a rare feat. With so many people trying to sell shit and follow you on the streets, she was able to out talk them to the point where they ran away from her. She started telling the man to sell condoms, I've never seen someone more terrified in my life. The Persian ran away and it wasn't from the cops. Afterwards I walked back to the main city with the others. We got to watch the Eiffel tower light up, see all the other monuments lit up at night and went to get some food. Unfortunately it was late, we were all together and once again I gave in to peer pressure, we went to mcdonalds. Now although the burger was more real beef and tasted fine, I was still disappointed in the end result. After that we hung out some more, walked the fancy streets, and called it a night.

Today I met up with them for a bit, went to the Arc de Triumphe with a nice view from top. I did the Notre Dame, very nice on the inside (I didn't want to go to the top, wasn't worth it). We walked by the Statue of Liberty the French one, nothing special, but semi-entertaining to look at. A few museums we intended to go to today were unfortunately closed (I'll do them tomorrow), but on the way my glasses randomly broke. The screw fell out, into a bunch of dirt and I was pissed. We were walking, first tried a mall pharmacy, but although they had glasses no screw. From there I saw a high end glasses shop. I went in and the guy could not understand what I was saying. Finally I pointed to the 2 screw holes and showed him one was missing. He fixed it immediately and I was semi shocked there was no charge. I also finally got an ipod/phone charger from a local store that has an "Apple in-store area" which worked out well. Afterwards they got some fast food again, a place called Quick, essentially a French mcdonalds with a different name, I refused this time. I picked up a croissant and after we broke up I got some solid French onion soup (which irritates me that some places actually call it French Onion soup here, just call it onion soup, we know it's yours!) and a solid lemon citrus crepe. It was expensive, but so worth it. Tonight I envision myself splurging on a good meal, I can't be in France and not start eating random good shit even if nobody else will do it with me and even if it costs a ton. Not sure if I'm going to meet up with them again or do my own thing. I kind of want to be on my own and explore places at night, so we shall see if I'm able to reject them.

Anyway I extended my internet time, stole an extra password and luckily they haven't noticed it's been 45 minutes, but now I must go. I'm gonna head to the train station, book my dream train right to the land of drugs and hoes for Wednesday and then see where the night takes me, hopefully to a world with lots of food.

Hollerin-

BK

Barcelonaaaa

2009-04-17T01:20:00.000-07:00

What up my people. I am in currently in Barcelona, I arrived on Wednesday evening after leaving Madrid. The train was great, it's one of those bullet trains, goes 300 km per hour. The scenery on the train ride was incredible though in the open country. They were showing High School Musical 3, shockingly the one Ive never seen, but I resisted watching it and wouldnt have understood it in Spanish anyway. I listened to my ipod, tried to sleep a little and take in the atmosphere.

When I got to Barcelona I came straight to my hostel. It's a little far out from the main portions of Barcelona, but not terrible. Its definitely the worst of the hostels so far, but not even that bad, rooms are tiny and not great lockers to store stuff in, but what can you do. I immediately went and got some food after checking in because I was starved at that point. I went to this BraCafe (I thought it meant all the waitresses would be in bras, not that it was a Brazillian Cafe!). It was good, I ordered something random, turned out to be an omelet, with a side of some sort of ham, potatoes, and bruschetta. Not bad at all. Afterwards came back to the hostel and there were signs for a party that night where the hostel was taking everyone out to a club and bar. I figured I'd go because it'd be a good way to meet people.

I met my roommates who were all going to this club thing before we left. I wasnt a huge fan, they were nice, but typical college I want to get fucked up type kids, not my crowd as many of you know. They were all about "pregaming" and I knew at that point they just werent going to be my style. I showed up around 10:30, we all headed out around 11. I met a bunch of people from Belgium who were real nice, some guy from the UK, I think he was Malaysian, and one more guy who I had no idea what country he was from, maybe Russia/I had no idea what he was saying (and we talked for about 3 hours that night, high comedy for me). We went to this first bar called el Gato Negro (the black cat), it specializes in over 500 different types of shots, including many flaming ones. It was entertaining. I took 2 shots. First shot I took I looked randomly and picked one. I went with Casper, hes a friendly ghost and I figured shot wise itd be pretty easy. It was very easy, however, I think at that point it was determined I may be gay by the whip cream on top of the shot. It was easy though and thats all I cared about. I did have one other shot after with the dude who couldnt speak English. I had him order it (not the best idea) and when I went to pay for mine, the woman thought I had paid for both, so essentially I bought this dude a shot and I was stuck. I think he set me up! I have no idea what the shot was, mixed some kind of red and blue thing together. Then you swish it in your mouth for 10 seconds like mouth wash and suck it in, making you cough. Ouch. That shit burned and luckily at that point we were heading to the club.

We got to the club around 12:30, but everyone kept saying it was early. There were Spanisher rappers up on stage, one wearing a tshirt saying I'm the new black, pretty funny. They were whatever, nobody enjoyed them and when they left and the DJ started the place started "bumping." I had a drink when I got there cause we all got free drinks. Made the same mistake again, however, as I let the Belgium kids just get me a drink so I didnt have to cut through. They got me what they were drinking, vodka and pepsi. It was fucking sick, what kind of animals are they! Afterwards everyone wanted to dance, so I went to the floor, danced for a while, talked to the dude from the UK and the one I didnt understand a word he was saying. I thought to myself if I cant pick up a girl in the US, no chance could I pick up one where I dont speak their language. I was right, every time I'd even get remotely close to a girl as I danced she moved away and I wasn't even trying to dance with them, I'm not that outgoing yet! I always enjoyed that form of rejection though, it happens often. I was getting pretty tired, the dude from the UK was almost passed out, and the dude who couldnt speak English said he wanted to go at 3:30. So we planned on that. Around 3:30 I left with the UK guy, the non-English speaking dude was having fun again I guess. We got back around 3:45, I was exhausted. My roommates werent back yet and so I knew I'd be woken up at some point soon. I passed out and starting at about 5:30 a.m until 8 a.m they kept coming in and out of the room. Finally they went to sleep at 8, I slept for another hour, looked at my watch and thought it was 4 p.m. I freaked out, then I realized I'm an idiot and saw what I thought was 11, so a little better, but not much. I immediately got up to start my day and turns out it was only like 9:30, whoops.

I decided first to buy soap since I had left it at the last hostel and figured I should shower at some point here. I went to the drug places right next to here, bought a random soap and then figured Id walk to Las Ramblas. Its 5.3 kms away, if I knew this I probably would not have walked. It was sunny the whole time at least, I had to make it the train station to get my ticket for Paris. I did that and it was perfect because as soon as I got inside a huge hail/thunderstorm came crashing down. I waited it out for a little and then headed on my way to get lunch. I had read somewhere about a great Paella place, so I walked around Las Ramblas, took some photos and ended up at La Fonda. I had the special 3 course menu del dia with some paella, some pork and potato thing I ordered (I took a guess, was still good), and some chocolate pie. The Paella was great, lots of fresh seafood, good rice and good vegetables. It also came with a drink so I got a glass of red wine. Wasnt bad at all. I had a nice relaxing meal, went on my way and headed around the area. I stumbled to the picasso museum (I was slightly drunk), decided why not go in since it was still raining off and on and checked it out. About 10 minutes in though I started feeling sick. A cold was coming on strong. I started sneezing out of control, semi-rushed through the rest and tried to figure out the quickest way back. In the end, I walked about 6 kms back to the hostel, not the best idea for someone who is sick. I made it back and immediately tried to take a nap. That didnt last long with the roommates coming in and out constantly. I decided I'd do laundry for 5 euros, but turns out they do it for you, so that was a bonus. I pretty much laid in bed the rest of the day, got a quick dinner next to the hostel (a bacon bocadillo and a plate of manchego cheese). Got back to the hostel and laid around. Finally my rommates left around 12 to go out. I turned off the light and slept until they got back and did the in and out thing at around 6 again. Luckily they were checking out so they were gone by 8. I slept til 10, then the housecleaning woke me to clean up their beds for the next person, oh well.

I still have a cold this morning and dont feel the best, but I'm going to try to see a few more things to make Barcelona more worth it. I do like it better than madrid, lot more room on streets and overall a nice city. I'd rather rest and not be sick for the rest of the trip though than ruin it all on Barcelona. Hopefully one more good nights sleep and I'll be fine to explore on Saturday (I have all day until my train at 10 at night, so at least I should sneak a few things in without killing myself). I won't walk today though, try to take buses and metros.

Anyway, I will see you in Paris!

BK

Madridito

2009-04-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

My last night in Madrid is for the most part complete, so I thought why not update on the past couple days. You'll be glad to know that this will be my first semi-drunk post of the tour (three beers is a lot), but hey if I can make it back to my hostel after getting lost semi-drunk, then I think I can get through this as well! Before posting I gotta say, I love listening to people try and hit on girls in hostels. Oh the movie 13 days, that's my favorite! You're from New Mexico, I've never been, but I heard it's just so incredible around there. It's cute.

On Monday (after posting to the blog) I went right to the Reina Sofia (modern art museum) in Spain. It was quite mind blowing. I decided to get fancy and even go with a headset to find out what I was actually looking at. (quick note: it's now Wednesday, they closed the computer room last night for some reason so I couldn't finish, so here is the rest, in completely sober and rested form). I really enjoyed the museum, I had my ipod going for most of it taking breaks in between the paintings that had talks about them. The special exhibitions they had weren't anything special, but the building itself and the permanent collections were very much worth seeing. Afterwards I decided to get my first meal, there was a small restaurant across from the art museum. I went with a jamon iberico sandwich, was a fantastic choice if I must say. From there I just walked the streets, went back to the hostel to take a shower since I had been on that train and couldn't check in when I got here at that point. I met a few people in my room and then did some more walking. Went to Plaza Mayor, a big touristy area, but was nice to see. The weather was pretty decent Monday so I wanted to take advantage. I went back to the hostel after a while to look up a good place to eat. I ran into one of the people staying in my hostel who was also going to grab some dinner, so I asked her if she wanted to join me. No idea how old she is, but she is from Argentina as well as a Jew, so we went to one of the places that serve Doner Kebabs. Basically just cheap kebabs and middle eastern type food. We had a good conversation talked about our respective countries, a little bit of Judaism (and how neither of us could even consider keeping passover in Europe, more specifically Spain where it's 100% pig, bread, and cheese around here). After eating we just headed back to the hostel. I was exhausted from the train etc. so I was just going to hang out. I went and sat on the couches in the main room where I started talking to a couple Americans who were here. One was studying abroad, the other quit her job and was traveling (it's extremely common apparently, I've met numerous people who are doing that and even a tour guide from America who did that). We all talked, watched some TV, which is pretty funny all in Spanish. Then we started flipping through channels more and the disney channel was showing the best show ever, in Spanish, but I know it well enough that I was able to describe and even say some lines as to what was happening on Boy Meets World! I was a little too excited, they didn't understand. One of the kids was like 20, so BMW is before his time.

On Tuesday I woke up excited to go to the Prado, I got there around 10, the line for the permanent collection wasn't too terrible, but the special Francis Bacon exhibit line was already around the corner so I decided I'd be skipping that. I went to get my student ticket and the guy asked to see my ID, showed him it, then he asked for my passport. Looked at my age and refused to let me have the student discount, saying only students 24 or under get the discount, such a fucking lie! I was so pissed, it kind of put a tamper on my experience. I didn't get the headphones this time, which was fine, they have a lot more English descriptions of important pieces around there. I walked around for a little over 2 hours, I was impressed with a lot of the paintings and real old sculptures, though I think I may have enjoyed the Reina Sofia a little more for my tastes. After that I went and got some food. Went with a morcilla de burgos bocadilla or a blood sausage (with rice mixed in) sub sandwich and a beer. It was good, I liked the rice and whole concotion they had with it. Afterwards I headed back to the hostel for a few and decided I better book my train ride to Barcelona and also my hostel since I was planning on going the next day. I went to the train station, got my reservation (it cost me 10 euros, but the actual train ride is 110 euros, so I'm glad I got this rail pass or it'd be bus riding for me!). From there I decided I wanted to go on a tapas tour offered. I went to the subway cause no way could I walk in time, got on and didn't pay close enough attention so I started heading the opposite way. I quickly changed directions got to the Tapas tour and it was just me and one other person, who turned out was staying at my hostel. The tour guide said he'd take us around for an hour instead of the full tour (saved me 14 euros). We got some beers, tapas, and got a small tour of the city for free (outside of the beer).

When I got back I had an email from a person from Lisbon as to where to meet up. So I got ready for that an headed to an Irish pub to watch the Liverpool vs. Chelsea soccer game. It was actually a pretty entertaining game. We had a few beers and talked for a while. It was a real good conversation, he's one of the UM people, but not a bad person at all. We had seemingly been through similar situations in different aspects of life and had a good understanding of each other, I always enjoy meeting genuinely nice people. So maybe I'll hang out with him when we're both back in Michigan or something. Afterwards I knew where I was going, but I realized that was during the day. It was pouring rain so I got soaked, kept venturing around and finally arrived at my hostel after a few turns here and there. I knew I'd be fine though, it's not that big of a city umm. Anyway, I must check out and get ready to explore for a few hours before Barcelona. Have a good one all!

'BK

Holiday in Spain

2009-04-13T02:42:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Spain this morning and thought I'd give a quick update about the final two days in Lisbon and the train ride here before I begin my day. Saturday I was planning on going to Sintra, but unfortunately that tour got cancelled. For some reason I woke up semi-depressed and was not sure what I was going to do with my day. Since I was planning on going to Sintra on Saturday, some of the college students I met left the morning, and the English and Swiss girls were already gone for the day I was on my own. It worked out well, I went to Sao Sebastio a different part of Lisboa where there are a lot of parks, a huge mall, and the Calouste Gulbenkian museum consisting of his art collection, a temporary Darwin Exhibit, and a modern art museum attached. I took the metro over to the area, thought it was about time I get used to public transportation. It was pretty simple getting there and Lisbon's metro is very clean and not very busy. It drops you off in the mall in Sao Sebastio, which is great, but with 20 exits possible it was tough to find where I was going. So tough in fact that I got lost walking to the museums and instead ended up at a couple different parks and by a couple different parks I mean the same park, just different ends of it (which worked out besides the rain with amazing views of the city and river). Finally after about an hour of wandering the world I broke it down on the map as to where I had to go. I made it back to the mall and got to the museums. The modern art museum was small and for the most part unnoteworthy, but cheap to see with a "student" discount. The actual Gulbenkian was real nice. I put on my ipod and just looked at art all day. By the end of my art exploration I was feeling better about myself and where I was. Since it was already 3 and I still hadn't eaten due to not knowing what time museums closed on a holiday weekend I went to the mall and ate in their food court at "Sopa." I realize I have fun with ordering food because I don't have any idea what it is I'm ordering. I pointed to a soup that a couple people in front of me got, then to a piece of quiche with Spinach and tomatoes (turned out they were weird lookin carrots), and a bottle of water and paid. I found a place to sit. The soup was fine, pretty plain, but seemed to have a slight seafood base, but no actual seafood. The quiche caught me off guard cause it was pretty cold and after hot soup it was unexpected. Finally after about the 6th switch between soup and quiche I got the temp change down. Then I got back on the metro and headed back.

I got back around 6:30, knocked on the room of the girls I knew were still there and we planned on eating dinner at 9. We went to some Italian place, it was close, one of them was sick, and it was semi-cold out. The food was pretty good, though we all forgot about the classic Portugees move of putting down bread and appetizers on the table in what would in anywhere else appear to be free, instead you eat you pay. We all some bread, but what can you do, we knew for the next night. My food was good, just some Wild mushroom risotta (they were out of what I originally ordered) and a nice cheese appetizer that I can't remember the name of right now with tomato sauce etc. Afterwards we went back to the hostel, started hangin out and then we saw a bunch of new people hanging out at the hostel. Turns out it was a bunch of University of Michigan kids. They seemed very excited to hear I was from (the state of) Michigan. All were real nice down to earth kids so we all hung out the rest of the night. Most the city was shutdown with Easter preparations the next day and we just watched a movie. Went to bed after and the next day was set to begin.

I knew I had a long day ahead of me on Sunday so no clue what I was going to do. I just had to be at the train station by 10:30 p.m to get to Madrid. I got downstairs in the morning and saw the UM kids and asked what they were up to for the day. Everyone was planning on heading to Sintra. There were a lot of us who ended up going. The girl from Switzerland, about 5 UM kids, myself and 2 girls I met in the morning from St. Johns University. We got to Sintra around 12:45, bout a 40 minute train ride outside of Lisbon. The city was full of what were presumably tourists. We started walking and heading towards the castles and palaces the city was known for. After finding a small palace first, and walking around the area we were split on what to do next. The main Castle and Palace are on mountains, we looked up and I've never seen something that seemed further away in my life. You think Everest is bad, try walking to the top of Castelo de Mouros or Palacia Pena! We got some food, the group ended up getting split up afterwards and we went our own ways. It was me, St Johns, one UM kid separated from his crew, and the Swiss. I had a lot of fun walking to the top and learning about each person. After a little more than an hour walk or swim if you consider the sweat I was drenched in we reached the castle. And then realized we needed a ticket. Instead of just going to the door to see if we could buy a ticket we asked a random tourists. They sent us to a ticket office about 10 minutes away. We were able to buy both Palace and Castle tickets from there. We met back up with the other part of the group, and then quickly got separated into our mini groups again once we reached the castle. We realized there was only one more thing to do, conquer the castle. Just like Mario, I wanted though 5,000 points to get on top of the flag pole! I kept climbing higher until we all reached the pinnacle. There were incredible views of the city, the Palace across on a totally other mountain just leading to a feeling of not again, and the look down of what could only be considered a terrifying 50,000 foot fall or like 3,000. We all took pictures, walked around and then headed to the Palace. We were told it was about 10 minutes away. We arrived to the entrance, and they were about right. The true walk, however, was about 15 more minutes of step climbing and paths to walk up the mountain to get there. We arrived at this Palace that looked pretty incredible with a multi-colored outside, awesome architecture, great statues, and more incredible views. We took some more pictures, went inside to look at the history (no pictures allowed in there) and felt relieved that we completed the journey. Afterwards we decided maybe we would take the bus down, but after a while we knew the true feeling of accomplishment wouldn't be the same without getting lost in Sintra for over an hour trying to find a way back to the train station. Random dogs popped up scaring the shit out of me, cars came flying down winding roads we were walking on with no sidewalks, and thinking we remembered walking past a certain house when we clearly did not led to an enjoyable, yet nerve racking time. It was already 6, the last train leaves at 8, we were hungry, I had to get to Madrid and we didn't know where we were. Finally though after just sticking to the belief of keep going down the mountain and we'd be golden, we saw familiar structures in the distance.

We got back to Lisboa, I was drenched in sweat still (technically still am), and relaxed for about 5 minutes. It was almost 8 so we went to eat before I left. The restaurant was okay, had some grilled sole and tomato soup. It took a long time though so by 9:15 I asked for my check separately, paid, took a picture of the table, and said my goodbyes. I headed right to the hostel to pick up my luggage and knew I could take the metro two stops down to the train station. I ran down the steps, walked to the station, knew I had little cash or the rest was in my bag I couldn't go through a the moment, but it shouldn't cost me much I thought. I got my ticket and try to scan my metro pass and look up and see crazy lines and lots of x's. Apparently the metro got shutdown for the night. I was freaked out. I had about 45 minutes still, rushed back to the hostel, asked if she could get me a cab and how much it'd be. She said it'd be about $5 euros. I had about 9 on me. I was a little terrified because being not from there I knew it was possible I'd get ripped off. After about 10 minutes the taxi showed up, I get in and immediately the total on the meter was already 5 euros from some $2.40 service charge. Didn't care to ask just hoped I had enough to make it. Luckily it only was about 7.40 in the end so I was okay for that and the metro in Madrid when I'd make it.

The train was interesting, I had a small bed on the top of a bunk type deal. There were 3 others in my room, though only 2 others seemingly were in there the whole night. I finished my book, one of the men asked to turn off the lights and I tried to get some sleep. I passed out pretty easily, which led to some crazy nightmares. I think all the movement and noises of the train really got my mind going. I dreamt of being on falling planes and of all sorts of random people. I woke up a lot, including one point where I thought my future killer was staring at me. It was pitch black and all I could see were eyes looking in my direction. In the dark, with no glasses, I couldn't tell if it was one of my normal cabin mates so I decided if I close my eyes he'd go away. About 10 minutes later I opened them and he was thankfully gone. I slept on and off for the rest of the night, but no more killers. The cabin crew woke us with 30 minutes to go and I had officially arrived in Spain.

The metro was very easy, finding the hostel when I got off was not. It took a solid 30 minutes of walking in circles to finally find Jesus y Maria, the street I was staying on. Got in, met some people who were leaving from my room and now I'm about to head off to eat, get some money, and visit the art museum open today (the others are closed on Monday).

Thanks for reading, thanks for email, have a good one, I will update soon

'BK

p.s I'll try to get a few pictures up soon if I can.

Pick a language!

2009-04-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a small Lisbon city tour via the hostel and figured while it rains a bit (and it's only in the 50s, false advertising Lisbon!) I'd attempt to navigate through this European keyboard and update my journey thus far. The day I left got off to a hectic start, I wasn't sure if they were tiny signs to delay my trip or just an example of the trials and tribulations ahead. Starting from the beginning where I got out of my mom's car and left my cell phone to being told my flight to New Jersey was supposed to be delayed until 5 p.m the nerves were kicking. I was switched to the flight before mine, slated to take off at 1:02 (it was already 1:20) and felt a little uneasy about that whole thing. They assured me the flight wouldn't be taking off anytime soon. I took a little gander at the departure screen and did not see my flight, I did a mildly-fast paced walk to the C gate at McNamara, find the gate and I hear "final call for all rows." So instead of taking my time, eating something, I rush on to the plane only to sit for over an hour after leaving the gate. We took off at 3:15 (my regularly scheduled flight time) and got to Lisbon with tons of time to kill and for me to finally eat. Got on the plane around 8:15 for Lisbon, passed out immediately and woke up 20 minutes later yet to take off. There was no real delay besides the fact that it was New Jersey and they are always delayed there. The 20 minute nap meant only one thing, that would probably be the only 20 minutes I'd sleep for the whole day.

The plane ride was fine, a few bumps, but nothing insane. I first watched Yes Man and Bedtime Stories, two movies that I thought were real good, especially Yes Man. I kind of used it as mini inspiration to take as many chances and say yes to pretty much everything. I feel there may be some foreshadowing with that movie in the future in my own story. After those movies I watched Harry Potter for about an hour, felt I could get to sleep and bam I was out cold. Only problem was 10 minutes later the lights came back on and we were an hour away.

We landed in Lisbon at 8 a.m, customs took over an hour to get through the line, then the line for the informational desk and aerobus to the hostel took another hour, and finally around 11 I arrived. I wasn't able to check in til 2 (probably a good thing), so it forced me to walk through the city and stay awake. I was extremely dehydrated and had to pee, so I found a Mcdonalds to pee in (I have a non-American food and especially no fast food rule while here) and grabbed a water. I walked to the river, started taking some pictures and immediately got offered hash by 3 different men selling glasses. Being that I felt the need to say yes to everything, I quickly nixed that plan and got away from them. The architecture, statues, and general art around the city are real awesome. It is not hard to navigate either at least for me. The only bad part about coming now is with Easter it's high travel season leading to the city being a lot more crowded (public transportation during the day near impossible without waiting 20 minutes), places to visit having strange hours or being closed like most places will be on Sunday. I got myself some lunch around 1 knowing it'd go slowly and I had one more hour to kill. I went to a restaurant nearby and went with a seafood salad full of shrimp, clams, snails, octopus, crab some kind of cooked potato, lettuce and a million carrots. I was a fan, though I did get a weird look from the waitress. The problem is portugees is too much like Spanish, but they try so hard not to be that only half the words are actually Spanish. So the minimal Spanish I try speakin with people just get me a confused and dirty look. What's the point of stealing half a language??? Just use Spanish, you don't need a language! I did finally get down "Obrigado" for thanks, but I'm positive in 2 days that will just mess me up more.

The hostel itself is extremely nice, I'm expecting this to be the nicest of them all, it's nicer than some hotels, the beds are surprisingly comfortable and the bathrooms are clean. The location itself is right around the Rossio downtown area, one of the more popular places for restaurants etc. When I finally was able to check in around 2 p.m I came back so I could get more of a tour, use the bathroom, and get situated. I got to the room, tried to use the locker I was given, but it was impossible to lock. I wasn't going anywhere so I took a break from trying and decided to plug in my phone to charge. I take out my trust international plugs, do it up and eeek crazy spark. It wouldn't work and the light seemed to not turn on anymore. I assume the fuse blew in the room, my bad, I told the guy the lights weren't working and he fixed it about 5 minutes later so nobody has to know. From there I did more walking, I read the train station I needed to get to was 100m off the map I had. Apparently that map is for overweight people who need deception to force them to exercise. Forty minutes later and now knowing I will not be walking to this train station when I leave, I made a reservation to head to Madrid overnight on Sunday since it's real busy everywhere (and people get Monday off after Easter still). I started my walk back but after another 40 minutes started getting extremely hungry. I looked out for the best possible foods and right there in front of me with a bakery featuring these pastries with baked custard on top. They were called natas, worth trying. I knew that would hold me over until dinner. It was 6 p.m at that point, but dinner is a late night affair round these parts.

Got back to the hostel went to my room and finally had people in it to talk too. Spoke briefly with the 2 girls in the room, both on Spring Break while they study abroad. One goes to PSU, the other Southwestern, nice people, was good having a legit conversation with someone after 24 hours almost. They left after, I began to read for a bit. The hostel offers a cheap dinner each night and I figured it'd be a good way to meet people and may not be that bad of a meal. I read for about 20 minutes until I literally almost fell asleep on the seat I was reading. I knew there was only one resort to attempt to stay awake, espresso. I figured the shaking from the coffee would keep me going throughout the night, I just may scare everyone off. I ran to the nearest coffee house, too a shot of espresso and headed back. I was definitely shaky. Dinner came, I met a bunch of people, but mainly spoke with this woman from Switzerland with a British accent (she's never been there before, but even the people from London here thought she was, so I'm not just bad with accent guessing). We spoke a lot, she thought I was 18, I thought she was like 26. Turns out I'm 25 and she's 37. I then thought if my cousin Jordan can go for an older woman, I can too! Just kiddin. She challenged me to trivial pursuit, I thought I'd have a chance, but she's a law clerk in Zurich and apparently smarter, even in the American version. It was good to have real socialization though, stayed up with her and her friend she came with (who is 38, but also looks in her 20s, maybe they're lying). I went up talked with the two people actually in the room who weren't out, attempted to write in my personal journal and passed out while writing.

I won't bore you with too much more, I swear. Today I went on the tour with the Hostel of Lisbon. City was too busy to do things they intended, but was a good one nonetheless. I hung out with the people I met last night and spoke with this girl and her brother from the UK for most of it, very nice, and closer to my age. I had a full octopus for lunch (it was great, best I've had). The head semi-freaked me out, but I got over it and Octopi brains ain't bad. Went to a port tasting after and then the weather went downhill. Lisbon got cold and rainy, so we rushed back. Got some great photos from amazing highpoints in the city and saw the outside of one of their big castles. After the tour, came back here and then went out with the Swiss and her English friend from the night before. We went to a recommended Austrian coffee/cake place, then walked to a mini bar that specializes in a cherry drink called Ginja (a portuguese cherry brandy type deal) and had some seni-hard goat cheese from Portugal (I tried to find out the name, but the old women just kept saying it's goat cheese). After 2 drinks of the Ginja (took it as a shot the first time, apparently you sip it. Tasted like robitussin, semi disappointed I didn't start hallucinating to confirm it actually was). Went to dinner, had sting ray, it was good, but very boney. Then just headed back to the hostel where I'm bout to watch a movie with a couple of people. I'm still exhausted, jet laggin a bit. Longest update ever, going to Sintra tomorrow for the day (small city outside of Lisbon) and then Madrid Sunday night. Maybe I'll see you on Sunday when the city is shutdown before Madrid.

Thanks for stopping by and if you made it to the end, I know you really are a fan!

'BK

And now, I'm gone...

2009-04-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

In less than 12 hours I'll be headed to New Jersey for a 3 hour layover en route to Lisbon to begin a journey of challenges, enlightenment, highs, and (hopefully minimal) lows. This was an extremely busy week filled with more goodbyes, attempts to pack, and thoughts racing through my mind. On Friday night there was a going away party, to all who were there thank you, it meant a lot. For the second time in my life I had a going away party, one was when I left my job at the Tigers and in both instances more people showed up than I could ever imagine. Makes me wonder, do people genuinely like and appreciate me or just love to see me leave. Just kidding, who doesn't love me. Over the weekend the final four commenced and although the final game result wasn't what I hoped for, the entire experience meant a lot to me. I've been to every major pro sporting event, but the environment, the Saturday game, and most importantly a weekend spent with my dad before I go puts it near the top.

And now here I am, a little more than 12 hours to go before heading off on the journey of a lifetime. I've had many mental ups and downs throughout the day including a solid case of IBS. I woke up with a terrified feeling of how real this is about to be. I think with the final four, and consistently being busy for the past 2 months I haven't had a day to truly grasp the concept of my journey. As the day went on and the shock began to wear off I became more comfortable with what lies ahead. As I spoke to people throughout the day and said more and more goodbyes I realized this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. From the beginning I'll be doing something I wouldn't have envisioned doing as little as 6 months ago. Life takes you on many small journeys that you can't control, but I finally know the ones you have the opportunity to create yourself shouldn't even be questioned.

I purchased a book of mainly poetry by singer/songwriter Ryan Adams for my journey, I've only read the foreword, but it's an explanation of why I enjoy writing.

"Once in a life, if a person chooses to go through these things, then maybe the act of writing them down could be a gift, so that others might know that should they suffer their romancers or their love of things, they're not alone."

As much as I want people to read what I'm doing, if you can take something out of this with me, the trip can only mean more. One of the greatest compliments I ever received was 5 years ago when someone randomly stumbled upon an old blog of mine and sent me an email telling me they never knew people felt the same in certain aspects of life. You just never know what is out there.

I'm very comfortable with my decision to take this chance, today went by slowly, but in a good way. The whole picture slowed down and now there's little to do, but get ready to step on that plane. I'm all packed (yet don't really know if it's too much or too little yet), have my travel books, notes, and information from those who have experienced firsthand traveling printed or memorized. I know I'll have forgotten something, probably minor that I won't even notice for a week, but I'm sure Europe can sell me whatever I lack. I bought my ticket to the Counting Crows concert in Dublin, no clue if I'll be able to make it there or not, but why not go for it.

I arrive in Lisbon 8:20 a.m on Thursday April 9th. No idea what time that is in other parts in the world, but that's when it all officially begins. Tomorrow will be a day full of flying, probably recycling many nervous thoughts in my mind throughout the day. I figure since I can barely sleep at home, the plane ride won't be much better. I intend on hitting the ground running, go to the hostel and begin seeing all that I can see. It probably won't be a late night, but no use getting off to a slow start. From Lisbon I'll head to Spain, then France, Amsterdam, Germany, and depending on timing places like Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, other parts of southern France, or Dublin will be explored. I finish in Italy and Greece, when I fly home May 27th.

I'll leave you with a picture of what I look like as I take on the world and go off the leash...

Maybe my face will age, maybe the 2 month beard and long hair will make me look like Donnie Whalberg in Saw IV, or maybe I'll just come back lookin the same, but I can't envision things being the same again.

I will try to be as honest as possible with events in the blog, so for those adults like my parents who aren't sure if they should be reading at certain points, maybe I'll throw in a disclaimer. Not that there's anything wrong with doin drugs, hookers, and sleepin on the street.

I asked the magic eight ball if this will be the best experience of my life, the response "It is certain."

Email me at BK5000@gmail.com, leave comments, or read silently, but I hope you enjoy yourselves as much as I.

-BK

One week to go

2009-04-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

The goodbyes have begun, the anxiety levels have rapidly increased, and the amount of time originally free of obligations now throbs for extra minutes. This time next week I'll be panicking on a plane wondering if skipping Passover Seder was really worth flying to Europe for. Just kidding about that part, but foreign languages, unfamiliar transportation, and being alone for 2 months with only my thoughts (the scariest of all) may be crossing my mind over the Atlantic. I'm still not packed, but have taken a trip around the neighborhood with 20 pounds of weights loaded into a backpack. I've come up with a list of the top 4 hostels per city that I will attempt to stay at, and come up with a rough sketch of things I'd like to see in each city. I have become more fearful of the limited amount of time I have to see everything I want. On paper the idea of 13 cities in 50 days sounds fantastic, but train times, sites, day trips, the people, the costs, and the truly unknown may shrink the list. I want to see as much as possible, but I want to prevent the trapped and structured feeling that I have to see certain things or go to certain cities before the end.

There are only two definite places, Lisbon because I start there and Athens because I fly home from there. The goal is to see definitely see the following cities in addition to those two: Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Rome. With those cities I hope to have at least one day trip to a nearby smaller town while visiting that particular area.

Additional cities at the top of my list include: Dublin, Venice, Florence, Prague, Vienna. These cities are also part of the main plan and may include day trips themselves. They are up there on the high priority list and if the rarity of plans actually seems to sail smoothly these all should be destinations at some point.

Additional cities and places I'd like to/would consider venturing to based on time, people I've met with, and mood of the day: Interlaken, Greek Isles, Sevilla, Nice.

I believe some cities that don't appear above will be added, while others disappear from all lists as the trip continues. My want to explore different styles of European life, escape certain areas, try the suggested food of an obscure small town, or following the path of a cute girl I met at a hostel (kidding, probably) will all factor into the final outline.

I've begun the process of toughening up my thoughts, preparing myself for challenges, and focusing on the task ahead. It's not that I don't think I can survive, but I feel in a situation like this I can be my best friend, worst enemy, and guide. Whether it's a coincidence or something more I'm the dude who has been able to use sports to help gain the proper tough mindset as the Michigan State basketball team with all their talk has helped mold my mind with a clearer look at the focus necessary to make things great. It may sound cheesy, but their run to the final four coinciding with my preparation has been a tremendous aid. Of course my final few days here could only be garnered perfect with the National Championship, but it's been an incredible journey that I'm glad I could take additional lessons.

Speaking of universities I have officially let the University of Wisconsin know they have a new student in fall 2009. I probably won't be able to find a place until June, move until August, or meet more than a few people til October, but it's what I had to do. I never heard from Maryland or Colorado, which doesn't bother me at all, helping me think I made the right decision.

As for the new design of this blog, I have received complaints that the white writing on black background has caused hallucinations and the ability to see my blog at all times during the day so I decided to be a man of the people and change it, but just this once. Depending on how many drugs I do in Amsterdam, however, the color scheme may change for my enjoyment (j slash k). Anyway, although this is another short entry, I don't envision getting used to them. I plan on extensive food reviews, city and sight reviews, the pontifications of Benjie Klein, and whatever else pops in my head. I'll mention this again next week in my final before I leave entry, but please email me while I am gone, BK5000@gmail.com. I will respond to you personally, however, I will not be initiating any email conversations, so if you want to talk to me drop me a line there or leave a comment here and if you need something I'll let you know.

Hope you all enjoy the new background if you complain again I hunt you down.

Benjamin Klein

Two weeks to go

2009-03-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

The trip is growing closer, the daunting task of packing looms large, and planning seems to come in waves. I'm excited for the trip, but realize time is going too fast and I have a lot to do. Besides the packing and planning previously mentioned I've hadto decide on grad school, start looking for an apartment/at least have a general idea of my choices, earn a bit of extra money before I leave, and also try to see as many people as possible before I'm gone. So where shall we start...

I have currently heard from the same three schools I had when I started my journeys in early March, I'm beginning to think I'm an afterthought at the University of Colorado and Maryland. Maryland I'm pretty sure will never give me a reply due to a glitch that had me owing money for an undergraduate application that wouldn't have made sense for me to owe money on being that I applied to graduate school. It took two months for them to fix the issue, I was told I'd hear from the school in mid February, it's a bit passed that. As for Colorado I was told I'd get an email at some point and that has yet to come, so I figure a rejection is in the mail. Either way the MSU deadline has passed and I did not respond, so that leaves me with one true option. I pretty much decided on Wisconsin regardless of what happens elsewhere (short of a crazy scholarship somewhere), but I'm gonna wait another week before sending in my "official" decision because I have trouble committing in certain situations (but not relationally ladies, I'm all about that, small joke). Madison really seemed to be most inviting as a city and as a school community, it's not too far away from most of the people I know, and I'll still get the Big Ten Network. Plus being between Chicago and Green Bay means at least 2 Lions road games, and with Minnesota only 4 hours away, someone could be going to all the division away games this year! I feel Wisconsin's program fits me, but I guess there's only one way to truly find out.

First, however, is the European adventure staring me in the face. I can't deny that there have been days of nervousness, but never in a I'm not going to enjoy myself way, just wondering how I'll continue to adapt to each challenge. I have asked myself if going is still necessary in figuring out who I am, defining certain parts of me, and something that will help me better figure out how to live my life. I've decided that I don't really need to figure out who I am, I think I've done a better job of deciphering of late. I do need this to define certain parts of who I am and need to learn to be on my own, how to struggle, how to live my life. I've always known I'm pretty lucky in a lot of ways as to where I was born, my family, friends, etc., but I've often felt a void of not earning certain things, I feel a trip like this will help me learn how to fight for what I want, something that will be essential come graduate school. The only thing I felt I've truly earned with no real help at this point would be getting into grad school. Even the jobs I've had, maybe I worked hard to get promoted at the Tigers, but I never felt like I fully went through the process of deservedly getting a job from scratch. This trip is mine from the very beginning, maybe it goes back to when Cory and Topanga first got married and had to start off on their own with no help or maybe I'm just a little crazy.

The packing hasn't started yet, but occasionally I've found myself freaking out about something I may forget and put it in a place impossible not to remember it. The same has gone for planning, today I realized I have two weeks, which after reading about many hostels is 2 weeks too late to book, so I made sure to officially book my first hostel when I arrive in Lisbon. The first three I was considering were not available for the nights I chose, but luckily Lisbon has the best hostels in the whole world apparently, so it wasn't a problem finding another highly rated one. I'll be spending three nights in Lisbon, originally I was going to spend 2 nights and do the overnight train to Madrid on the 3rd night, however, I realized I'm going to want to get acclimated (and could always leave early) plus I would have arrived on Easter and Madrid seems more of the everything shut down religious city than Lisbon from what I've read. I'll head overnight to Madrid on the 4th day in Europe and continue you on from there.

I officially have my camera ready and am excited to put it to good use. I will try to take as much video as possible in addition to the pictures. I will take a picture of myself on a daily basis and if possible I will post my "aging/hair growing" process as the trip goes along with all 50 pictures at the end to show the full aging progression and to prove once and for all I can grow a full beard. Personally I don't even think it's possible and I'll look like some patchy haired face dirty man, but it'll be fun.

That's it for today, just wanted to give a small update. Look for a more detailed itinerary (of which will probably not hold true), cities and places I look forward to, the foods I will indulge in (sesos!), and the random things I intend to do. Now go speak some Spanish to yourself, I tried it the other night, it's pretty easy if you don't have to make sense!

-BK

Finding my way back home

2009-03-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

This marks the final day of my two week journey through various parts of the US and what I dubbed as a practice round for traveling alone in Europe. Obviously I cheated here by staying in hotels, with friends, and family, but this country doesn't offer nearly as many hostels. I arrived in Chicago on Monday evening where I came straight to my Sammi's place to meet her. I had to wait for her to get back from work and her dance class so I waited inside the mini restaurant/coffee shop next door. I decided to walk outside a little early since it wasn't too cold and I was just in time for the show. I don't think my sister realized I was watching, but her attempting to park for 10 minutes was quality entertainment. It's not that she's a bad driver or poor at fitting in parking spots, she's just still learning, 13 years later. She'll undoubtedly defend herself, but I don't think there are many excuses besides "I was teasing the parking spot with the honor of keeping my car between its lines." Besides that there wasn't much to do and we both had to wake up early, so she went to sleep and I watched TV.

The next morning I woke up around 7 a.m, not purposely, but it worked out. I called the rental car place to see if they had my reservation that the dude who lives with my sister was supposed to make, but he forgot. They were able to get me a car though by 9 a.m (and the discount in the end) so it all worked out, he can have his name Jeremy and the title of my sister's boyfriend back, the ring may just cost a little more from my dad. Totally kidding, anyway, I walked a mile down the road (luckily it wasn't freezing or raining in the morning) had my Mazda 6 waiting for me and drove straight to Madison. Once outside of Chicago it's a pretty easy and semi-boring drive, took about 2:30 hours to get to the hotel. I did find a great 80s radio station to sing along with, but that faded out quickly once I crossed into Wisconsin leaving me disappointed. I was luckily able to check in to the hotel as soon as I got there at 12 (check in wasn't until 3), and was able to relax for an hour before my first day of meetings commenced. I met with the graduate coordinator who set me up with a bevy of activities for both Tuesday and Wednesday. It was definitely a large difference between Colorado where they ask if you want to meet anyone or take a tour, but didn't go ahead and just do it and show you what they have to offer as best as possible. The first professor I met with was real nice and informative, I realized the more people I met the less questions I had and more awkward the meetings would seemingly become, but what can you do. He was great though, we talked for about 20 minutes and then he invited me to lunch with him and a student from abroad so I was able to snag a free lunch at a place called "Ian's by the Slice." It was good, however, I didn't want to burst everyone's bubble and tell them the real name of the restaurant is "Georgio's Pizza" at Michigan State University and clearly it was more "Ian's stolen slice," but solid "gourmet" pizza nonetheless. I took on a piece of barbeque chicken finger pizza and macaroni cheese pizza then went on my own around campus for about an hour until my next meeting. Madison had an awesome campus and one of the city's best attributes is the fact that Madison is #1 in the amount of restaurants per capita in the country, that would be something I'd love to take advantage of. So I checked everything out and really enjoyed myself, it was slightly rainy, but not freezing cold on Tuesday so I was able to enjoy what I was seeing.

Before my 3:30 meeting I decided I had more time to kill so I'd embark on a journey that I normally wouldn't. I went in to a coffee shop and decided to order something and couldn't find tea or something out of pure blindness, so I went with the most random sounding coffee. Apparently this one comes with a warning as before the order was processed I was told "this drink has 3 times the amount of caffeine as normal coffee and you need a flavor to counteract added in." So like any person who was caught in this situation, I told them it sounds great and I'll take it to avoid any embarrassment of telling the truth that I had no idea what I had really ordered. I took the drink, sipped it and it actually tasted good. If you know me and the effects of coffee and/or caffeine, probably wasn't the best idea. I drank about 3/4 of it in a matter of minutes and went to my meeting. could feel a bit of shakes coming on as I arrived at the grad advisor's office, we talked for a while, she answered some more questions and I fought my leg from shaking uncontrollably as often is the case without caffeine, so with it just means a larger fight. I left campus and went right to the hotel where I immediately passed out (because that's what coffee does to me in the end). I woke up, went back to the State street area and walked around some more. I had forgotten that Madison was the capital of Wisconsin until I had started walking that night and looked up to see the biggest fucking state capital building ever. I felt slightly embarrassed that the whole day I had been walking up and down the streets I didn't notice that behemoth in front of my eyes.

I went to bed around 1 last night, though I had one of those dreams where you feel yourself sleeping (and by "one of those" I'm just hoping this is normal I guess), but you feel someone is staring at you during this process. I tried to wake myself up in fears that the person was about to murder me, I could feel myself in Hulk Hogan sleeper hold mode, putting one arm up only for it to collapse against the mat. I tried it again and boom right back down on the mat, but finally the third try I got my burst and was able to wake up a bit more terrified than when I went to sleep. I turned on the TV and thought "that'll be a fun dream in Europe when I actually am in a room with 10 other people who could be staring at me in my sleep." It took about 30 minutes more to pass out again, but I did and escaped the night with dreams of seeing an old high school friend who went to Madison at some party, which was weird, but nobody was trying to kill me.

I went back to campus to meet with another Professor and have another full day. Once again it was very nice to talk with these people. Today was a bit different in that I met with actual students and went to lunch with a couple of them. They were real nice and not hard to interact with, which was nice. It was also good that I didn't have to initiate the contact necessarily because although I am starting to get better in that category, I don't know if I'd just go up to random students not knowing if they were even part of the program and be like let's go to lunch and tell me all about your life and the programs. After that I went with them to class, it was class that was getting a tutoring on iMovie and since I want to think I was more versed in it than the guy they brought in to demo it I found the lesson amusing. I skipped out of class early since I had a final meeting with a professor. I went to that meeting, said thanks to the grad coordinator and went on my way. Wisconsin was extremely generous with everything and it kind of made me think maybe I was smart or something the way they spoke about how difficult it was to get in this year and how highly rated their department is. After everything I hopped in my car and proceeded back to Chicago where I am currently conveying my message.

Now comes the decision time, I enjoyed Madison a lot and Michigan State I already know well. Colorado I have yet to hear from, so I'm not sure about that one, but I liked what I saw there as well. Michigan State makes their students decide by March 23rd, leaving 11 days to decide if I'd want to return. I know I have to make my own decision by April 7th before I leave for Europe, but it'd be nice to know all my options and weigh all the financial implications etc. for a couple more weeks. I have no idea where I will end up. Each school is unique and offers their own style of program, I won't know any students at any of the schools (I'll still know people in the state of Michigan, just not up at MSU to my knowledge). If you got an opinion on the matter, if I should move on to another school, stay in state, or stay in Europe let me know.

I get home tomorrow night and while I'm enjoying traveling I am ready to be home to plan the major excursion. I'm envisioning a very busy few weeks where time will fly and not much will truly be planned, but I'm hoping to continue putting together a rough sketch of the order I'd like to arrive in cities and the better sounding hostels to seek out. I will still keep this journal up to date with the details of European planning and my final graduate school decision, but for those looking to take a break for a few weeks I will be sending out the link to the journal one more time before leaving for Europe.

Thanks for joining me these two weeks, hope you've enjoyed yourself. Now go put on some headphones, look in the mirror, turn up the Rod Stewart and ask yourself Do ya think I'm sexy?

-BK

A whole new world

2009-03-08T23:52:00.001-07:00

I arrived in Seattle on Friday night to visit my friend Emily. This portion of my trip, like Las Vegas, was non-school related. It was a quick breather in between checking out more schools as I figure schools shouldn't really be visited on the weekends and I should go to as many places as possible while I'm out traveling. Just like the previous stops this one showed me a world I had not yet known. For those who know my family and myself, we strictly adhere to the Apple products only policy in our household. Being in Seattle I landed right in the backyard of the competition. With my friend an employee of this unnamed company I quickly found myself in enemy territory. Friday night we got a quick bite for dinner before heading out for the night. We met up with a few people, stopped by a traffic light party, which I had never heard of. This concept didn't work out as the company/city apparently has 700 guys to 1 ratio. We departed after a few minutes and continued on to meet up with some other people as we intended to before hand. We ended up at a bar that previously held the task of being a funeral home. I'm not one to frown upon originality, but with coffin doors, a sign for flower delivery inside, and the fact that for 30 minutes I was eerily thinking of death (not even realizing why until later) I can't say I endorse this place. I did respect the no cover, however, gladly would've paid in exchange for the thoughts of I'm going to die soon. We didn't stay long and called it night.

Saturday gave me a preview of how weather in Seattle is and would continue to be for the remainder of the trip. It would pour one minute, snow the next, and be sunny shortly after. We didn't do much in the afternoon besides get lunch with this trend and knowing it'd be a late night ahead. I didn't realize at the time, but I'd soon be venturing into unchartered territories in various ways. We went to dinner with about 30 people, many who work for the company in celebration of a year after a surgery for someone. It was a good meal, though I did state the obvious that Apple was better to those around me. One of them was willing to admit he felt the same way, while the others defended their products claiming much of the reason Apple is "better" was marketing, and not necessarily the product itself, but with Windows 7 things are going to change again. Everybody was really nice though and the discussions were good, so I can't really rip on them much. After dinner we headed to another bar, just one for people to relax and drink, but there was another plan for the rest of the evenings that I had previously heard rumblings about, but was not sure if we'd be partaking.

The clock struck midnight and the large crowd dispersed except for a small group who were planning on continuing the party. The new plan was to go a bar called "R Place." That was fine, however, based on the normal crowds I see at bars this would be different because it turns out this is a gay bar. We drove down the bar and at first struggled to find parking, leaving a slight chance that we may have to cancel this portion of the evening, but to no avail a spot was found and the journey began. We walked up to the door and saw 2 giant men dressed with crazy fullout makeup talking to the bouncers outside showing us the correct way in. I felt as if I was about to enter the benefit party in the movie Chuck and Larry. I walk through the door and am immediately hit with a $7 cover charge, which I think if you're a straight male entering this place you shouldn't have to pay. I did anyway and immediately ordered a drink. After everyone got their drink we headed upstairs to dance, at least it wasn't downstairs. We got up there and the place was definitely a party with quite a lot of people dancing, many of the same sex together. It wasn't that big of a culture shock when we arrived up top. I actually noticed a lot more female couples being provacative in their dancing and actions than the men, which may have been selective sight on my part, but those women were definitely not frowned upon by myself. Unfortunately another thing not difficult to notice were the men in just underwear (clearly stuffed as I actually saw a guy readjusting the toilet paper)dancing for people on little platforms seeking tips. The dance floor was quite hopping, we stayed on the edge for most of it, but a couple people wanted to head into the eye of the storm and dance right in the middle, so I followed along. The middle was just more crowded, though it seemed more females existed on the inside. The most awkward part of the middle was the leaking water from the ceiling, it kept hitting me in the head and semi-freaked me out being hit by random splashes of water in the club ummmm. We were only in the middle when the bar made an announcement for last call and closed up at 1:40, which is kind of bullshit because you have until 2 to at least let people keep dancing. I had no problem getting out of their though. There was one more club open down the street that we walked down to of the homosexual persuasion, but with the daylight savings stuff pushing the clock to 3, a long line, and a $10 cover for a place that would be closing at 4 we called it night. We headed back to the apartment and called it night.

*Just as a note to that previous paragraph, it was extremely difficult to type because every sentence sets me up for gay jokes, which I had to throw at least one in, but I really tried to avoid as many as possible. It's more of a mocking myself, but I know you are personally thinking of awkward innuendos to go along with the sentences like "Giant men in makeup showing us the correct way in."

Sunday was back to a normal day, I woke up early to watch the MSU game while people slept and we later went to brunch with a bunch of people. Later in the day we walked around downtown Seattle and went to the markets etc. Seattle's a decent city, I had been once before so I didn't have a need to see all the touristy things. It was a very nice afternoon though, perfect for walking around the town. Of course right around the time we got back the clouds turned gray again and snow fell upon the city. I had a good time here, it was a nice change of pace and good to venture out a little.

I hope to escape tomorrow before more snow takes over, as anything above in inch seems to scare the city into paralysis. I'm due east to Chicago where I will somewhat stay as I continue to check out schools, this time Madison. As previously stated I did get recommended for admissions there, so this is one visit that (hopefully) cannot backfire and end up being a total waste. I'm going to drive to Madison on Tuesday, but still not sure if I'll be staying overnight or just making a real long day trip out of it. I'm about to "lose" some more hours in addition to the extra one I did last night in heading to Chicago so for once I may be too tired to just stay up all the time.

It is now officially one month until I head to Europe, I'm very excited and also have some small fears. I think I've done a good job on this mini trial run and although I haven't been on my own like I am about to be, I think it's good prep for someone like me. I should be back in Detroit on Thursday, so if I don't stop by before I'm sure I will see you then where we'll start putting everything together, making some more decisions, and get the fuck outta the country.

Hope you enjoyed your time here to today and if you were offended at all, just remember you're the only one who cares.

-BK to the 5000th

Gettin lost to find my way to get lost again

2009-03-06T07:55:00.000-08:00

When I arrived in Denver on Wednesday I took the easiest drive of my life to Boulder. It was a very simple drive, simple directions, I imagined the whole state to be set up like this, I turned out to be quite wrong. Around 4 p.m after I was all checked in to my hotel I decided with the weather a solid 75 and sunny I'd take a walk around campus. I had a general idea of what buildings I was looking for, so I figured it couldn't be that bad. The campus is right next to the hotel, that wasn't hard to find, but once I stepped through I felt like I was in that Sonic dreamland where he's spinning around trying to find the ring. I knew the basic direction of where I was going, but then decided to get fancy, I saw an open walkway and took that instead. I walked and walked, passing the same buildings every 15 minutes, realizing I just went in a complete circle numerous times. I didn't want to look like a lost kid on a college campus, so I just kept on walking, trying to glance at the campus maps around the school without actually stopping to check them out. Finally I thought I caught a break, there are a lot of "underground" tunnels at this campus, which is pretty exciting and this one was no exception. I thought it may be one of the ones by my hotel, but I was quite wrong. It turned out to be the exact opposite direction, but it led me to where all the food, bars, and random college stores existed. I was starved since I hadn't eaten since early and it was already 5:30, my legs were killing me from walking, and most importantly if I did end up going here I need some solid college fast food. I went to a grilled sub place, I forgot the name, but I was satisfied. This was until I realized I still had no idea how to get back to my hotel. The sun was starting to go down so I began walking again. This time I thought I had it figured out, I kept walking and walking and even found the Journalism building, which would've been good except I didn't actually know where it was. By this time it was getting dark, there was a CU basketball game starting in about 30 minutes (I wanted to attend at first, but realized the pain from walking for 2 hours was starting to work it's way in) and I still had no clue where I was going. Around 7 p.m I got smart, I followed everyone to the basketball stadium since I knew it was by my hotel, found the fancy tunnel and I finally was led to where I needed to be. I had walked about 8 miles in those 3 hours, it was real nice campus at least and I had a slight idea of where I needed to go the next day. After getting some late night dinner, I passed out immediately.

Yesterday I woke up early, I was going to check out the campus with an actual tour, just so I would know where to go for a meeting I had scheduled that afternoon. This was one of the buildings it originally took me over 2 hours to find. I walked in and talked to the tour chick, she essentially told me to take the self tour and the info/tour was too based on freshman so wasn't worth it for me. Luckily she handed me a map for this time and I did my own thing. I felt after the campus and I got to know each other better the day before it would be smooth sailing. Shockingly it was and I started to enjoy my surroundings. I was walking around campus confident with where I was going, but then it happened. I heard someone walking in the distance with a faint voice. I was stopped at a light waiting to cross and this acne faced white student stands beside me with his ipod blaring. A moment later the kid started singing and he wasn't very good. Top that with the depressing lyrics associated with whatever he was trying to make out, probably not the best forum, save it for your car. I didn't want to laugh at him so I walked faster than he could, but he kept getting louder! Finally I turned off the road, the singing went from funny to loud and annoying. I'll be the first to admit I've been caught many times screaming songs from my room, whether it be at the old ZBT house or 266 Durand, or even sing quietly walking down the road, but the yelling in the middle of campus means you're an attention whore.

After my self tour, I was confident enough in my campus abilities that I felt there was something missing. I kept reading about a "Pearl Street Mall" and had no idea where or what it was. I decided I'd check that out for lunch. I grabbed the car at the hotel and drove to where it was located, about 5 minutes past campus. It's the downtown Boulder area and was pretty nice. I had read about a place called Illegal Petes, specializing in the college style burrito, as I ventured through the streets I found my destination. I was satisfied, I enjoyed the atmosphere of that place and Pearl street and it's shops in general. That was until the burrito realized it didn't like me. The classic tale of having to take a dump with no bathroom around had hit. I decided I'd go back to my car, which would've been awesome if I knew where the parking structure was. I feverishly walked up and down the streets, finally remembering which road had my structure. I was losing hope when I turned to my right and I was actually at the structure. I ran, got in to my car and felt relieved, I started driving in the structure and realized I couldn't find an exit. This was a fucked up design, it just kept going up, it was a 2 way ramp, you had to exit the exact same way you came in, I didn't realize that until I reached the roof. I contemplated just flooring it to see if I could land on the street, but I turned around and finally made my way out. I knew how to get back to my hotel, but it seemed the road was longer than I remembered. I almost turned off to try to find my way through, but I stuck it out and found how to get back to my hotel. About a minute away the stomach problems subsided, like the eye before the storm. I parked the car, got out and then it was on. I ran to my room, and my fucking key didn't work. I had the pre-shit sweats going looking flustered no doubt as I ran down to the front desk and told them my key for some reason didn't work anymore. The guy took his time punching in numbers, finally got the key to work, I jetted back to my room, the key worked, I entered and you can figure out the rest for yourself.

After that rousing experience I had to go to my meeting with the grad coordinator. I walked around the building talking with her, it was nothing too exciting. After I decided I'd take advantage of one of the many fields around campus and read under the sun with my ipod. I only had a couple hours because I wanted to attend the Nuggets game and any chance of a random cute girl coming up to me inviting me over because of my boyish good looks had subsided. I did my thing and headed back to the hotel.

I left about 6 p.m for the game that was slated for 8:30, they said (and by they, I mean my iphone) it would take about 35 minutes, but I figured I could check out a little of Denver. The ride down to Denver was simple, until I got near what I thought was the arena. I tried to understand the directions, but apparently I did a poor job. In fact I ended up at Mile High Stadium, home of the Denver Broncos. It was only about 6:40 by that point though, so i figured I had plenty of time. I rerouted my iphone and continued to reroute my iphone for the next 20 minutes until I finally had directions that I could figure out. This time it called for a different exit on the expressway, I took it, followed the road around and had arrived at the Pepsi Center. I quickly parked at the first lot I saw, bought my ticket and stood in line to enter. Apparently they don't open the gates until an hour before.

The game itself was a blowout, Nuggets dominated. The woman next to me owned seats 2 and 3, I had seat one. She didn't seem too thrilled I was sitting there. She talked to me briefly asking my story, once I told her I'd be cheering for the Nuggets and was a fan of Chauncey I figured she'd be excited. It didn't work out that way as she immediately turned away. I got the impression that seat 1 was open 90% of the time and that the woman umm needed the extra room. I heard her talking about the season tickets from the year before where she had to move back a couple rows for more leg room this year, I'm just saying. I got a "bigger, better hot dog" for dinner there, it was solid, got to choose your own toppings. It was a very nice arena, beer was cheap compared to other stadiums though I chose not to partake with the amount I had gotten myself lost the past 2 days. I left about 2 minutes before the game ended, the Nuggets were up 15 and they had taken out all the stars at that point. I was terrified I wouldn't find my car, but I did with ease, drove back to the hotel and figured it'd be smooth sailing the rest of the way. I got back around 12, went in my pocket and my room key was missing. The kid working the desk was a bit out of it, but after about 10 minutes got me a new key.

Overall (and now that I've learned every part of the Boulder and Denver areas) I really enjoyed the campus and the surroundings. We shall see if I get in, the decision isn't due for another couple weeks, but what can you do. I am headed to Seattle for a break from school traveling for a few days and then on my way to Chicago. I was accepted to Madison so I will definitely be trekking up there to visit next week, hopefully the weather stays above freezing.

Anyway, I must depart, I've been in the business room for an hour and I must use the facilities, this time, however, I think I know where I'm going.

If my stories offended you in anyway, you weren't entertained today, or you just read these because of a deep hatred for me let me know so I can mold this to irritate you even more.

-BK

P.S happy birthday to Andrew, I wish I could be 3 again!

The old woman at the park

2009-03-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

Today 2,923 people attended the Padres vs. Dodgers spring training game at the Peoria sports complex, but one woman stood above the rest. I made the decision to attend another game around 11:45 a.m and am glad I did for multiple reasons. First, this was the beginning of going out on my own to events often known for attending with others. If I can't do it in Arizona, a land of friendly old people, it's just going to get more difficult in Boulder, Lisbon, Madrid and so on. I took the car and trekked 35 minutes to a different ballpark than the one I attended yesterday. It was a much different atmosphere as the Padres and Dodgers are not nearly as popular as the Cubs and hometown Dbacks were. This led to a more relaxing atmosphere and the ability to choose my seat in the house. I bought my ticket and entered the stadium. For those unaware I have a sick obsession with burritos, so I decided that would be my ballgame food of choice. The day before I had a chili, cheese, jalapeño and fritos hot dog or Mesa dog so I figured I'd find a different way to clog the arteries today. The weather was much better, 80 and cloudy (of course it still helped burn my skin a little worse) as I took my seat 3 rows behind the right side of home plate, next to the Padres dugout. In front of me sat a little old lady all by herself, she attends most Dodgers spring training games as well as many others around the Arizona area. Her uniqueness isn't the fact she attends so many games, but that she hand writes the scorecard to every single game she attends. Most times I would think that's one of the sickest things I've ever seen, but for some reason this woman grabbed my attention. Every concession worker, usher, and most fans around the seats knew her well. We spoke about her hobby and the hundreds of baby notepads with meaningless Spring Training stats that she had collected over the years. She didn't mind being at the ballpark alone quickly engaging any passerby in conversation whether she knew them or not. The rest of the people in the section were just as kind, knowledgeable, and led to quite a relaxing atmosphere. This includes the heckler who would scream at San Diego Padres player Jody Gerut each time he would come to bat sayings like "Jodie Foster!" and "You were in the movie Contact!" For the first time in a while I began a slight enjoyment of baseball again. It was a good experience to get out on my own; I feel like I'm in a video game, level one was to attend an event solo with kind old people as the challenge.

Tomorrow I leave for Boulder, Colorado. I won't have computer access for a couple days there, thus why I decided to add another brief entry tonight. I'll arrive in the afternoon, rent my first car, and head to Boulder around 2 p.m. I'm not sure what I am actually going to do there, but I'm looking forward to exploring the city on my own. The hotel is supposedly a block from campus, so I'm thinking I'm going to become alone at the bar guy tomorrow night and see if I can actually pull it off. When that doesn't work, I have my eyes set on attending the Nuggets vs. Blazers game to keep myself busy.

According to Wisconsin they email their decision tomorrow to all applicants. I feel like at some point they should text applicants that "it's just not going to work out" or offer the rejection hotline. I guess it saves money and paper on the people who aren't worthy enough as is for these universities, but I feel if I'm spending $50 to apply to your school, you can spend 15 cents to reject (or accept) me. The MSU email held the subject of "acceptance to the MSU masters program" and the ASU rejection stated "ASU deny letter." I like how they both get right to the point. The MSU was personalized from a professor while the denial was an automated letter. I look forward to seeing if an acceptance is always by a faculty member and rejection automated or if schools mix it up a bit. Throw in an erectile dysfunction ad at the bottom of a rejection, it'd be a fantastic money maker for universities.

For now though, I must continue on my trek. Thanks for stopping by and give yourself a treat today, maybe an old WWF wrestling ice cream bar or some fruit by the foot.

-BK

Vegas and some Zona

2009-03-02T22:05:00.000-08:00

I always wondered what life would be like as a male stripper, I don't have the physique and probably other parts of me lack the ability to truly make it in that profession, but when I stepped on Flight 1189 to Las Vegas I found myself thrust into the midst of a Bachelorette party. My parents were seated 2 rows behind me, thus leaving me as a random straggler. Apparently seat 31-C was not random, but in fact a perfect location for partying. Of course with my luck the woman getting married was in her late 30s accompanied by her 46 year old sister, and many other women not anywhere near the age that would have made the experience that spectacular. The woman's mom was even an attendance secretary at my old high school, calling the class of 2002 the worst attendance class she ever had. So instead of sleeping, reading, or listening to music I came up with names for the bachelorettes in Las Vegas, got drunk talk for 4 hours, and realized how unlucky I was. The truth is there was a girl in the same row as me, unconnected to the party who kept staring at me and much closer to my age. Following her another good looking girl of similar age and finally the guy whose seat I should've had. It was strange because I have no idea why the girl was looking at me, but I would've liked to find out. Even one of the drunk girls said, "man you're probably thinking what the fuck did I do to deserve this. I'm stuck with these old drunk women and there are 2 hot girls in the same row talking it up with the other dude." All I could do was nod my head and agree. As the flight ended and my flight party was over I proceeded to wait for my parents and get off. Of course the party was waiting for me, yelling "I love you Benjie, come party with us later" and the final party shot by one of the women "Thanks for the good time, that bathroom on the plane will never be the same again after us." It didn't embarrass me for some reason, but all I could do is think to myself how crazy women truly are.

My family stayed at the Encore, the room was great, but it didn't have that great casino feel or give me the desire to gamble much. That didn't stop me (unfortunately), but table limits were often high and much of their goal was to push you in to the connected Wynn for gambling, shopping, and the Sports Book. In addition to the Encore feel, the people in Las Vegas were increasingly odd; clearly coinciding with Nascar being in Vegas. This led to an increase in unattractive women wearing clothes they shouldn't be.

Friday night I had the privilege to go see Criss Angel "Mindfreak" and his show "BELIEVE." The lie part is really bolded in his title and the privilege was the fact that in the end I didn't allow myself to take my own life and survived the 2 hours. A bunch of us on the trip were sent to this show while the adults saw another show. He started off with potential, did a couple of his disappearing acts, basic magic stuff, but somewhat entertaining. After those 7 minutes, however, it was all down hill. His favorite thing was to attempt tricks from his TV show, in fact he'd say, hey remember season 1 episode 6 when I did this, well I'm going to do it now! I never watched his show, but either way just do the fucking trick. So he builds up this big trick where he gets "shocked" by 6 million volts of electricity, he shows the highlight from his show and they bring out the contraption. So I figure it'll at least be fun to see if he gets electrocuted. Then he brings out a potato in aluminum foil saying he is going to throw it in first to show how powerful it truly is. As he slowly walks towards the box an "explosion" occurs he falls down, before the explosion actually happens and the show proceeds to be "if Criss Angel died." Apparently he liked the movie Donnie Darko as it was filled with terrifying dancing bunnies, monsters, and clowns. If you go to Las Vegas and feel like losing money without the potential to get it back, just buy a ticket to Criss Angel. (Side note, his show is being revamped and he'll be gone for 6 months, so make sure you coincide so you don't miss wanting to kill yourself).

The most exciting day came on Saturday. I woke up early in the morning with the knack to lose money on college basketball games and blackjack so I could make sure to have no money for the next 12 days and reach in to my European funds. I ran down to the Sports book around 8:15 a.m, and sit down in a row by myself. Moments later I was lucky enough to be joined by Larry King. Little did I know my day would be filled with celebrity encounters. I didn't say anything, he was all about his horse racing and I figured why bother him, especially if he were to be losing money at the time. A few people went up to him, but for the most part he was left alone. Now we'll skip ahead to Saturday evening. Originally the plan was for my whole family to go to a big charity event at the Bellagio with our friends from California. Unfortunately for my sister and I our chance to go fell through, however, the night was not lost. We went to see the Beatles cirque de soleil "Love" with my Uncle. It was a fantastic show and as we were sitting waiting for the show to get started in walked Kristin Davis (Charlotte from Sex and the City, for those not as clearly gay as me for knowing who she was). She came in with some random dude and got the royal treatment. She had popcorn, some Fiji water, programs delivered to her. She took a picture with the program for the people and then the show began. Clearly they did not realize I was sitting right there or I would've had my picture taken too for them. As the show ended she was quickly escorted out by the director before any person could talk to her, once again I was overlooked. From there we proceeded over to the Bellagio for a small bite to eat and to hang out waiting for the parental units.

As we proceeded over a text came through from my mom that Hilary Duff was one of the celebrity guests at the charity event. For those of you who don't know, xoxo Hil and I go back to 2003. I was being harassed about her being there, I'm not as crazy about her as back in the day so it wasn't as big a deal to me. I still think she's a very pretty girl, but the connection for me was more to the Lizzie McGuire character and the image of her being that girl who is your best friend, but for some reason you're so fucked in the head it won't allow you to take the chance to see if you can be with her. This was the story of my existence and when she finally made the move on Gordo I thought that's how life should be and thus the perfect person was created. I've gotten over myself since then (not really, but her at least) and that image is no longer as prevalent as in the past. After dinner we waited for my parents and got the call the event was over, Zigfried and Roy performed their final trick and people were leaving. As we walked to the other side of the casino, it happened. Right in front of me walked Hilary. It all happened too quick, which in the end is probably a good thing because any awkwardness that would've ensued ("Hey, I used to wake up to your song So Yesterday as my alarm for 3 years in college.") could not have ended well for me. I did see her though, and that's a step. Maybe it means we're destined to cross paths again, I mean she did date a "Benji" she obviously didn't know she was missing the "E."

On Sunday morning I woke up again to gamble, I figured why not go Vegas Vacation on the casino and try to win my money back. For those concerned I won about half my money back, something that was much needed. My Uncle and I watched MSU win the Big Ten title to cap off the weekend and headed south to Arizona.

I was going to split this in to two, but if you're still here I'll just tell you about Arizona. It's a lot more undeveloped than I envisioned. We woke up early to drive to the ASU Phoenix area where the journalism building is. It's in the middle of downtown Phoenix, which isn't much of a downtown at all. A lot of construction and modern architecture occurring, but nothing that exciting. From there we proceeded 20 minutes to the main campus. I enjoyed the main campus much more than the building I'd be stuck in and realized that it would maybe suck to be in Phoenix when all the students are actually in Tempe at the real campus. I was surprised not to see anybody condemning students to hell or even a loud campus in general. The good news is since I wasn't totally enamored with the part of the University I would be at, as comically predicted I got an email tonight stating Arizona State has removed their name from allowing me to consider them. So for those hoping I stay in Michigan you're one step closer.

All is not lost though. I did go to the Cubs vs. Diamondbacks Spring Training game today, I had never been to a Spring training contest. There were over 9600 fans there, many families, classic old Arizona couples, and my personal favorite the drunk heckling baseball fan. Being that it was 90 degrees and the only way to handicap the fight for hydration even more is to drink beer this venue was fantastic. We got seats on the GA lawn area, a solid outfield seat for $7. The main victim seemed to be "Evan Frey." No matter what he did 2 men on the grass would not leave the kid alone. "You're a minor leaguer, use 2 hands when you catch the ball, Go back to France, Frey!" He seemed unfazed, never even glaring back, kudos to you Mr. Frey.

With one day left in Arizona and no need to go back to visit the campus I find myself still ready to enjoy the 90 degree weather for one more day. I got sun burnt today, not a shocker, but I have to find a way in the future to evenly distribute sun tan lotion, I have a tendency to make myself look like the 103rd Dalmation when I should look more like a Benjie. I think it's even, I think there is enough on me, but I never get it right. Or it's just sun poisoning, but what can you do. I'm having a good time so far and for some reason the rejection didn't effect me, I heard the more times it happens the easier it gets. Plus electronically receiving the "You've been denied" email gives it that fake feeling. May go find another game spring game for tomorrow and become heckling fan guy myself. I leave for Colorado Wednesday, fully expecting another rejection email Wednesday evening from there, but hey at least I'm seeing the world.

Congrats for making it to the end and thanks for coming here a second time. Leave comments, use the toilet and don't forget to shake.

-BK

The introduction

2009-02-25T22:28:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to the third blog in the Benjie Klein chronicles. A few of you may remember the original "journal" about the experiences of an often anxious and depressed, yet sarcastic college student back in 2003. More fresh in the mind of others may be the "Skizzle and Beekers go to Australia" blog adventure from February 2008. Today I introduce you to the ultimate combination of the two.

Stealing all, but one letter from a critically acclaimed canine flick; I introduce you to...

"Benjie: Off the Leash"

Many of you may be wondering what the hell I'm about to get myself into, don't worry my parents are first in line with that question. Flying to Europe with just myself and a backpack was not a combo I envisioned for myself most of my life. So as a general courtesy I'll paint the backdrop to start. It begins after three cold and sleepless blend of days and nights in December. I had managed about 6 total hours of sleep, which even by my known insomnia tendencies is not nearly enough to function normally. On the 4th day I found myself in a rare situation, I was sitting in a synagogue and not on a high holy day for the first time in 5 years. This is not one I hallucinated, nor did I feel I needed to find myself spiritually, I promised my mom I'd go with her, she's probably regretting that decision now. I sat looking up towards the rabbi, but not listening to any word not coming from my head. I realized at that point I had despised many of the 380 past days that led me to that point. As I continued to dig deeper into the bowels of my mind it became apparent 2009 I could finally rent a car at reasonable rates, unfortunately not filling the void that existed. I realized I needed to start challenging myself. Most of my scorn was directed towards the things I could not control, leaving me miserable. But I thought to myself, fuck it, too much of life you can't control, why keep holding yourself back from the things you can. I had always let simple fears stand in my way, I couldn't even make a legitimate unsolicited phone call (even to friends) until freshman year of college. I had always looked at conflict, failure, and rejection straight in the eye and took the long way around to avoid every one of them. I then realized I have 9 months ahead until grad school commences in a place where I potentially won't know a soul, maybe not even myself. At that moment I decided 2009 was going to have a twist, it'd be a selfish year. The time to do the things I joked to some, spoke seriously to others, and always fought with myself about had arrived. There are people who have entered and exited my life throughout the various phases of my 25 year existence that have and will continue to impact me more than they'll ever come to realize and for that I am grateful. I hope many people look at me in the same light, however, I decided to give myself the chance to impact my own life. A week later, I booked a two month trip to Europe with no set plans.

I leave for Europe on April 8th, still over a month away, however, the traveling and life altering decisions begin now. Here is an introduction of what lies ahead in March:

Feb 26-Mar 1

Las Vegas- It could all technically end here. The potential to lose money and cut into my European expense exists, but I'm going as cheap as possible, plus who says I won't win the chance to stay in a real hotel for at least one night. In reality this trip seems to be the last true Klein family vacation and what better place than Las Vegas, a Klein family destination over 764 times (give or take 752), 3 of which I've actually been old enough to take advantage of what Las Vegas has to offer.

March 1- March 4th

Arizona- My first visit to a college campus I've applied to for my masters (not named Michigan State). I have yet to hear back from any school besides MSU so this could very well be a tease to what my future could've been if I were just a little bit better. I will get to spend time out there with my Uncle, enjoy warm weather, see some spring training, and find out what the school has to offer so it won't be a lost cause regardless of Arizona State's decision.

March 4- March 6th

Colorado- College campus visit number 2. This is a mini introduction to traveling the world on my own. If I can't survive here, the 50 days in Europe may be a struggle. I will get to live the car rental dream, but this too could become a tease, as I envision 4 letters of rejection arriving at the Klein household on February 27th while I lose all my money on a 10 team parlay in Vegas. I'll get to see lots of mountains though.

March 6- March 8th or 9th

Seattle- I take a brief break from scholastic visits to visit a friend. I figure being on my own will be so overwhelming I'll need to know somebody on my next stop. Just kidding, maybe...

March 9- March 12th

Chicago/Madison- This is a possibility, but not definitively in the schedule because I've been assured by the University of Wisconsin I will have heard by March 4th if I've been accepted. Of course yesterday it had been March 1st, so I envision a few more pushing back the decision emails.

After the final stop I plan on coming home back home, but a few more possibilities do exist within the United States. Being that this is like the pilot episode to my new TV series though, I can't reveal all the surprises in the coming months. I can tell you to look out as I attempt to update out west, take you through the journeys of my mind in creating a plan for Europe that will probably become more useless each day out there, and most importantly take you on my trip with me as stories from the lands of languages I don't know become more abundant.

This may have been a bit wordy, you may not have enjoyed it, but when the real stories begin I can only hope the entertainment value increase. And we all know the real truth; my mind is a little insane, thus making my thoughts a magnet to your eyes and you fuckin love it.

Stiflingly yours,

-BK

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