Follow Our Journey

Deals, deals, deals!

2012-02-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

I love Groupon. SO MUCH. It's so fun to explore new restaurants and try new fun things for CHEAP! Thanks to this fabulous group-buying site, I will be...

1. Learning how to do tricks on the trapeze and a silk ribbon. My sister and I are going... I CAN'T WAIT!!

2. Taking an air-boat ride through the Everglades to try and spot some crazy, scary creatures!...Then watching a live alligator show.

3. Going on a sailboat ride and snorkeling at the Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo, FL! They say it's the only living barrier reef in the U.S. We just love snorkeling... and maybe someday we will even learn to scuba dive.

4. Naming our own star! I know it sounds cheesy, but I love it. It was part of my Valentine's Day surprise for Christopher but someone checks Groupon every day and figured it out early. haha oh well... I'm still excited! They shoot our special love message into a rocket in SPACE! I'm a sucker for this stuff.

So THANKS GROUPON for all the fun stuff I have to look forward to AND for that cheap dentist cleaning with x-rays, the nice dinners at places we normally can't afford, discounted movie rentals, cheap gift cards, and for making me drool over your Getaways to China and Africa.

Backpacking Europe Diary Part 5 (FINAL!)

2012-02-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

Well, we're not backpacking anymore so I suppose the title of this post may be misleading, but it's still Europe and I have some cute pictures and stories, so my daily diary continues...

Tuesday 10/18: SUN & THRILLS
Today we slept in and had a really nice breakfast with Oma, Opa and Christopher's cousins. The best part was "bretzel brotchen" (pretzel rolls) My favorite! Then Oma gave us a choice between a cultural experience and a super fun experience. Since we had been on "culture" overload the past few weeks, we voted for the "fun" option and she took us to their local amusement park, Trips Drill! It was definitely the best choice.

The park was small but super fun! It was a perfect fall day with warm sun and a light breeze. And the best part of all...there was no one in the park! It felt like a little kid's dream, or a rich kid's reality, like we rented out the whole park just for us. We never waited in line and we could ride everything multiple times. For our favorite rides, as soon as we got off, we just ran back to the front of the line and rode it again. On the big rides, we always posed for the photos which was hilarious...it was a blast! (We even snuck a few pictures of the photos... but we got in trouble and the lady watched us like a hawk afterward).

Some of the rides they had included a mini Power Tower that was made like a log and sometimes instead of dropping you down, it launched you forward a bit! It was crazy. Then they had a fun obstacle course with activities like running across a swaying bridge, or a moving walkway, slides and crazy trick bikes that go up and down when you peddle, have peddles on the back or are super hard to steer. Then of course they had the classic spinning rides that make me so sick, and pretty fast roller coasters plus several water slides. I got REALLY soaked at the end, thanks to a joke by a certain cousin who was determined to get me wet haha but it was fun.

Oma packed us all a yummy snack, the best German chocolate, of course :) Then we went to a petting/feeding zoo with elk, cows, bears, polarwolves, raccoons, eagles, owls and more! It so fun to feed them and even saw a big buck! (Christopher was so excited). It was also funny because the whole time Chris and his little cousin Sammy were throwing rocks at the animals trying to get them to look up, or run... mostly the raccoons so I didn't mind.

Then at the end as we were walking out of the park, we looked over and Sammy threw one last rock (keep in mind it was a really LONG throw) into a big pen and it hit a sheep right on the nose...it was hilarious. Especially since Sammy is the cutest. He doesn't speak much English (although he probably understands more English than I do German) but he always said "Don't cry baby, don't cry" and would pat us on the head.

Once we got back to Oma's, we had yummy spaghetti for dinner and then played Oma's favorite game of Stadt Land Fluss with everyone. Even his aunt Silke came over so we got to spend time with her too. I love that game... especially when you play with 2 languages because then you almost always get points since words start with different letters. It was so fun, especially when Christopher tried to use German words and spelled them wrong, like Pforzheim with a "F." Oma was always too nice and still gave him the points.

Wednesday 10/19: FAMILY FUN DAY

Today we all went swimming at the local indoor pool! They had diving boards, lap swim, balls for passing around, and a small baby pool so we didn't bother the old people. It felt so good to exercise and also extra fun to have people to play with, other than ourselves. Also, our cousin took this special class for driving in all conditions. It was neat to watch for awhile. They had to do certain tests like driving and stopping while hydroplaning, turning quickly, etc. It would probably be smart for me to do something like that. I need to be a better driver in bad weather.

When we got home, we watched the Kings Speech, which was a super great movie. It's crazy because in Germany, it's not rated-R. They have a different rating system and a lot of the movies in the U.S. that are rated-R are actually a "PG-16" type rating. I think it totally depends on the movie in whether or not you can trust the ratings, but in this case, I felt completely comfortable watching it. Especially since Oma recommended it... she is like the sweetest angel, ever.

For dinner, we ate yummy meatballs with rice and Apple Kuchen for dessert. Then we had a really fun family party that Silke planned...Christmas in October! We celebrated as if it were a mini Christmas holiday. We had a white elephant gift exchange which was super fun. At first, I got cool German cartoon called "Asterik" but it was stolen from me! I was so sad. Then I ended up getting another movie in German and Becky and I shared a magnet craft set. Chris got a Santa hat and waterbottle which he stole from Sammy, who surprisingly didn't care because all he really wanted was the cake mix! haha it was so funny.

Then we surprised Silke with a special gift... when we had gone into her apartment we found there were NO pictures of us! So we presented her with 2 giant posters of our faces and said that her punishment was that she had to hang them so she would never forget us again. :) Then we sang Christmas songs like "O Tannenbaum" while Fabi, Oma and Silke played on their recorders, and then we ate German cookies and Kinder punch. And lastly, Oma shared her testimony with us. It was very special.

Then I stayed up late with Becky and Silke... just having some girl chat time. It was fun because it felt just like my family. The girls always love staying up late just talking and hanging out. Family is the best.

Thursday 10/20: SPECIAL DAY
I had to savor my very last Bretzel brotchen today! It was sad... but delicious, as always. Then we had to spend time packing. We couldn't believe this day had come, that after 5 months we were going to be leaving Europe! It was a bittersweet moment because we didn't want to leave, but at the same time, we knew it was time to go home. And it was exciting to be going home too.

In the afternoon, Oma took me to cute local jewelry store and told me to pick out something. I found a really cute pearl bracelet. She is such a sweet grandma and I will treasure this bracelet forever! Then we headed up to Frankfurt, where we stayed in a hostel at the temple. It was so neat because in Germany, instead of a having a temple day, they have a temple WEEK! So people come and stay in the hostel that's attached to the temple with a tunnel and they go to sessions every day. They bring their whole families and they have activities and speakers for the young adults; kind of like a Youth Conference type of thing. It was such a neat experience. We attended a temple session with Oma, and Christopher's aunt and uncle, Tanya and Rainer. It was a really special day.

Friday 10/21: FAREWELL EUROPE
We bid farewell to Europe today. We departed Europe with no issues (thanks to our temporary German visas from Oma!) Our flight had no delays, our bags were underweight, our layover in Iceland went by quickly, which was fabulous. It was crazy when we first got off the plane in America because everyone from our plane got in this huge, long line. And we were like, umm, what the heck. There shouldn't be a line just to get to baggage claim. So we snuck over to the handicapped side and just walked past all the people (literally hundreds of people were in this line). I wasn't sure what we would find when we got to the end, but I was SO extremely happy when I saw this sign:

It said left, "Visitors" and right, "U.S. Citizens." I'm sure those poor tourists had to wait about 3-4 hours at least. It never felt so good to be a citizen of the United States of America!

Even though we were sad to be leaving family and that our big European adventure was over... it still felt so good just be home in America. There were so many things we missed, and things we realized that we took for granted.

Christopher's brother Kyle picked us up at the JFK airport in New York City, and to celebrate our arrival, we ate at Taco Bell. And it was so delicious... just like the tacos we had been dreaming about for months. When we got back to Christopher's parents house... we went straight to bed, and slept like babies.

SUMMARY OF EUROPE While we were there, we felt very much like outsiders, strange and different for many reasons:

- We don't drink alcohol. In Italy this is very offensive to some people, especially when you turn down a free taste of their best wine. It was hard to say no at times, because they couldn't understand us when we tried to explain why.

- We don't smoke. This is a cultural norm in Europe which actually affected us more than them. Secondhand smoke was inevitable and we just had to learn how to deal with it.

- We don't drink coffee. They weren't quite sure how we were still alive and functioning every morning. Most people we met had at least 3-5 cups a day.

- We only speak one language fluently. Unfortunately, this one is mostly their "ignorant, egotistical American stereotype proving true." It's not that we didn't TRY though... we tried to learn as many phrases and sentences as we could but going from Germany to Italy to Greece to France to Switzerland sure made it difficult. We often got confused and started mixing languages or saying the wrong phrase like Merci in the German part of Switzerland.

- We wear swimsuits on the beach... haha umm, self-explanatory.

- We dislike a lot of the things they love. For example: mineral/bubble water, soccer, and super strong cheese.

- We got married younger than 30. In fact we got married younger than 25, which is just unheard of and crazy to them. They just kept asking us why and we would say, because we were in love and we wanted to. It made no sense to them and I guess we couldn't really explain it either.

(I know some of these things even make us strange in America, but it seemed even more so in Europe). So yes, you can imagine after they find out all those strange things about us, we were somewhat like an endangered species, no...more like aliens from another planet. We just didn't "fit in." But we are okay with that. We still met lots of great people and I have a feeling we might stick out in their minds, so maybe that's a good thing. Despite getting a lot of strange and sometimes offended looks, we still enjoyed our European adventures anyway.

But as with traveling, you can never see it all and even when you're finished you feel like there are things you missed and SO much more that you want to see. We are already making future plans in Europe for: The Berlin Wall, Auschwitz Concentration Camp, the Northern Lights in Norway, Prague, Croatia, the Running of the Bulls & the Tomato Fight in Spain, the Amalfi Coast in Southern Italy and Sicily, more Greek islands...

But I think we'll need to build up our savings account for a few (like 10) years before we can afford all that. But boy, I've said it once and I'll say it again, traveling is such an addiction! The more you see, the more you want to see! What a beautiful, interesting, amazing world we live in. I just can't get enough of it.

Backpacking Europe Diary Part 4

2012-02-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Monday 10/10: CITY OF FASHION

We rode the tram to bus stop and hopped back on our BusAbout tour to drive up to Milan. Unfortunately, we stood by a really annoying girl who was blazing snake charmer music. Chris threatened to chop her headphone cords with scissors, but she didn't hear him. That's probably a good thing. I guess we are sick of being around strangers... we need some personal space.

On our bus ride we saw beautiful views of the French Riviera. Once we arrived in Milan we found a nice local place with some delicious Asian food in an area called Brera. It was a business district so we felt very under dressed next to all of the Milan fashionistas. But I guess backpackers aren't supposed to look like locals.

Despite the fact that we were super tired of site-seeing and especially bored of churches, we had to visit the famous Duomo... I think it's one of the biggest in Europe and maybe the world. I'll admit, it was pretty impressive... but I liked the outside the best. It was nice to just sit on the steps and people watch. But it was especially nice to eat some Kinder-flavored gelato (German chocolate).

Then we walked around to explore some fashion outlets but even the discounted high-end clothing and purses were still 3x my budget. I prefer not to spend more than $100 on any one item...unless it's totally necessary which is almost never.

We then made met our way to our Couch Surfer, Martino's apartment. There we watched some American TV (MTV, Extreme Home Makeover), dubbed with Italian. It was funny because we could almost read their lips. Then Martino took us to a really nice, local Italian place. We ate some delicious Italian pizza, and some fried zucchini for our appetizer. It was some of the best Italian food we've had yet AND he paid for everything! Such a nice guy :)

Tuesday 10/11: GELATO AND DA VINCI
It was a perfect morning...we slept in, ate some cocoa puffs, and then headed to Milan's big flea market. Since our trip was winding to an end, it was the perfect time to pick up some souvenirs for our families. We found a nice Italian painted plate for Oma, a pocket watch with an old car on it for Opa, some jewelry for my sisters... and myself too :)

We really wanted to see the Last Supper painting but everyone (online and on our bus) said that you need reservations at least 60 days in advance! Thanks to Christopher's persistence, we decided to show up anyway and see if they had any cancellations or extra tickets. When we arrived, they said that we needed to book tickets by phone. But we just stood in the front of the desk for a few seconds and then asked if she could check for an extras. She sighed like she was really irritated but then asked how many we needed. We were so excited!! She said they were the last 2 tickets and we should come back at 6:30pm.

To pass the time, we decided to go on a walk. We saw a castle, a big park with gardens and a beautiful arch, and then we ended up in Milan's Chinatown. We were excited at first when we saw all of the purses, hats, jewlery and scarves, but then realized that most of the stores sold their times as wholesale so they wouldn't sell us anything unless we bought like 100+. We did however find some super tasty gelato and Christopher almost bought a skeleton/automatic watch, but decided not to because we weren't sure about the quality.

The Last Supper viewing was extremely structured. Only 25 people were allowed to see it for 15 min and before going in we had to go through a serious of doors and gates. The painting was pretty impressive. It was a lot bigger than expected - a mural across the whole wall. One thing I noticed was that Judas was the only dark one. We learned that Da Vinci used a special technique that made the art fragile and several artists have made repairs on it over the years.

Once it got dark, we visited the Duomo again so we could see what it looked like at night. It was pretty magical to see. Then we headed back to Martino's apartment and boiled some spiral spaghetti noodles. We were craving Alfredo sauce but they didn't have any at the supermarket so we talked to some young college students and they told us to get a cream-like sauce. We also added ham and fresh mozzarella! It was different than American pasta, but it was super tasty!

Wednesday 10/12: CIAO ITALY!
Today I did some resume updating to help prepare me for my big job search when we get back. It felt good to be productive but also a little sad thinking about the fact that our trip was almost over and real life was about to begin. Then we checked out the fancy fashion district: Burberry, Prada, Gucci, Dolche & Gabanna, etc. It was fun to window shop and to see all of the nice displays.

Since it was our last day in Italy, we searched for awhile to find one last Canoli. It was definitely worth the walk. Then we bought some Italian pasta to take home and found our way to the bus, which took us to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. On the way, we saw gorgeous views of the mountains and even a few trees changing colors. We couldn't believe it was autumn. We had been in Italy's warm weather for so long that it still felt like summer.

Once we arrived, Christopher's aunt Sylvia picked us up at the hostel. There we saw Europe's tallest free standing waterfall that is 300 meters high. Then we ate some dinner at the hostel's restaurant. We both chose some super tasty Rosti! It's one of our favorite meals, ever. It's kind of like hashbrowns with cheese, mushrooms, ham, egg and onion. Yum! Yum Yum!! Plus they had the best glacier water, probably straight from the mountains. After dinner, we drove back to Lausanne to Sylvia's home.

Thursday 10/13: SWISS AUTUMN
Today was really relaxing. It was definitely a welcomed break to all our walking and site-seeing. We had some yummy Swiss bread and Apfelsaft (like Apple juice but with carbonation) for breakfast while we sat on the porch and enjoyed the nice view of lake Geneva. The weather was perfect; in the 60s with a breeze and super sunny!

I decided to have some alone time and took a walk to look at all the beautiful autumn colors. I strolled along the lake and took pictures of the beauty all around me. It was nice to be alone with me and my thoughts, appreciating and reflecting on all our wonderful experiences and adventures.

The rest of our day consisted of a nap, some tasty soup, sonnenbrot, job searching, spending time with family, and watching Christopher play Harry Potter on the Wii.

Friday 10/14: 360 DEGREE SWITZERLAND
This morning, Sylvia drove us to Leysin, Switzerland. We met her friend, Esther, and also visited Esther's daughter, who lived nearby. We toured her beautiful Swiss chalet! It was so fun to see the inside; it reminded me of a big wooden cabin. She had an amazing mountain view and the weather was just perfect.

Thanks to her job at the tourist office, we got free tickets to take a cable car up the mountain for free! It was a little foggy and cloudy so we couldn't see Lake Geneva, but the view was still amazing! It felt like heaven. We ate at the revolving restaurant that has a 360 degree panoramic view. It slowly spins while you are eating so that you can get a view of the mountains all around. It spins slow enough that you don't really feel it but fast enough to do one full turn in about an hour. Christopher and I shared cheese fondue. It was super yummy and REALLY filling.

There was a little snow on the ground and some in the mountains which definitely added to the beauty. It was crazy though because we went from hot, sunny beaches that felt like summer straight to snowy mountains that felt like winter. But it was a fun change too. We sent a few postcards to our parents, walked around the town and then ate some dessert. We each got some ice cream; mine had tiny blackberries that were actually blueberries! It was really tasty.

On the way back to Lausanne, we enjoyed a nice drive with more trees changing colors, vineyards up the hillsides, and mountains with the beautiful foreground of Lake Geneva. When we got home, I backed up all my pictures on a flash drive... definitely something I would recommend if you're going on a trip!! It was such a relief to know that they weren't all on one memory card.

Saturday 10/15: MATTERHORN EXPRESS
We woke up extra early to catch the train to Zermatt! Sylvia and Naomi, Chris's cousin and their exchange student came too. We ate yummy pastries and enjoyed eachother's company along the way. when we got to Zermatt, we walked around the town and looked at the all overpriced beanies (60 franks!) and North Face coats (300 franks!)

Then we took a special train up the mountain to see the world-famous Matterhorn! It was so amazing and beautiful. There were yellow trees, a great view of the valley, and a white glacier with beautiful blue skies! I felt like I was on a magical train, like Polar Express or something. It was seriously gorgeous. I must have taken 300+ pictures because I just couldn't stop. It was breathtaking.

We walked around the observatory and saw amazing views all around us. Sylvia was deathly afraid of heights and she totally freaked out when I did a handstand on the ledge (probably for good reason) but I had to. Then we enjoyed some really delicious foods at the restaurant with a great view of the Matterhorn while we ate. I got Rosti again and we tried a new type of soda called Rivella, that's actually made from liquid cream cheese. It was kind of weird but tasty, like Cream Soda!

After the train ride back down, we walked around Zermatt a little more. We wished we had more time (and money) to paraglide! It looked so cool. Then we were treated to some of Sylvia's favorite chocolates. They were like heaven!! She sure spoiled us. On the train ride home, we enjoyed the views of waterfalls and a beautiful sunset on the lake. We walked down to Ouchy with Naomi to see the sunset and some ducks and swans swimming around. It was a perfect day with the best people.

Sunday 10/16: FLASHBACK CITY
Today was our last day in Switzerland. We ate our last yummy homemade bread from Marcell and then took a train from Lausanne to Zurich, where we met my parent's friends, Christoph and Christina. They took us around Zurich where we enjoyed the beautiful architecture and buildings along the river. It was a little chilly and foggy, but we were still able to see a lot.

We went to the GrossMunster church with amazing stained glass windows! They were unique and different than all other churches. Christoph told us that they were made from sliced gems. We climbed to the top of the church tower and saw a very nice panoramic view of the city. We also saw the famous clock that has the largest diameter in all of Europe! I was surprised that it was larger than Big Ben.

While walking around, we saw beautiful yellow, orange and red leaves everywhere. I think fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year. We were lucky that we didn't have to return to school or work so we could travel during this colorful season. Our friends took us to a really, really nice cafe! It had red cushion on the walls and ceilings with nice chandeliers and romantic lighting. We ate some Apfelstrudel and hot cocoa... yum! It was the perfect combination for a chilly day.

Then we took a boat ride down the river and to Lake Zurich, and then walked along the lake and through a nice park. We tried some roasted chest nuts (heissi marroni)! I had never had them before, but they were pretty tasty.

When we got home, we started a fire and then helped prepare for dinner. We had a fabulous meal of fresh salad and yummy cheese fondue! Perfect. We also got to talk with Kaspar, their son who I knew when I was younger. My family visited them for a summer and then they came to visit us. I couldn't believe how perfect his English was. He studied abroad in New Zealand so he had a cool Swiss-Aussie type accent. It was fun to see him.

We got to visit with them for awhile and see pictures of their new mountain home. They said that many people are buying second homes in Europe because they don't feel their money is safe in the bank. Such a crazy economy and unpredictable world it is right now. For the rest of the evening we just relaxed and then had fruit salad for dessert.

The whole day was really great to spend with our friends and I was able to reminisce a lot from my family's vacation years ago. I was surprised how much I remembered... I definitely had a lot of flash backs. Switzerland is such a beautiful country. I just love it.

Monday 10/17: BACKPACKING ADVENTURE...FINITO.

We woke up early to have a farewell breakfast with the Maruggs and then took a train to Lucern and caught our last BusAbout leg. While we waited for the bus, we walked around the city and enjoyed the river, water, bridges and swans. We were there so early some of them we still sleeping, which actually looks really funny if you've never seen it. They just wrap their long necks around and position them on their backs. It's so cute. We made a stop and got some fresh warm pastries, plus some wurst and Strawberry Chocolate Yogurt Sticks...my weakness.

While on our bus ride, we made one last photo stop at Neuschwanstein Castle. It was so beautiful! JUST like a magical fairy tale :) I could really see the influence it had upon Disneyland's castle. We decided not to take the tour inside since we had already seen a few other castles, but we enjoyed the view from the bridge across the water and looking down on the valley. (I'll admit, the bridge was a little scary. I had cartoon visions of the bridge breaking on one end and swinging down the hundreds of feet below us...luckily, although it did squeak, it was still safe). After snapping our photos, we walked back down the mountain and relaxed by the lake. We also saw some cool posters that showed the castle in winter, in fog, summer, spring, autumn, etc. It was neat to compare the castle in all the different seasons and weather.

Once we arrived in Munich, we met our friends the Gildners who brought our suitcases to the station for us! We weren't expecting this, we were planning on going to their apartment to get them. They were so kind to be so helpful and on top of that...they even gave us money for food!! They were the sweetest people ever. While we waited for our train, we ate a yummy bratwurst! I was so happy. I had been craving one for days. Then we walked around the train station shops and I found the SAME winter hats we had wanted in Milan's ChinaTown... for only 3 Euros! I was so excited.

After a LONG day of traveling, we finally made it to Stuttgart around 11:30pm, where Basti, Chris's cousin, and Oma picked us up. It was so wonderful to see them again. It really felt like coming home. We had a snack, talked all about our trip and then watched The Big Bang Theory til we fell asleep. Such a great show. So happy our cousins have such great taste in funny TV shows. They're the best.

Backpacking Europe Diary Part 3

2012-02-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

Saturday 10/1: ROMAN LEFTOVERS
Today we left Greece. I was feeling sad, you know, the kind of sad when your vacation is coming to an end and you wish you could just make time slow down forever so you never have to go back home? Well... then I realized that I didn't have to go home, or back to work but my vacation was continuing on just to a different place! Then I got excited for more of Italy. We caught a shuttle to the Athens airport, but this shuttle was pretty slow and we were stuck sitting close to a nasty, greasy couple who was just a little too "in love" for my comfort zone. PDA is so gross...especially when the people are gross and it's early in the morning and they are sitting directly in your view.

Once we finally got to the airport, it was super nice because everything was really well-organized and efficient. They freaked out a little when my bag went through because they thought my camera lens was a bomb! So they had to do some tests on it and made me take the cap off...Weird. Strangely enough though, we got to keep our shoes on. The flight was quick and we arrived in Rome with plenty of the day left to explore. We found a shuttle from the airport to the center for only 4 Euros! (The Info lady at the desk said that 8 was the cheapest, so we learned our lesson about walking a little further past the first shuttle companies to find the best price.) Never take the first shuttle you see! Nine times out of 10 you will find one cheaper if you just keep walking.

One thing we really wanted to see was St Peter's Basilica. We couldn't go our first day because we were both wearing shorts and sandals. This time, I wore a dress but we still saw a lot of women in shorts who had to buy scarves to wrap around their legs. The paintings and architecture were so beautiful! The giant dome was impressive and the intricate design was just breathtaking. We agreed that it was even more impressive than the Sistine Chapel. We were lucky enough to go on a Saturday, so we got to attend part of Mass (it was all in Italian though so we had no idea what was going on). My favorite part of the basilica was the gold ceiling...simply beautiful. Christopher was also super excited because he saw a nun AND got his picture taken with her. She was so cute :)

Then we headed over to the San Pietro in Vincoli chapel where St Peter's chains are stored and Michaelangelo's Moses painting is hung. It was a very simple chapel, but a few neat things to see. It was an interesting journey trying to find this chapel. We walked around the general vicinity for a good 30 minutes. When we asked, no one understood what we were trying to say. They just kept sending us to the Vatican. We then asked for the Colosseum and they said they didn't know English. We even said "Colosseo" in an Italian accent and they just stared at us. It was super frustrating because we really were trying. I'm not sure if they were just annoyed of tourists, or they really couldn't look at a cartoon map of the Colosseum and know what we were talking about... but it was beyond frustrating.

While walking around the city, we saw lots of graffiti, beggars with elephantiasis, little kids playing accordions on the metro, and young girls trying to wash windows for just a few coins. It was such a sad economy. At times it felt almost like a third-world country. Since it was a bigger city, there was also a lot of trash, TONS of people everywhere, and the air was really thick with dust and pollution. It wasn't the most enjoyable city to walk around in, but the sites made it all worth it.
As it started to get dark, we made our way over to the Cestius Pyramid. It was pretty cool. We never knew it existed or even heard anything about it. We just saw a little graphic on the map and decided to go check it out. We didn't go inside, but it was a neat site that I didn't expect to find in Rome.

We were starving by this point, so we walked around to try and find a good restaurant. It was one of my life goals to eat spaghetti in Rome so we wanted to find a cute local place with tasty food. But once again...no one could understand us. I kept on saying spaghetti and even busted out the charades moves pretending like I was eating but they just stared and shook their heads. I seriously just wanted to scream. The people who finally understood us said they didn't know, or just pointed and said "there is food over there." But we didn't just want any old place, we wanted a place that was special. We soon figured out that the people we were asking, were the people who never go out to eat, they always make their own at home.

While I'm on this rampage... I also have to add that Italians are horrible at giving directions!! Either that, or they just hate American tourists. But literally every time we asked they would say, "walk straight a few blocks or so and then go that way and ask someone else." They honestly were that vague or sometimes even worse. I SO missed the Irish people. They are the nicest people on the planet. If you ask for directions, they will walk or drive you there themselves.

But anyway, after about an hour we finally found a good place to eat spaghetti!! We were both extremely tired and starving but luckily the food was pretty cheap and tasty. However, the service was really poor. It took almost 2 hours just to get our food. Plus they gave us a dirty look for sharing a plate and for not getting a drink. But we enjoyed it anyway and I got to accomplish my life goal.

To end our day in Rome, we walked to the Trevi Fountain again because we wanted to see it at night. It was SO beautiful and is still our favorite part about the city. It was funny because exactly 7 days ago we threw a coin in and the myth says that when you do it will "ensure your return trip to Rome"... so the myth came true! We decided not to throw in another coin because that means you will find true love, and we're all set in that department. :)

Once we got back to the campsite, we explored the local store and I found some vanilla wafers for 62 cents. I didn't expect much but they turned out to be the BEST wafers I have ever eaten in my life. I ran back and bought like 5 packs to stash for the rest of our trip.

Sunday 10/2: PANORAMIC FLORENCE
Today we met back up with BusAbout and continued on our journey, heading north. We were happy to find that the bus also had charging docks so we could charge the camera battery and our phones. Another neat thing about our tour was that we made "Photo Stops" (I especially loved this.)

Our first one was in Orvieto, where we stopped for a few hours in the morning. It is a beautiful village on the top of a hill overlooking beautiful Italian countryside. It's most famous for its big, beautiful Duomo.
The lighting was perfect when we first arrived so I hurried and took my photos before the sun casted shadow lines. Then we wandered around the little village admiring vibrant handmade pottery and romantic alley ways. We came across a little tiny church that Christopher wanted to go in. When we walked in, there was one beam of light shining brightly through a window, like a giant spotlight illuminating in a direct line. I'd never seen anything like it before. It was a simple, beautiful moment that even my trusty Nikon couldn't quite capture completely.

Then it was back on the bus to Florence! We decided not to stay in the "recommended" hostel but instead found another campsite hostel (for half the price) near the Piazzale Michaelangelo. It was definitely the right choice! Just a few minute walk up the road was a gorgeous panoramic view of Florence, with a bronze replica statue of Michaelangelo's David. We walked up to watch the sunset and enjoyed the beautiful view with a bright orange and pink sky. It was amazing.

For dinner we were happy to enjoy some more delicious Italian style pizza! The fresh mozzarella and mushrooms definitely hit the spot. The campsite also had Wifi so I was able to Skype with my parents. It was the first time I had talked to them since our big backpacking adventure and it was so fun to tell them about our trip and to just hear another familiar (English-speaking) voice. I was starting to get a little bit homesick at this point... but more like sick of living out of a backpack and walking for miles every day. But this feeling never stayed long as the amazing sites and places reminded me how lucky I was to have this experience.

One funny thing about Italy is they love to trap tourists with their souvenirs of crazy-shaped pasta. They literally have pasta in every color and shape you can think of: stars, hearts, animals...and even in the shapes you wouldn't think of, like male private parts? haha seriously Italy, you're crazy.

For the evening, we just hung out at the hostel's outdoor lounge and happened to make some new friends. We met Carly and Jed, who were another young married couple from Alaska. We got along really well and they were the type of friends that just "clicked" with us.

Then we also met Svenja, a little blonde girl from South Africa, who was nice but all of the sudden got really angry at Chris when he asked her about the best places to hunt wild African animals. She was appalled that he wanted to hunt a lion and said it was really "swock" (aka: crappy) and she almost started crying. We felt bad, but we tried to explain to her that we would use all of the meat and wouldn't be wasteful... but she was offended for the rest of the night. She also used funny South African lingo like "hoot" your horn. She was entertaining to listen to. We all stayed up until about 1am just chatting about our travels and lives. It was fun to have some good conversation.

Monday 10/3: BEAUTIFUL DUOMO & ITALIAN CUISINE
Today we experienced Italy's rebellion against Mondays. I'm not sure why, but so many things are closed. But despite their strange schedule, we still enjoyed our day in Florence. For breakfast, we ate some croissants filled with chocolate cream/pudding. It became a typical breakfast for us because we could buy them in a big package and eat them for a few days. They weren't fresh; I'd say they are equivalent to a PopTart for Americans.

We walked down to the city center from our campsite and saw all the main sites. First, the Duomo which was really beautiful. It seems to be the city's landmark attraction, like the Eiffel Tower for Paris or Big Ben for London. The dome was really beautiful with nice paintings and architecture. Then we walked over to the Ponte Vecchio bridge. It's the only bridge that's left from the WWII bombing so it has a neat historical background. It was nice to walk across. There was a lot of pretty jewelry that wasn't even that expensive. I was surprised.

Since most of the sites were closed, we visited the churches. We also saw another copy of Michaelangelo's David outside one of the museums. We decided not to pay to go inside because it wasn't really worth it to us. The replicas were sufficient for us. We also saw a lot of other large white statues with some crazy and violent interpretations like people's heads getting ripped off and others portrayed love and betrayal... it was interesting.

Our tour guide said the markets were closed on Monday but we happened to stumble upon the famous San Lorenzo markets which were full of people and tents. They were selling the most beautiful leather goods - coats, bags, suitcases, purses, wallets, bracelets, shoes, belts... it was torturous! I wanted a big leather duffel bag SO badly...but I couldn't rationalize the 300-500 Euros they cost. The markets also sold pots, dishes, scarves, artwork, and tons of tourist-trap trinkets. We mostly just admired and looked at all our options. We didn't want to buy something and then find another item later and regret our purchase.

After mulling through the markets, we found a little dessert shop and I ate my first Canoli! All I can say is, YUM! If you haven't had one before, they have a graham cracker/cookie-like crust with a chocolate coating and powdered sugar on the outside and then a cold creamy inside. (Oh, they are addicting... I'm craving one right now just thinking about them!) Then we hung out at the park and people watched for awhile. While relaxing, we saw how the city's crazy underground dumpsters work. There is a big crane that drives around to each metal trashcan (looks kind of like a U.S. mail drop) and then it picks them up with a giant magnet which reveals a big container that was underground and empties them into the garbage truck. Someone told us a crazy story about a kid who was playing hide-and-seek and actually crawled inside the trashcan and was stuck down there! Gross and scary... but he ended up being fine so it's kind of funny.

After our little break, we did some shopping. It started out as window shopping at Louie Viton, Gucci, Prada, etc. and then I wandered into the middle-class mall and found a perfect skirt at H&M for only 10 Euros! I was super excited...and even though my bag had no room, I made room. Then we finished up our market/shopping day with a little good luck rub on the hog (For some reason Europe likes to make statues that people rub for good luck).

As the sun set, we walked along the river and looked out toward the Ponte Vecchio bridge. It was a beautiful site. For dinner, we went to a cute little restaurant and Christopher got pizza and I got the Carbonara pasta and then we shared. The pasta was crazy...it was made with egg and bacon! They were both really tasty and we knew the pasta was a good choice because the 3 people around us got it too. To end our day, we sat up by the Piazzale Michaelangelo that overlooked the city of Florence to see the view at night. Then we hung out with our Alaskan friends again back at the campsite and fell asleep fast because we had been walking all.day.long.

Tuesday 10/4: BARGAIN HUNTING AT THE MARKETS
Today was designated as our official treasure hunting day. We woke up pretty early and took a bus outside the city to a little suburb across the river where the Cascine Markets are located. They are only on Tuesdays, so we were lucky to be in Florence this day. They are a lot different than the San Lorenzo markets because they are way less touristy, which means things are cheaper and also means less people speak English. But just as I suspected, they were amazing!

I found two blazers, one black and one khaki for only 5 Euros each!! I couldn't believe it. I had been searching for blazers this whole trip but just couldn't bring myself to pay 25-30 Euros. They also had lots of jewelry (from India), fake Italian bags, shoes and second-hand clothes. We walked around, found a few treasures, ate a super tasty pig sandwich...they had the whole cooked pig, in the shape of a pig on a giant platter inside of a little trailer and his body was stuffed with spices!

While we were walking around, we saw a crazy one-man band. He was wearing a contraption that allowed him to play the drums, symbols and harmonica all at the same time...people are definitely desperate to entertain to try and make a few extra Euros and they are starting to get more creative too. After the market started to close up, we walked back over to Florence and returned to the San Lorenzo market to see what we wanted now that we had seen the variety of options.

Chris tried on a bunch of leather jackets and ALMOST bought one... but decided to hold off. The cost ranged from 80-500 Euros. They were really nice, but he decided that he would rather spend that money on a coat we could find on sale in America, so we didn't have to pay the extra "American tourist" fee. I admired the leather duffel bags again...they were so beautiful! But despite how much my heart ached for one, I knew that it wasn't a good idea for our budget. Someday :)

Our second big bargain of the day was some really cool Italian ties. For only 10 Euros, Christopher got 4 ties! He picked out some matching ones for him, his dad and his brothers. Then we got some food from the supermarket and treated ourselves to some delicious gelato. We ate on the square whiled we listened to some cute street performers playing Italian music and watched the bright orange-red sunset turn to night.

Throughout the trip, we learned a lot of things but one specifically was how to share. We didn't realize how spoiled we are! We are used to each having our own phone, our own iPod, our own computers... but when we went to Europe we decided to bring just one so we cut down on weight and the possibility of theft. Overtime we got better, but it was still a little annoying. It was clearly good for us though, hopefully we became a little bit less selfish.

Wednesday 10/5: THE LEANING TOWER & LOVER'S WALK
It was rough waking up today. And even worse when we had to fork over 100 Euros for a crappy campsite. Yuck. But at least the view, the location and our new friends made it worth it. We found another couple from New Zealand who was on our BusAbout trip and they were heading back to the pickup point too so we walked with them and chatted about our Florence adventures.Then we caught the bus that took us to the other side of the city where most of the bus was staying in a hostel. There was a gorgeous red sunrise as we drove across the river.

While we were on the bus, the tour guide turned on a few episodes of Family Guy (click to watch). Normally I don't like this show but watching something was better than being bored. It made the time go by quicker too. Today, we heard the funniest line of any cartoon, EVER. (Probably mostly just funny due to the timing.) So the episode was about some undercover Russian spies/"sleeper agents" and the government set an "activate phrase" as one sentence that no human being would ever utter. So the dog asked, "How do you know that someone wont say it on accident?" And then they responded, "Not possible." Then the little boy asked what the phrase was, so the government said, "Oh my gosh, that Italian family eating at the next table sure is quiet." Hahaha the whole bus couldn't stop laughing.

Today we had our second Photo Stop at the world-famous Leaning Tower of Pisa! We joined the crowd and took our classic pictures of pushing, kicking and climbing the tower. It was fun but also a little annoying trying to get a picture without someone in the background... so we kinda gave up and just did our best. The tower was cool to see and I'm totally glad we did, but I'm glad it was just a photo stop and not a hop-off stop because other than the tower there wasn't much to do.

A few hours later, we arrived in La Spezia and got train tickets to Riomaggiore, the first village of Cinque Terre ("The Five Lands"). Right as we exited the train, we found an old lady who offered us a hostel for 20 Euros per person, per night. We decided to check around just in case we found something else but the cheapest we could find was 65 Euros per person! So we stayed at Mamma Rosa Hostel - a little bit of a "dive"... but we bartered her down about 50% to only 50 Euros for both of us for 2 nights :) I knew it was meant to be when our key was for Room #7!

I was so excited for Cinque Terre so we did the Lover's Walk right away. We saw lots of locks along the way, graffiti messages, and of course...a beautiful view of the coast!! We also did our own "Lock of Love" and found the perfect place for it...locked it to two other locks, one was red and heart shaped and the other one said "forever." It was cute. Then we kissed our keys and threw them into the ocean.

After our walk, we made it to the second village, Manarola which had the MOST amazing view! This is where most of the famous paintings and photographs are from. We saw a bunch of swimmers, cliff jumpers, fishers, boats, and explored all the little shops. Then we walked back to our village and found some great photo spots by hiking past the boat marina and across the rocks. Even though some paint was chipping and the colors were fading, it was almost better because it gave the scene more personality and life.

Then we got some gelato and watched the sunset on the ocean horizon. That's one thing I loved most about our trip... it gave us time to really enjoy the simple beauties of life and to appreciate the miracle's of nature. Time spent on vacation is so much different than the hustle and busyness of every day life. After the sun went down we found some tasty THICK CRUST (rare) Italian pizza! It was definitely the best yet!!! And it was so filling, it lasted 2 meals for us. (Thankfully, Mamma Rosa's had a fridge!)

Thursday 10/6: HIKES, CLIFFS & JELLYFISH
This morning, I woke up from a super crazy dream! I was in some alternate world like Alice and Wonderland combined with the Christmas Carol. It was a journey through all my memories and the people I have impacted or those who have helped me in my life. It was an endless maze/labyrinth, and I came across a few famous people who wanted to meet me. Then the news came and said they wanted to interview me about this million dollar project that was created just for me... haha yeah, it was a pretty cool dream.

Anyway... we took the local train out to the 5th village called Monterosso where we laid on the beach for awhile and just relaxed. I decided to go for a swim and the water felt so nice! It was also really clear and beautiful. Once Christopher got bored (which is always way too fast for my beach-bum liking), we started the HIKE. Although we had no idea just how much of a hike we were in for.

Since we started with the Lover's Walk, we assumed the rest of the "hiking" would be similar. We were very wrong. The walk from Monterosso to the 4th village, Vernazza had SO MANY steps up!!! Then for awhile it would have steps down (just to trick us into thinking we were headed down), just to walk back up again. To make things worse, the view wasn't even that great.

Every once in awhile we caught a glimpse of the coast or a mountain through the trees... but mostly for us, it was just a big mistake. It took almost 2 hours, when we expected it to take 30 minutes. It was super painful on the legs, when we expected it to be a nice afternoon stroll. So mostly I think if our expectations would have been different, we wouldn't have complained so much. But if you're going to do the hike, especially starting at Monterosso... BEWARE. Your legs will hate you.

The one positive thing about our torturous (sweaty, sweaty hot) hike was that we did have a great view of Vernazza on our final decent down. This was Christopher's favorite village. We had both stripped down to our swimsuits by this point, so we were totally ready to dive off the dock into the harbor. Cold ocean water never felt so GOOD!

We did a few cannon balls and then dried out on the rocks as we ate our packed lunches. To my dismay... a few minutes after we had gotten out of the water, we saw a jellyfish floating by! I am TERRIFIED of jellies and I was pretty traumatized that had we jumped in 4 minutes later... we could have been tingling with poisonous pain.

Since we were both completely hiked out, we took the train to Corniglia, the third village, and then took a bus up to the top. We were happy that the ride was free with our park pass because we were definitely done with steps. This village had nice views of the coast and you could also see a few of the other villages in the distance.

My favorite part of Cinque Terre was Manarola.
Mostly because this is where I took my favorite picture:

AND...where I had a brave moment and cliff jumped! However, I'm not sure which I was more scared of, the jump or landing in water where people had been spotting jellyfish all day long. Even though the sun was almost setting, I was getting cold, I didn't feel like getting wet and I was terrified... at this moment a quote kept running through my mind, "Most of the time you regret the things you didn't do." I decided that I was most likely never going to have the chance to cliff jump in Cinque Terre again so I might as well stop being a baby and just do it. And I'm SO glad I did. It was a blast. And I found a cute mini starfish clinging to the rocks.

After we dried off, we watched the sun set, again. This evening was probably one of my favorites from the whole trip. I especially love it when there are clouds on the horizon... it just makes each sunset so much more unique. On our way back to our hostel we walked down the lovers path to visit our lock, only to find that it was already GONE!! Someone had come by and chopped them off :( It was a devastating moment. For a split-second I felt like maybe our love really wasn't going to last forever... but then I realized it was silly to even think that way. But it sure was a romance-killer.

Later that night we decided to take a stroll down the Lovers Walk one last time, but at night so we could see the cliff houses of Manarola in the moonlight. It was so beautiful with the moon shining brightly and reflecting off the water, illuminating the houses on the cliffs. I tried to capture it but a picture just can't do it justice. It was magical.

Then the path closed, so we took the train back to get some dinner. It was about 9:30pm...perfect time to eat dinner in Italy. We adjusted quite well to their culture because real food just never sounded good during the heat of the day. We looked for our favorite pizza shop, but it was closed, so we went to a different one who gave us a special deal since they were about to close. We got 7 slices of different kinds of pizza, plus some focaccia bread which is famous in this part of Italy. They only charged us 12 Euros! It was so yummy! The focaccia was really puffy bread with domes of melted cheese and flavors...simply delicious!

Friday 10/7: BUS RIDE THROUGH THE FRENCH RIVIERA
We spent our last moments in Italy waving goodbye to Mamma Rosa's hostel and then walking through our village, Riomaggiore looking for some croissants and juice. After turning to corner to head up to the shops, I saw a girl that looked familiar. Then as we made eye contact we both got that feeling like, "I know you...but I'm not sure how." Then it clicked. She was a friend of a friend from Utah State! We actually played on the same intramural basketball team together. Christopher happened to know her too so he said her name and her whole group was super surprised. She was studying abroad in Sienna, Italy and just happened to come to Cinque Terre...and we just happened to be walking down the same street at the same exact minute. I mean really, what are the chances? Had there been one or two minutes difference in either of our schedules we never would have crossed paths. It was fun to see a familiar (English-speaking, American) face. Earlier on our trip we met a few Ohio State alumni in Florence and some more Aggies in Monterosso. Crazy how things like that happen. On our train ride back to La Spezia, we actually got checked by the train enforcement! It was the first time in Cinque Terre because the train rides are so quick that they often don't get a chance to check. Luckily, this time we had validated our tickets because Christopher liked to be a little risky when deciding whether or not to validate. If you don't, you could get a huge fine, so we were relieved that we did.

In La Spezia, we met up with our BusAbout crew and continued our journey northwest toward the South of France. We saw beautiful views of the coastline and also enjoyed learning about the French Riviera. One thing we didn't know is that Monaco is actually like it's own country. AND you have to pay 1 MILLION dollars just to apply to live there! So ridiculous and crazy. It's a tax free country with the highest GDP and lowest unemployment rate. The views are really nice but we decided that it's a little overrated and mostly just a status thing. Plus, (apparently) Brad and Angelina Jolie have been trying to get a house here for awhile and they got rejected. haha, I guess being a celebrity isn't always the golden ticket.

While on our bus rides we enjoyed listening to many Australian accents around us. They say funny words and phrases like, "that's rubbish," "ages ago," "heaps of fun," and one of them called me "fresh." haha it's fun to listen to because even though it's English they have different lingo that sometimes makes them hard to understand.

Once arriving in Nice, we took the tram to our Couch Surfer, Morey's apartment. He is a nice old guy, who is super friendly and just happened to be very outwardly gay. He told us a lot about his hobbies, his artwork and the great gay community Nice has to offer. It was fun getting to know him and learning about his artwork. He also enjoys photography, just like me. For dinner, we walked down to the local supermarket and found some tortellini to cook in Morey's flat. He was really kind to share some of his food with us.

Saturday 10/8: BEACH DAY
Today was a really low-key day. We woke up and took a bus to the cape and explored a couple different beaches, Paloma and Passable. They were both pretty rocky and the views weren't that great so we eventually asked around andmade it to a sandy one surrounded by pretty palm trees. But we soon came to find out that it wasn't even natural sand, they had brought it in from another beach. Plus the water was dirty with pollution and trash, so we just stuck to our beach towels.

I took a couple walks along the water and since the sand was a little rockier than normal, it served as great pumice for my heels. They had gotten really cracked and dirty from all our walking so it felt great to exfoliate them. We had a little picnic for lunch, enjoyed the views and then relaxed back at the apartment. We were pretty exhausted from site-seeing, so it was nice to just have an evening in with cereal for dinner and free Wifi to keep us entertained.

Sunday 10/9: NICE IS NICE
Our CS friend Morey gave us a personalized tour around Nice (pronounced "niece"). We saw a lot of contemporary art pieces like a giant square head made of stone. We also walked through the old town which is home to a big fruit and veggie market. Morey pointed out many illusion art painted on buildings and homes.

It was nice to walk around with our friend because he has lived there for many years and shared fun-facts with us. One story he shared was that in the old days people put windows with no glass above their doors to serve as a type of air conditioning and fresh breeze, and they also built apartment buildings five stories high for shade and to help with the hot summers. While walking around we saw a place called Finochios that sells more than 100 gelato flavors! Some were super weird like cactus, rose and tomato basil? It was a little overpriced, so we decided to save our money for some gelato flavors we love.

My favorite part about Nice was taking the elevator up to the look-out point. It was such a beautiful view of the "Côte d'Azur" or blue, blue coast! And I can definitely see how it got it's name. It was such a vibrant color and the water sparkled as the sun rose in the sky. Just looking down, I couldn't wait to get to the beach!!

We spent the afternoon on the gray pebble beach. It was kinda painful and we wished we brought chairs or a mattress, but then again it was also nice not to be sandy when we left.

We saw lots of topless women (most of them old). It was funny though because they would wear normal, everyday clothes to the beach and then just take off their clothes and get naked or change into their swim suit bottoms right out in the open. Whereas in America, people usually wear their swimsuit under their clothes/beach coverup in public and then don't need to change once they arrive. The cultural differences between the U.S. and Europe are interesting. I always wonder if Europeans see people they know at the beach, like... "hey there's my math teacher and she's topless." haha umm, awkward.

In the afternoon, we walked around Nice some more and tried a local food called socca which is like a chickpea pancake. It was tasty with salt and pepper. Chris didn't like it but I thought it was pretty decent, maybe just because I was so hungry.

To end our day, we found our favorite fast-food restaurant in Europe, called Quick. They had a super cheap student deal and the best perk of all... unlimited refills! Hooray!! (Refills are so rare in Europe; basically non-existent, so it was pretty special).

We had a really relaxing time in Nice with perfect sunny, 75-degree weather so we enjoyed our last sunbathing day in our beachy French Riviera paradise.

Backpacking Europe Diary Part 2

2012-02-02T21:28:00.000-08:00

Sunday 9/25: JOURNEY TO GREECE
This morning our hostel arranged for a shuttle to pick us up and take us to the Rome airport. Me being the super cautious traveler I am, insisted on leaving super early because I didn't want to take any chances on missing our flight to Athens. I was pretty surprised that when we went through security, no one even checked our passports!! We had been worried before starting our adventure because we had expired travelers visas, but luckily we were able to get an extension through Christopher's grandparents. Turns out no one even looked at our travel history or temporary visas... but at least they brought us peace of mind and we didn't fear being deported as illegal immigrants.

While on the plane, we ended up sitting by a girl named Denise who had also been on our BusAbout tour. She had plans to travel around Europe for 6 months, all by herself! I thought she was super brave...and maybe a little crazy. Our plane to Athens was delayed by 60 minutes, so it was nice to have a new friend to help pass the time. While waiting, I read a magazine and learned that you can rent the whole country of Lichtenstein for only 49,000 Euros per night! We calculated it out and if you got a group of 150 people and they each paid 350 Euros you could seriously RENT a country! They even hold a ceremony in your honor, present a key to the city and you can plan special activities because you are the "honorary mayor" for that time.

After arriving in Athens, we took a shuttle to Port Piraeus and hung out while we waited for our ferry. We found delicious gyros for only 2 Euros each! They definitely hit the spot as we sat by the pier and I soaked up some sun. We also saw a lot of trash and graffiti everywhere. Looking around, it was easy to tell the country is struggling economically, plus you could also see the anger, resentment and exhaustion in the people's eyes. It was sad.

After picking up our ferry tickets, we boarded the ship and enjoyed some free Wifi. The ship was a lot bigger than I expected, almost like a mini cruise ship. At one point in time, it even had a pool, but it had since been redesigned to accommodate more guests. While on the ship, we enjoyed our first beautiful Greek sunset, movies, snacks, comfy chairs and nice balconies...PLUS I could hardly contain my excitement that we were ACTUALLY going to SANTORINI!!!! It had been my dream ever since I saw the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie in high school. I just felt like life couldn't be real, like it couldn't really be happening. But it was!

Once we arrived on the island it was after midnight. We hadn't made hotel plans because we wanted it to be a spontaneous adventure! (Plus we heard you can barter with the locals). And the rumors were true. About 5 minutes after walking off the ferry, a guy approached us with an offer of 50 Euros a night for a hotel but we bartered with him down to only 25 Euros with free transport to and from the port! Staying at Holiday Beach Resort was the best decision we made that whole trip.

Monday 9/26: SANTORINI BY MOPED
Today we found the BEST deal EVER. The same cute, old man who owns the hotel got us a special deal and we rented a moped for only 10 Euros a day!! The weather was super sunny and hot so it was the perfect way to get around the island. Plus, gas was super cheap we only had to fill up a few times for like 3 Euros.

We absolutely LOVE our hotel. If you ever go to Santorini you HAVE to stay at the Holiday Beach Resort in Perissa. Mostly because the cutest Greek islanders run it, but it's also a really great deal for a nice room, with a balcony, free WiFi and a gorgeous pool with beautiful pink flowers. These flowers are everywhere in Santorini and I am absolutely obsessed with them. But look how beautiful they are! How could I not be? The contrast with the white houses and blue skies....amazing.

Anyway, I was so excited to be in Greece that I was wide awake by 9AM. So we scootered to the local super market, picked up some fresh bread and Nutella and took it to the beach. It wasn't quite the beach I expected... the sand was black and the water was midnight blue. It was still really beautiful, just a different paradise. The mountains and little straw umbrellas added a perfect backdrop.

One interesting thing about Greece beaches is... topless girls, women and old ladies are everywhere! It was super awkward at first, but we got used to it after awhile. And I may or may not have joined the crowd when I went for a swim...

One thing I noticed though is that the black sand attracts the sun a lot more! I had tan lines within an hour. And if you walk along the beach in the afternoon you HAVE to wear sandals otherwise the sand will burn off the bottom of your feet. After our morning picnic, we walked along the beach and found some free umbrellas and Wifi from a local restaurant.

After we had our fill of Perissa Beach, we scootered over to "the Red Beach," which requires a little hike to get to. It was another "unique" beach because the sand and little pebbles are red and look like a volcanic type clay. We went swimming again and played in the sand a bit.

In the late afternoon, we hiked back up to our scooter and then took a ride to the other side of the island where we hiked around Santorini's big white and green lighthouse. There was a beautiful view of the surrounding water and the ocean breeze smelled so fresh and wonderful.

For dinner, we found a local restaurant with an amazing view of the caldera! It was crazy because we were the only customers in the whole restaurant. Normally, I would take that as a bad sign but it happened a lot on the island because tourist season was over and a lot of things actually shut down after September. Only one lady ran the whole restaurant. She took our order, cooked the food and served us. I got the traditional gyro plate and Christopher got a Santorini special that was kind of like meatballs on fries? It was strange but still okay. Mostly, we just paid for the view!

By the time we were done eating, the sun still hadn't set quite yet so on our scooter ride home we pulled off the side of the road and ran up a hill so we could watch the sunset on a mountain in a farmer's vineyard. When we returned to our hotel, we sat by the pool for awhile and the bartender gave us free drinks! It turned out that she was from California and got her job when she stayed as a guest a few years ago. Oh how I would LOVE to live in Santorini for a whole summer! Seriously heaven.

Tuesday 9/27: WHITE HOUSES OF OIA

This morning we scootered over to Kamari Beach, which was really similar to Perissa but more touristy. We had another breakfast picnic under our straw umbrellas and just relaxed for awhile. Then we took a long scooter-ride to the northwest part of the island, to a village called Fira. There we walked along the cliff path from Fira to Firastefani. We saw absolutely beautiful views of the caldera and the famous white houses!

After our walk, we scootered more north to the village of Oia. We decided to take the back roads and saw some really beautiful views of the coast as well as some really ugly, dead desert landscape (the part of Santorini no one ever posts online, so I didn't expect it, but there are a lot of ugly parts too!)

Once we arrived to Oia, I was speechless. I could hardly breath. I seriously felt myself hyperventilating a little because I couldn't believe it was actually happening. I couldn't get a grasp on reality... it seemed like time just stopped. It was exactly like the Santorini I always imagined. In fact, it was even better, even more amazing and more beautiful then all of my dreams.

We scootered back and walked the cliff path from Pirovolos to Oia and I went totally camera crazyyy. I probably took 99 pictures of the same exact houses and flowers and ocean and cliffs... I just couldn't stop. It was so perfectly beautiful in every way. We explored, walked up and down big white steps, and checked out all the views, but we still couldn't find the "famous view." (It looks down on three churches with blue roofs, with white houses, dark cliffs and ocean in the background). After asking several shops and wandering for a litte longer, Christopher finally found it! I squealed with joy as he hoisted me up on a rooftop (somewhat illegally I think...) so I could snap some photos. I'm 100% happy that I trespassed on that roof. These pictures are my all-time favorites that I have ever taken...ever.

Then as part of our spontaneous trip, we went around in search of a hotel. My only requests were a pool and a view. Prices ranged from 80 Euros to 500 Euros per night, so we could a cheap/mid-range room at Lampatia Resorts. It was called the Yacht Room because to get to the bedroom we had to climb up a ladder and then our window opened up to a private balcony with a GORGEOUS view of the caldera! It was the most romantic place I've ever been or could even imagine. It was totally worth every European cent. We don't often spend a lot of money on lodging, so it was extra special.

The one (and only) negative part about our island adventure is... I got sun poisoning on my legs and feet! I was so surprised because I've never had a sunburn on my legs before and they never peeled or blistered, so I'm not really sure what happened. We think it's because of the angle of the sun that hit my legs when we were scootering all day, plus I think the Mediterranean sun is really extra strong.

A quick swim cooled them off and felt amazing since we were hot and sweaty from walking. We had the whole pool to ourselves, which was really nice. I tried to teach Chris how to float, but he just kept sinking. He's so cute when he can't do something I can. He tries so hard, but just can't do it.

That evening we watched the sunset behind the 3 churches. It was not a direct view but it was still really beautiful. We took some really nice pictures and then found a cheap local places for a dinner of gyros and pitas. Then we brought them back to our balcony because we wanted to get as much use of it as possible!

It got dark really quick so we watched the stars, relaxed, and then took a late night stroll around the village to see the island with the dark midnight background and hundred of little lights. Chris bought me some ice cream for a night time snack and the perfect ending to a fairytale day.

Wednesday 9/28: GREEK PARADISE
This morning we woke up to watch the sunrise! It was full of pastel colors and a light misty fog over the caldera. It was really peaceful and quiet.

One crazy thing we noticed about Oia is that there are SO many cats everywhere! It's the perfect environment for them because they can jump from house to house, climb up steps and explore all around. We ate some cereal on our balcony as we relaxed, enjoyed the view and people watched...although it felt more like spying because they were on the balconies down below us.

Our day was a lazy one. But today, lazy felt perfect. We took naps by the pool, splashed around a bit, explored art in the little shops, ate some more gyros, found the perfect canvas painting of an abstract European landscape, and for our last few hours in Oia, we watched the famous sunset on the coast.

We scootered back to Perissa before it got too dark and found a nice restaurant down by our lovely Holiday Beach Resort. I ordered a plate of lamb which was delicious... I had been craving it ever since we landed in Greece.

Thursday 9/29: GOODBYE TO MY PARADISE
Originally we were going to just relax at our hotel by the pool, but since I was feeling a little bummed about leaving Santorini, we decided to scooter back to Oia one last time. We enjoyed the beautiful views for awhile, I did a mini photo project, and then I said goodbye to my picturesque paradise.

On our ferry back to Pireaus, we got to see the island from the ship. It was neat to see the white houses on the cliffs from a distance because when we came into the port it had been dark. I waved to beautiful Santorini, both sad to leave and mostly super grateful that I was lucky enough to visit my ultimate dream destination at the young age of 22. It reminded me of the movie "UP!"...except I felt a little guilty because my Adventure came true. If you look at the map on the left, we actually made it around the entire island - and loved every minute of it!!

This ferry ride was longer because we had to make more stops, but we found ways to pass the time... like sleeping, listening to music, reading our LonelyPlanet guide and eating - a random guy walked in the room and shouted something in Greek and then everyone ran up to him with money. We later realized he was selling some food, so we decided to try it. It was a Greek pastry/dessert that was a flat sugary wafer with a super sweet marshmallowy cream inside. I'm not sure what exactly it was... but we liked it!

Once our ferry docked it was pretty late at night, but were able to find a bus to the Athens city center where we used our iPhone Europe GPS App (that was FREE!) to walk to our Couch Surfer's apartment. It took about 45 minutes, which was longer than we expected... but we made it. He was a really nice British guy, with two super freaky cats. I swear they tried to attack me like 3 times and Chris spent about 15 minutes putting together an elaborate plan of how we were going to get them out of our room. We are not cat people...especially not with cats we don't know and definitely not with cats in our bed. There was so much hair everywhere. I'm not allergic, but I was starting to feel like I was. Eventually we lured them out of the room and locked the doors, but they meowed off and on for a long time. It wasn't the best night's sleep... but it was free, so we couldn't really complain.

Friday 9/30: ANCIENT EXPLORERS

We started our day by sleeping in a little, which was definitely needed because we were about to spend the rest of it walking. Our first stop was Lakottimos Hill... which felt more like a mountain as we were walking up, but the view was worth it! We went from super hot and super sweaty while hiking to a continuous refreshing breeze at the top, like super windy air conditioning combined with nature's giant industrial fan. It was a great reward.

We enjoyed a fabulous panoramic view of the entire city. We could see for miles and miles...the Acropolis and other ruins looked like teeny tiny toys in the distance. After some super cold, FREE water from a little restaurant, we plotted out our day and hiked back down. Down was much more enjoyable than up. On the way down I also copied some other tourists and carved our name in a cactus, when it dries up it looks like it was carved in a tree!

On our way to the next ancient ruins, we found a soulvaki shop with yummy pitas that only cost 2 Euros. That's one great thing about Greece... it's kind of like Mexico is for America - cheap and exotically different.

We explored all the ancient ruins of Athens starting with the Roman Agora then the Ancient Agora, and lastly, the Acropolis. I feel like I should write something about each of these, but after awhile, they all started to look the same... giant columns, ruins of old buildings and temples. Don't get me wrong, they were REALLY cool to see, but it just got a little repetitive. The coolest part was just imagining what life was like thousands of years ago, when the Greek and Roman empires were in the height of their power. Now THAT would be cool. Time machine, please!

The Parthenon was massive and impressive (despite the fact that it's always under construction) The tour guide said it always needs fixed because they tried to strengthen it in the 70s with metal rods which are now rusting, so it needs fixed again (when if they would have just left it alone, it probably would be just fine...the ancient people are smarter than people today, hah) Also the Parthenon's columns are ever so slightly tilted so if they extended 2 km into the sky they would make a pyramid, exactly like the pyramids of Giza. Seriously ancient people... how did they get so smart?

When we were walking through the ruins of the theaters, we found an old chair with marble preserved seats and carved names of the people who sat there...so Christopher sat there too, picturing himself as a Greek royal prince. With his super dark skin and hair, he just MIGHT be able to pull it off! After that we visited Hadrian's Arch, and my FAVORITE part: Zeus' Temple! It's not fully constructed, in fact it's just a bunch of giant pillars but something about it struck me as so artistic and beautiful. Plus the sun was setting and I got a super cute jumping picture in front of it. But really... I just stared at these giant creations thinking to myself how long it must have taken the poor slaves and animals to carry all these stones and build such a ginormous structure with no cranes, no machines, no tools. So crazy.

The main thing we loved about Athens was all the entrance fees were waived because we had International Student cards! We LOVE free stuff. Plus it was nicer than Rome because there were hardly any people. I'm not sure if the recent economic struggle or fear of riots/strikes/etc. has anything to do with it, or just the fact that it's September, but it was not very busy at all. Plus all the sites had fresh, cold water fountains... so great!!! (But probably necessary because it's such a hot desert I'm sure people would get dehydrated or have heat exhaustion without them).

That evening we met up with our Couch Surfing friend, Craig and we walked around the city for awhile and got to know each other. We found a cheap little shop that was selling painted vases, and found a neat ancient-style one that was hand-made in Greece for only 3 Euros! We learned a lot about our friend from just listening to him talk; he was very friendly. He teaches English lessons in Athens and is also studying the Greek language which is VERY hard by the way! It's not like Italian or Spanish or German or French... those languages I can usually look at a menu or a sign and sort of get the idea or figure 20% of it out... Greek is basically equivalent to Chinese when I try to read it because there alphabet is so different and it just looks intimidating because it's like trying to read shapes...impossible. Even pronouncing things is hard. We asked one restaurant lady 6 times how to say "thank you" in Greek and even when trying to mimic her over and over, she just laughed at us and kept shaking her head. I guess that's when you know you aren't meant to be Greek.

But Craig was very hospitable and vibrant with even more interesting friends. We ate dinner with Vanessa, who was a Greek local and then later met Jimmy, a street performer from Detroit who got married in Switzerland and then divorced and walked from the Swiss mountains to Athens, Greece...(Crazy, right?) He has been a street performer for 4 years, and just recently he had his guitar stolen. We felt so terrible. Apparently, he was standing at a metro, he looked one way and then when we looked back his guitar was gone. His whole livelihood, stolen from him in seconds. Depressing.

Then they talked a lot about Greek strikes- we are lucky we weren't affected by them since we flew in and out on Saturdays; I guess it's illegal to hold a strike on Saturday? Craig said people's salary keep getting cut by 50% at a time, plus the government is back taxing people's bonuses from the Olympics, demanding 10,000 Euros from people from money they earned 10 years ago, AND also taxing money that's already been saved in the bank. He said 15 million Euros has left the country in cash and unemployment is over 20%. We heard about the general conditions of Europe and how it's "bad" but you can never fully understand it until you see it, and hear it from the people who are affected by it. It was depressing and I just felt so sad to see such economic strife with little hope for the future.

Before heading back to Craig's apartment, we stopped by a local mini market and we met a cute, young couple who owned the place. They had recently gotten married and the woman called me a "coukla." Craig translated and said they called me a "babe." Haha, I was a little embarrassed but it was cute. They were really nice and gave us some free beer from their island- Zolos.

Here's a picture of me and my classic "Couch Surfing" pose. This is Craig's apartment and where we slept on the pull-out couch. Also if you click on the photo to enlarge it, please notice the creepy cat eyes peering in the window. Those were evil, viscous cats...they really were. I was so scared of them.

Also, on the topic of animals... Athens had so many dogs!! I thought Guatemala had a lot of gross, stray dogs but Athens was even worse. And they weren't scrawny sickly ones...they were big ones, like black lab mixes that just lay everywhere, in the middle of the street (note the large black object in the picture to the right), in parks, on the sidewalk. But they don't bother you so it's ok.

Overall, Athens was pretty enjoyable. It wasn't my favorite place ever... I don't really feel a need to ever go back. But I'm glad we went. I think one day was sufficient for us to see everything and get a feel for the city's ancient beauty.

Basically... I just love Santorini and I'd go back in a heartbeat if I could.

Backpacking Europe Diary Part 1

2012-01-30T20:52:00.000-08:00

The upcoming series of 5 posts are going to be a diary of our 1 month backpacking trip through Western Europe from Sept. 17 - Oct. 21. Just a little warning...they will be long, wordy, and detailed. They're mostly for us to have a documentation of our trip since I kept my "diary" in my iPhone Notes App and I want it in a better format that I will actually read someday. (I know it's taken me forever to finally get around to doing this...3 months to be exact). Anyway, feel free to look at the pictures, skim through or even read it all if you're just that bored :)

Saturday 9/17: BEGINNING WITH A BASH

Today began our true, European backpacking adventure! We have lots of fun things planned over the next month, in amazing places I've only ever dreamed of. I'm both extremely excited and a little scared. We left Brussels, Belgium for the last time which is a little sad. It's been such a good experience for us, but we are excited for the next chapter.

Unfortunately, the day didn't start out too great. I forgot my coat after leaving the apartment, which made us about 2 minutes late - just enough so that we missed the 61 bus (either that or it never came, we'll never know which) but LUCKILY there was a taxi nearby that got us to the train station in time. At this point, we were each carrying two large suitcases, a small suitcase and a backpack. To add to our already stressed start, there was a super annoying passenger who kept texting with his key volume on. Beep. beep. beep. beep. beep. beep. Seriously, not cool.

In the middle of our ride (full of beautiful mountains, rivers, churches and castles on hilltops) the train stopped unexpectedly. Then they made an announcement (in about 4 languages) that the train was going to be delayed. We ended up waiting over an hour, which was frustrating, but they compensated us with a 25 Euro voucher which definitely made up for it. As we got closer to Munich, the passengers started to get more interesting. We saw men and women of all ages wearing lederhosen and traditional dresses, with giant beer mugs in their hands, preparing for the world-famous Oktoberfest. But this was nothing compared to what we were about to experience.

Once arriving in Munich, Christopher's family friend picked us up and took us to an amazing local restaurant where I had the best German meal: Käsespätzle. The only thing I can compare it to is a combination of mac n' cheese and cheesy potato casserole but in reality it is nothing like those things, it is just simply delicious. Later on in the evening we decided to wander over to Oktoberfest. It was CRAZY - a lot like a giant State Fair, but everyone is dressed in traditional German clothes (if you're not, you are the minority) and instead of tents with goats, horses and pigs...they have tents full of beer: kegs and kegs and mugs and mugs and hats of beer, everywhere.

We wanted to see what was inside these mysterious beer tents but being the FIRST night of Oktoberfest, the security guards said it was impossible, unless we made prior reservations. But Christopher, being the persistent man that he is (you will notice this trend often throughout our trip) decided that we would somehow find a way in. So we walked around the back door where people were stepping outside for smoke breaks. We stood there for maybe 2 minutes and randomly an extremely belligerent teenage girl walked up to me with a stretched out paper wristband and said, "Go have some fun!" (Ok, she didn't speak English but I assume that's what she said). Luckily, my wrists are pretty small so I was able to slip on the wristband and walk freely inside. I was so excited about sneaking in that I just ran through the door and forgot to make a plan with Christopher. I was thinking that I would just take a few photos and videos of "life inside the tent" and then come back out and show him. But when I came back out...he was gone.

I walked around the tent and outside the tent for about 20 minutes. I was getting pretty worried (but trying not to freak out) because we only had one cell phone and I was scared I'd never find him again. Finally we found each other...INSIDE the tent. Christopher had found his "golden ticket" during a big brawl which distracted the security guards long enough for him to bolt through the back doors. After singing along to some drinking songs, dancing with a creepy, old Italian man for 5 minutes too long, taking pictures with giant beer mugs, and trying on some lederhosen and traditional dresses in a thrift store, we had our fill of Oktoberfest. Minus the huge downpour of rain at the end of the night, it was a pretty enjoyable evening... and an exciting day to start our big adventure.

Sunday 9/18: AUSTRIA EXPRESS &A CRAZY DETOUR
This morning we woke up early to take the metro to our bus pickup point. Thankfully, our friends stored our big suitcases so we each only carried a large traveler backpack with clothes, shoes and toiletries for the next 5 weeks. (This was pretty tough for me, but luckily my backpack was expandable). Our bus pickup point was at a hostel and we were happy to find one of the computers had extra time on it so we were able to print some train tickets for our last leg of the trip.

While many people opt to purchase EuroRail passes, we went a different route and purchased BusAbout passes through a student travel agency for an AWESOME price. The company is Australian so we were surrounded by a bunch of Aussie and New Zealand accents...definitely entertaining. We bought a pass called the "Southern Loop" which is a continuous hop-on hop-off bus that starts in Munich and goes down through Austria, Italy, up through Southern France, Switzerland and then back to Germany, stopping in major cities every other day and making "photo stops" at big landmarks. The passes were supposed to be $600+ but we got them for only $200 each! It was definitely the best thing we could have done for the price and for the places we wanted to see.

The bus seats were actually pretty comfortable and the rides were fun because they played movies, the tour guide told cool stories and facts about each destination, plus there were beautiful views out the bus window. The Bavarian mountains were breathtaking! Our first mini-stop was in Innsbruck, Austria. We decided not to hop off because it seemed really similar to Germany which we had already seen a lot of...and we were super excited to get to Italy. It turned out to be a good choice because the weather was cold and rainy.

We arrived in Venice, Italy by the afternoon and most of our friends checked into the campsite hostel... but we headed to the bus stop to find our Couch Surfer. He lives in Padova which is a small town in between Venice and Verona. Despite the hostel worker's map and directions, we got lost walking to bus station. At one point we were trapped on a super scary highway, so I was pretty excited when I found what I thought was a magical door leading us back to the sidewalk. Unfortunately, once we entered this door, it locked from the other side and we were trapped at the top of a super steep hill! At the bottom of this thorn-bush filled hill, was a ravine and a creek. I felt so stupid and scared.

Then we saw a cute, old Italian man waving his arms at us from the other side. He motioned for us to walk along the top of the hill and pointed to a trail down the other side. Once we got to the bottom, Christopher attempted to jump across the creek, but it was super muddy, he was wearing flipflops, and he lost his footing and landed knee-deep in the sewage-smelling water. I almost wanted to left, but I felt so bad for him that I couldn't. The old man grabbed my hand and helped me across a river, so I was safe and dry. Luckily, this man was very kind and lent us some "acqua" (a hose) so Christopher could clean up.
After walking around the neighborhood, making several wrong turns and asking about 5 people, we finally found the right bus stop, but had missed the one we needed by 3 minutes so we had to wait an extra hour. But by this point, we were just happy to sit down. Plus it gave Christopher some time to pick the burrs off my pants. My legs were filled with burrs from our off-road hike and some even broke through my skin. It was a little painful, but not too bad.

By 9pm we finally reached our Couch Surfer, Emanuele's apartment in Padova. He was really kind and cooked us a homemade Italian pasta dish with tuna and calamattis. It tasted like heaven on our empty stomachs. I was surprised that he hadn't eaten dinner yet and thought maybe he had been waiting for awhile. But he told us that Italians don't usually eat dinner until 9 or 10pm. Interesting. After getting to know each other for awhile, we pulled out his couch bed and fell asleep instantly. It had been a LONG day.

Monday 9/19: LETTER TO JULIET & TASTE OF ITALY
Our first big tourist day was in Verona. We took a train which was supposed to take about 35 minutes, but ended up taking over an hour due to delays. Emanuele had warned us though; he said Italian trains are very unreliable and not to create solid plans around them.
When we arrived in the beautiful town of Verona, the weather was very strange. Looking up, the skies were bright and blue but somehow it was still raining. It was crazy, but my pictures still looked awesome so I didn't mind. It was a great place to visit because it wasn't super crowded and there were lots of neat things to see. One main attraction was a big arena that looked similar to the Colosseum. It was a little different though because they re-built the seating so you can still go and see modern shows inside.

Verona also has a nice duomo (cathedral), a castle, and my favorite part...the Casa di Giulietta (House of Juliet). It is the perfect place for lovers. We wrote our names on the "love" wall, and just like the movie, I had to write a letter to Juliet. Sadly, it wasn't at all like the movie and people don't actually write letters and stick them in the wall. So I had to improvise. I folded my letter up and flew it from the courtyard onto her window balcony. I left my email address, hoping "she" (or anyone) would write back. But no luck yet. Like all crazy tourists do, we also touched the Juliet statue's boob for good luck...awkward to watch, but normal I guess?

The best parts about Verona were the atmosphere, the architecture and the food! For lunch we ate some super yummy ham, cheese, and mushroom calzones, with the best gelato ever for dessert! (Now that the trip is over I can interject and say this was in fact the BEST gelato we ate in all of Italy). Ours was "Biscotto" flavored: super creamy base with chocolate and cookies sprinkled on top.

After our Verona adventure we headed back to Padova and explored the city center and park square. It seems like no matter where you go in Europe everything is old, beautiful and picture-worthy. In the evening our friend Emanuele took us to a delicious restaurant with fresh Italian pizza! He said we were lucky because most restaurants/shops are closed on Monday. (Must be nice...no "case of the Mondays" in Italy!)

TUESDAY 9/20: TO BE VENETIAN
Despite the Italian's warning of "bad weather"...Venice was filled with blue skies, sun and warmth! It was just like the movies and the pictures... in fact, it was better. (Looking back, Venice was definitely one of my favorite locations.) The canals were beautiful. Every corner was another romantic bridge with turquoise sparkling water and picturesque gondolas floating by. We considered taking a ride in one, but decided to spend our money in other ways and took a boat ride down Grand Canal instead.

To start off our morning, we stopped in a little market and picked up some pastries for breakfast by the canal. It was beautiful just sitting on the steps and taking in the scenery; the sights, the sounds, the beauty all around. Then we explored the labyrinth of streets, not trying to get anywhere in particular, but just wandering and exploring. I fell in love. We found some cute little shops filled with beautiful Venetian masks and one man even let us try them on. Eventually we reached San Marco Square, a crazy mix of tourists, overpriced outdoor restaurants, pigeons and guys selling bird food trying to convince tourists to illegally feed the pigeons.

At first, I was super against the nasty diseased pigeons and didn't want to go near them...but eventually I decided that it was part of being in Venice so I allowed a few to land on my hands. (Although I was still super afraid of them.) I'm definitely not the crazy bird lady type. But now I can say, I'm glad I did it. Even Christopher (aka: germ-o-phobe) gave in and allowed one to land on his arm. But of course, afterward when they came near him, he punted them away with his foot. Poor birds, they must be so confused...half the people luring them with food, the other half kicking them away. One thing that was disappointing about the square was the big beautiful Duomo was under construction (a frequent irritation we found quite often in Europe) but I suppose they need to fix things to keep them in shape, so I found a postcard so I could see what it looked like in full beauty.

One of my favorite parts of Venice was going up in the Bell Tower. It was totally worth the 6 Euros because you could see a panoramic view of the square, the miles of orange rooftops and sparkling Grand Canal. I was also lucky enough to see (and hear!) the bells ring - super loud, but pretty cool.
After some more Italian pizza, we took a boat out to Lido island and found a beautiful beach! We enjoyed some gelati with our toes in the sand, and then took a boat taxi down the Grand Canal as the sun set. It was so relaxing and I got some beautiful pictures with the evening lighting. Something about Venice is just so romantic; I might even say more so than Paris. I think it's because of the tiny walkways, picturesque bridges, beautiful artwork, and the fact that boats replace cars...it's just so intimate. I really, really loved this carefree, beautiful, relaxing, romantic day in Venizia.

Wednesday 9/21: THE BEST/WORST DAY EVER
For lack of a better phrase, this was a day from Hell (eventually I was able to change my attitude into a spirit of adventure... but there were times I just cried). If things would have gone perfectly, we would have woken up, taken the tram to the bus station, taken the SITA bus to Venice and then gotten on BusAbout to take us to Ancona. But as you can guess, this day did NOT go perfectly, no not even close.

We made it to the first bus station, bought our tickets and were literally walking onto the SITA bus when we decided to ask the driver, just to make sure. That's when he said, no it was wrong and we needed to go to a different platform. Unfortunately, he sent us to the local bus which we should have known was wrong because it was a completely different color and style, but we trusted him. After about 15 minutes on this bus, we asked someone next to us and they informed us that we were on the wrong bus and we should have taken the SITA bus (which was the exact one we tried to get on!) This local bus took twice as long. I just cried. I knew we were going to miss our BusAbout pickup. We watched on our GPS and noticed that we were getting really close to the hostel campsite so we found the number, called them and asked if the bus would wait for us. They said yes, so I got super excited. Then 1 minute later, our bus veered off the highway in the opposite direction of the campsite. We definitely missed it.

Disappointed, annoyed, frustrated, angry... I felt so many things as we trudged down the sidewalk toward the train station. We could see the tracks, but there was no "pedestrian" way to get there. Normally, I would be a little afraid, but at this point, I just wanted to get to Ancona. So we hiked through some bushes and across the train tracks (illegally) but luckily no one said anything.

After arriving at the Venice station, we took a train back to Padova where we started. What a waste of 3 hours. Then we checked the train schedule and saw it was going to be another 1.5 hours for a train to Bologna, where we could get a connecting train to Ancona. I looked through our past pictures to kill time and took a small nap. Eventually we made it to Bologna and then onto the second train. We were riding for about 20 minutes, when the ticket master came by and informed us that we had the wrong type of ticket and we must get off at the next stop. Yes, we got kicked off the train. It was somewhat embarrassing, but seemed to fit our unfortunate day.

I was super annoyed at this point because I was sick of waiting and trains and disappointment, but at the same time, I still wanted to enjoy our adventure, so we decided to make it one. As we were escorted off the train to a small po-dunk village, we got the idea to hitch hike. The day couldn't possibly get any worse, so why not? We started walking down the road toward what looked like a highway. At least 15 cars zoomed passed us, leaving little hope for any sympathetic drivers. So after about 30 minutes I made the decision that "this is the last car we will try, otherwise, we will head back to the train station" - and sure enough, this last hope car pulled over and asked us where we were going. (Well he spoke Italian but I think that's what he said). So we shouted "stazione!" and pointed south. He motioned for us to get in. He didn't speak any English but he smiled and laughed a lot and kept on talking to us in Italian, even though we just responded in English. He drove us south for awhile and then dropped us off at another train station. We bought the correct tickets this time and finally made it on a direct train to Ancona!!

But we still weren't home free. Our Couch Surfing friend, Mauro, who was supposed to pick us up in Ancona, still thought we were arriving at 1pm on our bus. We called him, but he couldn't understand us because he only spoke a teeny bit of English. Unfortunately we were still hours away and we ran out of credit on our Go-Phone. Christopher asked everyone on the train If we could borrow their phone, but they either didn't speak English or said they didn't have one. Eventually and luckily, he found a (somewhat) crazy girl who called Mauro for us and explained our situation. She then talked for the next 67 minutes straight about how she hates their Italian leader (Berlusconi), she is angry and wants to assassinate him, and would prefer Mussolini over him. "At least Mussolini cared about the future of Italy," she said. Bold, yes...but I think many Italians felt the same as she explained that the EU might kick them out because their debt is so high and the economy is so bad.

In the end, we paid about 46 Euros and it took 4 extra hours, but we made it! We found Mauro and he took us around his city, Ancona. We visited Mussulini's monument of Facism that looks like a bird with a crown from the sea, walked around the town square and toured parts of Gulliver University where he attends school. Later in the evening, he took us to a student government party with cheap drinks and yummy pasta! There we met his friend who studied abroad in Mentor, Ohio for a year! Finally, an Italian who spoke fluent English! It was a gift.

Lastly, our day from Hell actually transformed into an evening from heaven. Mauro took us to a place he called a "farma" which is a factory for pastries! It's where the local restaurants get all their stock each day. He bought us croissants with egg salad, fresh pastries that tasted like a toaster strudel with cheese, and chocolate crossiant-like donuts with icing. Everything was SO delicious, truly and honestly the best food I have ever eaten in my life!! And it was all discounted, like SUPER cheap! Normally, you would think they would be the leftovers, or 'day-old' type foods, but these were fresh out of the oven! It was at this moment we realized how much we love Couch Surfing. There are so many local gems that you would never find otherwise. The worst day ever, turned into the best day ever within just a few bites.

Thursday 9/22: PRIVATE BEACH & AMERICAN FOOTBALL
In the morning, we ate some more delicious chocolate croissants for breakfast and Mauro made us a hot Italian drink that was... super nasty. Luckily they had sugar and we each put about 8 tbsp in to mask the taste. We didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I literally gagged.

The weather forecast was about 80 degrees and partly cloudy, which to the Italians is "bad beach weather" but we couldn't wait! Mauro drove us to his favorite place, Portonova Beach. I instantly loved it. We hiked away from the main part and within 10 minutes found our own private beach cove. There was literally NO ONE around! It was like a little piece of heaven with scenic green mountains, blue sparkly water, big rocks, little pebbles, and warm yellow sand.

We spent some time hiking around the rocky part and climbed through boulders to explore. We found a dead eel and lots of crabs! Then we settled down in our romantic private cove, relaxed, had a picnic, took tons of photos and soaked in the sun. I can't remember a time when I had an entire beach to myself. It was truly paradise. We also accomplished a secret life goal here which shall not be mentioned...

After our picture-perfect day at the beach, Mauro made us some homemade pasta with mussels; it was his mom's recipe. It was cool to watch him cook because he actually weighed his pasta, and his meat and cooked according to a certain ratio that really was an exact science. Whatever he did was good though, we loved it.

Now to one of Christopher's favorite parts of the trip...American Football! Yes, American. Mauro informed us that he is probably the only Italian who exists that hates soccer. We couldn't be more happy. He played rugby and also on a flag football team that was in the national semi-finals. Chris got to attend an Italian-American football practice where everyone was very impressed that he played in college. They might have been even more impressed that a girl could play American football. It was super fun.

Afterward, the team all went out for dinner and we ate "Puccia" which is a combination of Pizza and sandwiches. (Instead of bread, think pizza crusts and then meat, veggies and melted cheese inside). It was (like all Italian food) delicious. Then, of course, we stopped by the farma one last time for more pastries! For only 6 euros we got enough food to feed us both for breakfast and dinner! I might have gained 5 pounds alone just from those pastries but I'd go back and do it again in a heartbeat.

Friday 9/23: BUS RIDE TO ROMA
In the morning we enjoyed our yummy chocolate crossaints, hung out at Mauro's apartment and then ate some homemade pasta again, this time with oil, garlic, pepper and noodles. Then we said goodbye to our good friend and his super friendly, funny roommates!

We waited for our BusAbout for about 15 minutes and then got super nervous that we missed it again. Luckily, it was the bus's fault this time. On our ride to Rome, we got to listen to our cool Australian tour guide who told us interesting facts and stories about Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Cleopatra and ancient Rome. It was a perfect intro. We also enjoyed pretty mountain views along the way.

Once we arrived to Rome, I started to develop a little sore throat and allergies, but we found some mint drops that helped a little. We then checked into our first European hostel. It was camping style so we had a boy scout type tent, with cots, sheets, a blanket and a community bathroom. It wasn't ideal, but it was cheap and they placed us in Christopher's lucky room #36! It was convenient because there was a huge super market next door, so we walked over and bought some cheap food for dinner and went to bed early.

Saturday 9/24: BEST OF ROME IN A DAY
Today we woke up early to catch a bus to Rome. We wanted to see as much as possible so we didn't want to waste any daylight. Unfortunately my sinus infection had only gotten worse, but I wasn't going to let it keep me from seeing the city. In order of importance, we headed to Colosseum first expecting a huge waiting line. It happened to be "culture day" so we got in free and since we bought an audio guide, we got to skip the line. It was well worth it! We learned all about the infamous gladiator games which included fighting humans and animals.

We learned that either these men chose this lifestyle for the fame and glory or they were slaves fighting for their freedom. We saw where animals and weapons were stored down under the floor, and learned lots of facts like the highest classes sat closest, the games were free to watch, the losers were poked with an iron spear to ensure they were dead to prevent fakers, the gladiators trained like soldiers and would often fight bears, lions, panthers, giraffes, and even a whale! It was super interesting to learn little facts while walking around this amazing, historic architecture that has since been the model for all arenas around the globe.
After the Colosseum, we walked through the Paletine ruins and the Forum where we saw old columns, temples, Julius Caesar's tomb, a basilica and the remains of old shops and buildings. Unfortunately, in addition to my sinus issues, I also had blisters from my "gladiator goddess" shoes by 10AM. Luckily, I got the idea to shove napkins in my heels so I could survive the rest of the day.

Then we took a bus and headed over to the Vatican City and Museum. We had previously bought tickets online because people warned that the lines are super long all year round...but actually there was no line and we didn't need to buy our tickets in advance. It was well worth the money though. There was beautiful artwork everywhere; on ceilings, walls, statues, and of course, the Sistine Chapel. It was really neat to see Michaelangelo and Raffaello's finger in the Creation, but sadly the experience was somewhat ruined by cops shouting and screaming at everyonoe to be quiet every 2 seconds.

After wandering around the Vatican, we ate at The Old Bridge, argued as the best gelato in Rome by our BusAbout tour guide. It was pretty delicious because they gave us whipped cream on top, but I still don't think it beats Verona. Then we walked around for awhile, enjoying the beauty of one of the most famous cities in the world. We saw lots of piazzas with cool fountains and monuments and then saw the Panthenon, which is a church with a giant dome. They say it's a sun dial and the dome is so massive that they don't know how it was constructed and they can't figure out how to reproduce it. I find that hard to believe with today's technology... but it's still really amazing.

To end our night, we went to the famous Trevi Fountain, which ended up being our favorite part of Rome. We each threw a coin over our left shoulder to "ensure our return to Rome!" It was really beautiful but as all the best places are...crowded. Then we hung out at the Spanish Steps, which were also packed with people... and found a sinking ship fountain that I loved.

Before heading back to the campsite, we stopped by the Colosseum one last time to see it at night... and just like I anticipated, it was gorgeous! It was the perfect, relaxing way to finish an ultra fast-paced, jam-packed day in Rome.

And I might as well be honest...this night, we shared a twin bed in the hostel so we could sleep for half price. It was probably against the rules, but no one seemed to mind. Some may call us cheapskates... but I call us selective shoppers :) We'd rather spend our money on great food and fun activities than a room we only spend 7 or 8 hours sleeping in.

Fame and Love in DC

2012-01-27T07:19:00.000-08:00

When I was walking through the DC airport, a reporter pulled me to the side for a quick interview. Of course it's the one day I don't do my hair... haha but oh well.

Watch/read the story here...

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/01/dept-of-transportation-orders-airline-websites-to-show-fees-upfront-71863.html

It's actually an interesting story about how the government is going to require airlines to be more honest in their advertisements and include fees, taxes, etc. when they offer "specials."

Also... I am now in love with DC! Our hotel was only a few blocks from Capitol Hill so each morning I got to walk by and admire the beauty.

Mostly I was just going to meetings and working the whole time but did have a little free time before my flight left so I wandered around the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and the Archives of the USA. If you have never been... you MUST go to both. In the archives I got to see the original documents of the U.S. constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. I think it's something every American should see. Plus, FUN FACT - they misspelled Pennsylvania when they signed their names. hahaha, spellcheck?

Also, the Smithsonian was super fun and interesting, plus it's not overwhelming like some museums and I leisurely walked through every exhibit without getting burnt out. I got to see dinosaur fossils, mummies and hold a giant grasshopper. I felt just like a kid again. Maybe it's because there were about 20 field trips wandering around me. Surprisingly though, they weren't annoying. They might have been the cutest kids on the planet. They kept saying, "Wow!" "Cool!" "What's that?" at everything - constantly asking questions with wide eyes, just excited to learn. I didn't know kids like this still existed. I thought all kids today were addicted to playing their Nintendo DS or iPod with infinite learning ADD. I'm very happy to find out that my thoughts were wrong.

This globe was one of my favorite parts... a constant count of the world population. It's fun to stand and watch it, and think that as every number changes, somewhere in the world, a baby is being born... over SEVEN BILLION people. That's a lot... but when you think about how our nation's debt is in the trillions, it puts it in perspective.

And lastly...the Harry Winston gallery.

O-M-G.

They have 47-Karat diamonds in there. FOURTY-SEVEN!!! Crazy beautiful.

Well, anyway... did I mention that I love DC? New favorite city.

23.

2012-01-22T14:02:00.000-08:00

This year I had a pretty low-key birthday, which was just what I wanted. We've been traveling a lot recently from Ohio to Connecticut, back and forth from Wooster to Newark to Columbus, plus with my traveling for work... I'm pretty worn out so it was really nice just to relax!

I woke up to the smiling face of this cute lumberjack.

He woke up at 6AM with me and while I got ready for work! Then he turned on HALO to make it sound like he was playing video games, but really he was a little elf in the kitchen. He secretly made my ultimate favorite breakfast: Pillsbury cinnamon rolls...

...and my childhood favorite, strawberry cream cheese toaster strudels!! He even wrote Happy BDay with the icing (but it melted fast).

At first, I was excited to share my bday with Martin Luther King, Jr. but unfortunately, I didn't get off work. So I decided to go in extra early so I could get off by 3pm.

My parents came down to celebrate and took us to one of my favorite style of restaurants... a Hibachi Japanese Steakhouse! This time our chef made a "rice" birthday cake for me with an onion-stack candle!! It was so cool. Then he even let me come behind the counter and cook with him for a little bit.

At the end of our meal, a crazy song came on the PA and all the workers came out and sang me happy birthday and gave me fried ice cream with a candle! I was definitely the center of attention. Usually hibachi places are pretty similar, but this time it was definitely a unique experience.

When we got home we just relaxed, visited and of course... opened presents!

Thanks to my in-laws for some cute, warm gloves! Thanks to my parents for a cute bag and a hot water kettle! I've been wanting one for a long time. They're perfect for hot cocoa, making Jell-O, and anything else that needs hot water.

Thanks to Grandma for the nice card & fun money, Thanks to Christopher for some cute furniture, a classic Dr. Seuss book for my collection AND the cutest Coke glass... he knows I love soda :) And Thanks to all my friends and family who sent nice birthday messages on Facebook, my phone, HeyTell, etc. It always feel nice to be remembered... it sure does make me feel extra loved!

As usual, it was a really fun birthday complete with the best people and a tasty angel food cake, strawberries and cool whip.

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about being 23...

At times it seems so young, but then other times I feel so old.

I was sitting next to a girl in church that I thought looked my age. I asked her how old she was and she responded, "18." In my head I was like, "Oh, cool, we're practically the same age." And then I realized no... actually I'm FIVE years older. When she was born, I was in kindergarten. She is still in high school and I'm graduated from college and married. I guess in my head I still feel like I'm 18?

Well anyway, there are some great things about being 23...
like having a grown-up job!

The day after my birthday I got to travel to Las Vegas for a trade show, which was a lot of work but still really fun.

AND a few days after that, I got my first "real" PAYCHECK!

To celebrate we went to Kohl's and I picked out a new "business-like" coat and then we stopped by Blockbuster's "going out of business" sale and found my favorite movie, Life As We Know It AND a new game, Donkey Kong for the Wii! I was super, super excited. It's just as fun as the original!!

Basically... birthdays are great. And I guess 23 isn't so bad either.

Good Eats

2012-01-15T11:15:00.000-08:00

We have enjoyed some DELICIOUS food recently. I'm not sure what's gotten into us, but our Macaroni & Cheese, Grilled Cheese, Little Caesar's Pizza norms have transformed into more sophisticated meals.

One night, we got out our electric fondue set and enjoyed some oil-fried beef, chicken and shrimp; with a side of fresh Boudin bread (I brought back from San Francisco) dipped in Chris's homemade cheese recipe! It was so tasty. I can't believe that after 3.5 years of marriage we never used our fondue set! I have a feeling this is going to be a frequent dinner for us - especially since the prep time was super quick!

With the leftover Boudin bread, we made some delicious sour dough bread bowls with clam chowder. We had a great flashback to Fisherman's Wharf where we ate on the pier the night before my marathon in 2010.

With our leftovers from fondue night, we were able to take the extra cheese, chicken and shrimp and mix it together for a super tasty Alfredo pasta. Christopher even said, "this is the best pasta I've ever had in my life." All I did was mix the fondue cheese with a little Alfredo sauce, some butter, garlic and salt. Then we added the chicken and shrimp that had been fried in the fondue oil, and some broccoli florets. I'll admit, it was pretty amazing.

And for those nights when we don't feel like gourmet cooking, we found the cutest local Mexican restaurant called Paco's Tacos. They have giant burritos, rice bowls, tacos, and the best service we've ever had. They were super attentive and concerned about us the whole time. Christopher even left them a tip AND cleaned the table...(they don't have waiters there, it's more like fast food) - so for him to leave a tip is a HUGE deal. In fact, I don't think he has ever left a tip unless we had a server. So basically that shows just how much he loved it! We will definitely be frequenting this place often.

Food, food, food. That reminds me...I need to start trying my Pinterest recipes!

All in a Day's Work

2012-01-14T13:38:00.000-08:00

This is my company... TenCate Advanced Armor.

Our materials are used to make armor that protects soldiers, policeman, military vehicles, aircraft, watercraft, etc. The more I learn, the more passionate I am about my job. My first 2 weeks have been really great. I've learned 2 new software programs, met a lot of great people and I'm slowly learning lots of military acronyms and terminology.

This is my office...

And I love it! Especially the dual screens, visitors chair, and the awesome tree in the corner. I just need to get a few more decorations to infuse a little more of my personality. It's nice to have my own space, play my music, or have peace and quiet when I need it. Plus my mini heater is awesome; keeps me toasty all day long.

I will admit, it's a little crazy going from college student/intern to Marketing & Sales Coordinator with an office, a company cell phone, business cards, a company laptop, and a future full of Marriott Rewards points and SkyMiles.

I dreamed of being that successful career woman with a blazer and a briefcase, and that day has finally arrived!

This past week I flew to the company's branch in Morgan Hill, California, south of San Francisco. The weather was absolutely beautiful! It was sunny and about 69 degrees. But don't be too jealous, I mostly spent time admiring the beauty from indoors at our meetings. It was great to learn more about the company and eat some delicious meals like sushi, fresh fruit, and gyros.

Here's a few pictures from my business trip:


View from our hotel room.

America finally got self-cleaning toilets.

A bed made of clouds, literally.

Beautiful view taking off in Chicago.

Sunset at Denver Airport on my way home.

Next week I'm headed to Las Vegas for a trade show, the week after I'm flying to Washington DC for another marketing meeting and upcoming trips include trade shows in Florida, Georgia, DC, and maybe Europe and Brazil.

Good thing Christopher has XBOX Live to keep him from getting lonely... and a long "honey-do" list to keep him from getting bored :) Plus Skype and texting makes it easy to stay close.

Famous in a Small Town

2012-01-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

Christopher and I were in the local newspaper! The Living Editor from the Daily Record in Wooster, Ohio wrote a story about our Couch Surfing experiences.

It was fun because my mom didn't know that I was interviewed so on New Years day she opened up the paper for a big surprise!

I loved looking back and remembering our crazy adventure. I can't believe that less than 3 months ago we were backpacking around Europe, meeting new friends, taking thousands of pictures, and eating the best food of our lives.

This reminds me... I still have yet to blog about our trip! I have all the text typed up and saved, I just need to take the time to put some posts together.

Expect a plethora of travel logs complete with videos, pictures, stories and advice!

Glimpse of Our 2011

2012-01-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

I know this New Year's post-style may be a little cliche...but I have to jump on the bandwagon.

We have had quite an exciting year filled with fun adventures like a Caribbean cruise, Couch Surfing through Europe for 5 months, and visiting our families in Ohio and Connecticut.

We've also had some great milestones like graduating from Utah State University, attending Christopher's brother's wedding, and celebrating our 3-year anniversary.

Some big changes have been selling a majority of our things and moving to Ohio, adapting to a new and different environment in Belgium, gaining 10 pounds, losing 15 pounds, and landing my first grown-up, salary job.

It's been a crazy year full of happiness, laughter, challenges, disappointments, arguments, compromises, and of course, gratitude and love.

Here's to the best of 2011. May we always remember what a great year this was!

Best Meal
Natalie: Cane's Chicken Fingers
Christopher: Rosti (traditional meal in Switzerland)

Funniest YouTube Video
Natalie: Super Bass by Sophia Grace Brownlee
Christopher: Jimmy Kimmel I Gave My Kids a Terrible Present

Most Frequently Played Song

Natalie: House That Built Me, Miranda Lambert
Christopher: Love the Way You Lie, Eminem & Rihanna

Tastiest Dessert
Natalie: Cake Pops
Christopher: Fresh Pastries in Ancona, Italy

Most Exciting Sports Moment
Natalie: Ohio State football beating Wisconsin in the last 30 seconds
Christopher: Utah State making it to a bowl game

Favorite Vacation Spot
Natalie: Santorini, Greece
Christopher: Cinque Terre, Italy

Biggest Challenge
Natalie: Taking Stats 110 Independent Study Online
Christopher: Studying and taking the MCAT

Biggest Accomplishment
Natalie: Winning Richter7's PR Student of the Year Award
Christopher: Graduating from Utah State University

Best TV Show
Natalie: How I Met Your Mother
Christopher: Big Bang Theory

Most Exciting Surprise
Natalie: Getting Fiestaware dishes for Christmas
Christopher: Getting a new XBOX360 for his birthday

Favorite Movie
Natalie: Just Go With It
Christopher: In Time

Best Memory
Natalie: Swimming with dolphins in Jamaica
Christopher: Eating Spaghetti Eis in Germany with Oma

Looking back, the positive things of 2011 definitely outweigh the negative and we feel pretty lucky to have had so many great experiences.

I know 2012 will be a lot different for us, but I think change is healthy and I'm excited for our new grown-up life. Since this annual review is now complete... I think it's time for some resolution list-making! I can almost hear Christopher's sigh now - he knows just how much I love making lists :)

...Happy New Year!!

Christmas All Month Long

2011-12-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

We were lucky this year because we got to celebrate Christmas FOUR times! 1. Party with 6 of my siblings and their families, 2. Party with 5 other siblings and their families (we can't all fit in one house at the same time), 3. With just my parents, and 4. With Christopher's family.

I loved playing Minute-to-Win it games with all the kids...

...and they totally loved it too!

I loved sharing our 3D TV for "Santa's Theater"...Lion King is such a timeless classic.

I loved playing with the little babies... they are always so much fun :)

I loved making a Christmas Eve gingerbread house- it actually turned out really cute, and we got so many compliments on it!

I loved going to church on Christmas morning. When I was younger, I didn't like it so much because I just wanted to stay home and play with my new toys. This year I really appreciated it because it was a special program with beautiful carols, verses from the bible of Christ's birth, and the best part of all... little children singing "Away in a Manger." It was such a perfect way to celebrate.

I loved visiting my Grandma Jean on Christmas afternoon: playing Chickie Foot, sharing stories, and enjoying some delicious prime rib!

I loved visiting my brother's house on Christmas evening and playing Mafia with the group. Once again I proved I am a horrible liar.

I loved saving a few presents for Christmas night because we had something to look forward to all day long... it helped the excitement last a little longer, especially since the box was so ginormous!

I freaking LOVED what was inside of the box!!! Fiestaware dishes!!!! I've wanted these for SO long. What a generous Santa Claus I have.

I loved visiting New York City with Christopher's family. The tree lights were beautiful, the pizza was super tasty and we also ate a yummy dessert at Magnolia's for the first time!

Christmas is definitely my favorite time of year... there's so much to love! I'm really glad my job situation worked out the way it did so we had a whole month of precious time to spend with our families.

Merry Christmas Greeting

2011-12-24T15:40:00.000-08:00

Hope your holiday is fabulous! This Christmas will be full of great traditions, loving family, yummy food, beautiful music, and fun surprises. It probably wont be white, which is sad, but I'm sure we will get plenty of that later this winter. Hope you love this time of year as much as I do.

Merry Christmas!

Reason for the Season

2011-12-23T17:33:00.000-08:00

Part of our holiday festivities included visiting the Nativity Exhibit in Kirtland, Ohio. I loved it because there were more than 600 different scenes from countries worldwide. It was such a neat experience to see the variety of ways people portray this historic event. Here are a few of our favorites:

Made of Coke cans

Made of newspapers

Made in Guatemala

Made from corn husks

My mom has one like this; made in Italy!

Chris' mom has one like this :) German, of course

Charlie Brown!

Gifts for baby Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh

Nativities everywhere!!

All white

Super tiny!

Simple

This experience was a great reminder of the true "reason for the season," giving us time to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ. If anyone has a chance to visit Kirtland, I definitely recommend it! It will amaze you.

Favorite Christmas Project, Ever

2011-12-21T09:40:00.000-08:00

I LOVED working on this project with my mom and sister. First, I spent all day making Cake Pops. I was extra excited because we got red and green melting chips and a super awesome Christmas sprinkle set. Then we decided that since we invested so much time in them, we needed a special display. So we took a Styrofoam cone, wrapped it in a green table cloth, found a stick outside and connected it to a wrapped box, then added a $.25 sparkly star to the top. My favorite part about it is that the Cake Pops look like a little ornaments. It was definitely a big hit at our family Christmas party... especially for all the kids, and my husband. He's a big fan of Cake Pops!

In case you need the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 Box Chocolate Cake Mix
- 1 Can Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 Bags Chocolate Melting Chips (or Almond Bark)
- 1 package of lolipop sticks

1. Bake cake according to the box (you can also substitute any flavor)
2. Let cool for about 10 minutes
3. Take a fork and scrap cake in a giant bowl, use fork to crumble cake
4. Add can of frosting, mix until consistency is even
5. Roll into small balls and place on cookie sheet

6. Add lolipop sticks
7. Freeze overnight
8. Melt chocolate in microwave (on defrost setting), stir every 30-60 seconds until melted
9. Dip cake balls in chocolate
10. Add sprinkles
11. Let harden for 3-5 minutes

12. Enjoy!

Employed!

2011-12-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

I applied to 47 jobs.
(although probably more that I forgot to add to my spreadsheet)

I used LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed, Craigslist and CareerBuilder to find them.

I wrote cover letters for 14 positions.
(which means that's how many I really wanted to apply for)

I had phone interviews with 3 people from 3 different companies.

I had face-to-face interviews with 15 people from 4 different companies.

After several offers I chose...

TenCate Advanced Armor!

I love the job because I will be marketing "materials that make a difference" (protective gear for soldiers, aircraft and military vehicles).

I also love it because it's an international company, I get to TRAVEL! and the people are awesome to work with.

I'm really excited to live here...

And drag Christopher to these...

And eat way too much of this...

And be closer to....

Plus I get to reunite with all my great high school / college friends too! I'm so excited!!

First day on the job: January 2, 2012.

Next step... house hunting!! Let the quest begin!!

Quest for Healthy AND Happy

2011-12-11T13:17:00.000-08:00

I saw this sign while I was at the YMCA...

This got me thinking about the definition of healthy and how it relates to our happiness.What comes to your mind when people say the word "health"? Common responses might be:
- eating the right foods like fruits and vegetables
- running, lifting weights & all forms of exercise
- body mass index, fat percentage
- losing weight
- essential vitamins

In general, when people hear the word "healthy," they most likely think of some combination of diet, exercise, and that "ideal" body they are striving for. But in actuality, it means so much more than that.

If you want to continue reading this post, visit my other blog: Life is to be Enjoyed. I started it a few years ago and then it died. But I really like the idea of having a place to write about inspirational topics that might be found by random people instead of just a personal/journal blog that is only semi-interesting to people who know me.

My new blog will include topics such as: marriage, communication, relationships, pets, trials, tutorials, crafts, recipes, health, photography, sports, humor... basically all things that help people enjoy life and make them happy.

Anyway, I'll still be updating this every now and then. But follow my other blog too, if you're interested :)

Am I Human?

2011-12-05T13:44:00.000-08:00

I have been blaming my feelings lately on my "innate human nature"...

Are humans born being jealous? Do people just naturally want what other people have? Is there some way to PREVENT ourselves from constantly comparing our lives to the lives of those around us?

Maybe this is just my weakness that I must keep trying to overcome on a daily basis.

I have come to some conclusions though...

1. Other people will always seem happier, prettier, luckier, skinnier and more in love.

2. Lives are a lot deeper than what they appear. We all have our battles that most often aren't shared with the world through a profile picture or a smile at church. Other people may seem flawless, like they have the perfect life... but that is false. No one does.

3. Sometimes my thoughts are accurate. Other people are "better off" than me. There will be always be people who are prettier, have more money and live "better" than me. That's life, but that doesn't mean it has to affect my happiness.

4. What I need to remember is: there are also millions of people who are less fortunate than me, who would give anything just to have food, a home, a job, and a family who loves them.

So.... I really, desperately want to STOP this whole comparing thing completely. I just want it to go away. I want to be more grateful for my life and the people in it. I wrote this letter to myself in the car last week and I think I should read it often:

Hey Natalie,

Stop wishing you had the life of someone else. Just stop. You were given YOUR life for a reason; to both enjoy it and conquer it. You will have battles. But so does everyone else. Instead of wishing life away, focus on improving yourself. You were destined, and called by God, to be YOU. He doesn't make mistakes. Everything that happens is part of his plan. Your life is a gift; don't let him down by being ungrateful. Don't waste these precious years of your life wishing you could be someone else.

No one can replace you. You have a purpose in this life that no one can fulfill but you. Please just recognize your own beauty, your own talents, your infinite number of blessings all around you. Embrace your life, accept your trials and challenges, and choose to be happy, just being you.

This whole comparing thing? It does nothing but bring sadness, darkness and envy. It does absolutely NO good. So why let it be a part of your life? Start being happy for yourself, happy for other people and let go of all that negativity. The point of all this is simple, really. Be grateful, be charitable, and love your life... You will be filled with a genuine happiness that brings love, freedom and peace.

Car, Snoop Dog, Weed and Lessons

2011-12-04T13:28:00.000-08:00

Remember that one time (a few days ago) when I was so grateful for our car, and even wrote a really nice blog post about it?

Well... trusty little Goldilocks decided to break down at a not-so-optimal time...16 minutes before my big job interview.

We were in the McDonald's parking lot, just eating a quick snack and killing some time because I was about 40 minutes early, and we were only 4 miles away from the interview location. Then it came time to leave and... the car wouldn't start. It wouldn't even crank.

I tried not to freak out. I really did. Christopher called the taxi service while I walked into McDonald's and starting begging people to drive me to my interview. I chose a nice-looking woman first who just replied coldly, "I'm on my lunch break. I don't have time." Everyone around me overheard and shook their heads when I looked at them. Most refused to even make eye contact. I was shocked that they didn't even have any sympathy in their eyes!

Here I was...new black tights, heels, black pencil skirt, ironed blazer and a 10-pound portfolio binder in my hands. But instead of a desperate young, professional...I felt like one of those shoeless, homeless performers on the subway in Europe, begging for a miracle from a bunch of non-interested, selfish, heartless people.

I was really trying not to freak out. But I did. The tears flowed no matter how badly I didn't want them to. When I walked back outside, I saw Christopher running around to the idling lines of cars in the drive-thru. Most people wouldn't even roll down their windows. He looked over at me and said the taxi service couldn't get here in time.

That's when I really lost it. Our car had been reliable for more than a year... we had just driven several hundred miles from Connecticut with no problems whatsoever. Now the ONE time that I CANNOT be late... the car doesn't even ATTEMPT to start. Why? Why? Why!

Amidst my "woe-is-me" breakdown, I heard Christopher shout for me to quickly come. I ran over to a bright red car, hopped in, looked over to the passenger seat and this is who I saw:

Ok, not really Snoop Dog. But he looked JUST like him. I know my parents taught me never to get in a car with a stranger...but at this point, I really didn't care who I was riding with, as long as I made it to my interview. After cutting off several cars and running a few red lights, our new friend became my hero. I was even 5 minutes early to my interview. Not only did he drive us back and forth, he also helped Christopher temporarily fix the car (by whacking the ignition), so thankfully we weren't stuck in Cleveland for the night. We paid him $30 and were SO grateful he helped us out in our desperate time of need.

Despite the fact that he was both smoking weed and drinking a 40oz. beer while driving - I really think he was a blessing in disguise. Looking back on this day, I learned several lessons.

1. If your dad offers to let you take his new car to an interview... accept!

2. If you have an old car... never trust it.

3. Always have cash (in multiple bills) in case you need to bribe people.

4. Life is unpredictable.

5. Freaking out and crying only makes things worse.

6. Persistence will pay off.

7. When seeking help, don't always judge people by their looks... you never know who might be the angel God has sent you.

How I Got My Black Friday Desires for FREE!

2011-11-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

This year, I'm very proud of my Black Friday shopping because I basically got everything I wanted for FREE! And I think it's awesome, so I want to share how I did it.

If you want the quick version:

1. Intensive Black Friday deal research

2. Making friends in line and getting an extra $10 off coupon + an extra 15% off coupon

3. Mail-In Rebates

4. Buy & Re-sell

List of things I got for FREE:

Xbox Kinect with 3 Games ($200)
Farberware Stainless Steel 25-pc Knife Set ($99)
18-pc Lock & Store Container Set ($35)
Presto Electric Griddle ($40)
Bella Waffle Maker ($40)
Corningware Bake Set ($65)

Grand Total: $479 worth of merchandise for... FREE!

If you want the detailed explanation:

I checked the Kohl's Black Friday ad for all the doorbusters and deals that I was interested in. I arrived 4 hours before the store opened to ensure I would be the first in line and get all the deals I wanted. While standing in line, I made friends with the crazy ladies around me who were kind enough to give me some extra coupons that saved me $35.

But the real kicker was the MAIL-IN REBATES. The products were already discounted like crazy and on top of that, they also gave me mail-in rebates which made the products free or in some cases gave me more money than I spent. So when it all equaled out, Kohl's paid me to shop! I couldn't believe it so we called the rebate center and they confirmed... it really was true!

While I was being a crazy coupon shopper at Kohl's, my husband was freezing in line at Best Buy. They had a way good deal on a Kinect Bundle ($99) and also XBOX 360s, 250GB ($200 for a bundle that's normally $300). However, we already have an XBOX so you may wonder why he also waited in line for 4 hours. The answer is: RESELLING. We invested in a few units and sold them for an average of $270 each. So with our profit we covered the cost of our new Kinect bundle!! (plus some XBOX Live gift cards for my cute gamer husband).

Now we can dance around, play sports and look like these crazy kids...

Oh how I love Black Friday. Next time someone calls me crazy for waiting in line and staying up late - I will call them crazy for missing out on all the awesome FREE stuff!

East Coast with Family

2011-11-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

While in Connecticut, we experienced some special occasions. Christopher got to celebrate his birthday (again!) and was spoiled with some nice presents and a delicious ice cream cake.

Then we got to spend a day in New York City and took a boat trip out to Ellis Island and Liberty Island, where we got to see Lady Liberty herself! (despite the big construction project). I've never seen her up close before so I was super excited. I've always had a life goal to touch her... but since the inside is closed, I didn't get to accomplish it. Someday I'll go up inside her crown!!

Ellis Island was a neat experience because we got to learn about immigrants, hear their stories, see their heirlooms and look for the records of my ancestors. But don't picture a giant, cool-looking book. The scene from the movie Hitch is fake... you just type the names in the computer.

Unfortunately, I couldn't I find my ancestors records - my great, great grandmother came to America from Germany in the early 1900's. Her name was Anna Maria Kathrina Wuebker. Her mom actually gave birth to a little girl, Elizabeth, while she was on the boat to America. It's crazy what our ancestors went through to move to America. After arriving in New York, they moved to Ohio to farm. They gave up almost everything they had for freedom, opportunity and to live the "American dream." I'm so grateful they did!

What bugs me is seeing these people:

I absolutely HATE it when people are so ungrateful to live in America, and blame our government for their "misfortune." I don't know this man's story so I probably shouldn't judge him... but I'll bet if he spent a week in Sierra Leone, the Congo or Somalia, he'd be begging to come back to America. I'm not saying our government is perfect - but I think he should quit being lazy, get off that concrete step and get a job. You live in America, idiot... quit being so ungrateful. I don't feel sorry for you and you disgust me.

Now that I'm off my rampage... Thanksgiving was great! My favorite part: playing in the morning Turkey Bowl. Chris played in the adult/competitive game and Kyle, Noah and I played in the kids/old men/less athletic game. I didn't mind though because then people actually passed me the ball. I was the best girl in the game!! Maybe because I was the only girl... haha, but that's fine with me. It was super fun and great exercise before our big Thanksgiving feast.

It has been really great to spend time with family. It was the first time in 7 years since all of Christopher's siblings have been together for Thanksgiving. And of course, I didn't forget the real meaning behind this special day. Actually this whole month on my Photo-A-Day Blog, I posted a picture of something I am grateful for. It's a great time to reflect on gratitude. But it wasn't too much different than any other day, because I usually try to remind myself of things I'm thankful for every day of the year. I'm so much happier when I remember my many blessings, instead of focusing on what I don't have. But as usual...it sounds so much easier than it actually is.

As for my future career / our future home - we're pretty close to deciding. I've had interviews and several offers - so we will see! Stay tuned :)

Currently...

2011-11-16T22:25:00.000-08:00

Weathering... cold and wet outside, warm and snuggly inside

Listening... soft sound of the rain, Doodlejump noises on my husband's iPhone, ESPN on TV

Reading... Black Friday Ads

Drinking... Countrytime Lemonade

Wearing... cream ruffled "business" dress from my interview, slippers

Feeling... excited, anxious, tired

Wanting... home, job, new camera, puppy, baby...but mostly a home

Enjoying... relaxation, family, no responsibilities, Pinterest

Loving... amazing, chunky/orante frames I found at Home Goods for $2-$5

Hating... w a i t i n g

Wondering... where we will be for Thanksgiving next week - it all depends on the interviews & fate

Strange.

2011-11-13T15:29:00.000-08:00

I think there is something wrong with me.

Instead of dreaming about this...

and this...

...I've been dreaming about this:

Okay... so maybe it's not that strange for a girl who has been married for almost 3.5 years to dream about having a baby - but it's weird for me. Normally my thoughts are consumed by traveling to distant lands, my new career, or saving up to buy a fun "toy."

Thinking about having a child scares me. Not the actual birthing part - not the part about having stretch marks or getting fat - not the dirty diapers or the part about having to care for kids all day long, I've been an aunt since I was born, I love kids... it's the actual raising part that scares me. It's the fact that I'm creating a person who will grow into an adult and make choices. Will I know how to teach them, how to discipline them, how to "raise them right"?

No, I'm not pregnant.

But I have babies on my mind. And it scares me.

Hello from the Unemployed's

2011-11-09T19:03:00.000-08:00

Life since Europe has been great. Since we are both currently jobless, we've had a lot of spare time for hobbies, enjoying our families and planning for the future. I expected to miss our weekend train trips, or have a longing to return to Paris, Italy or Greece...but surprisingly, I don't. Maybe it's because we spent so much time there - or maybe because it's only been a few weeks since we got back...but I'm completely content with America. I don't even have an itch to travel anywhere, which is definitely abnormal. My current dreams include finding an apartment, moving all our stuff, decorating, cooking meals, and having a closet. The truth is...my gypsy-soul needs a place to call home.

Anyway... Halloween was fun this year - mostly because of our cool costumes we spent all day making. But even though they took awhile to make, we spent less than $10 on all the materials! If you can't tell - we are Mark Antony and Cleopatra. I got this inspiration while we were on a bus in Rome, learning about all the crazy stories of the Roman Empire. We were planning on entering a costume contest, but there was a CRAZY snow storm in Connecticut which led to the city "canceling Halloween." haha I didn't know it was possible to cancel a holiday, but apparently the declaration was made. We had no power for awhile, which was fun for like 2 hours and then I realized all the things we couldn't do - wash or dry our clothes, microwave soup, turn on the light in the bathroom, WiFi, cable, heat... yes, it was not the greatest experience although it did remind us how much we rely on electricity for the basic necessities of life and how much we take it for granted.

During this "power-less" time, I made friends with a cute little pup... Crufi the chocolate lab. I hate big dogs. I always have. But I'll admit, he's starting to grow on me, especially when he lays on my feet and keeps them warm. Plus, he makes Chris so happy - especially when they work together to learn new tricks. So as long as Crufi doesn't slobber on my nice clothes... I guess we can be friends.

One big task I've been focusing most of my time on is starting my career. I don't just want any job. I want to be excited to go to work everyday. I truly want to enjoy it. I've submitted applications and had several interviews - some of which seem promising. But we will see. I don't want to rush into anything, but I'm also really excited to settle down and get back into the field I love.

During our down time, we had a chance to visit Christopher's brothers in New York and spend a day at the Bronx Zoo. It was perfect weather and the park was basically empty. We got to see tigers, grizzlies, polar bears, monkeys, frogs, giraffes, alligators, pythons, gazelles, hyenas, flamingos and my favorite of the day: sea lions! We watched the 3:00 show and got to see lots of cool tricks like handstands and even backflips. It was awesome.
Usually during this time of year, I'm super busy with mid-terms, projects and papers. It's been nice to just have time to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Even with the crazy-cold weather, there are still plenty of orange, yellow and red leaves left to admire.

And now we come to my favorite part of being unemployed...more time to spend with my family. See this cute little baby girl? It's Hallie, my adorable niece. She can show me her nose, her belly-button, say "ut-oh" and I'm pretty sure she called me "na-na." Of course I also loved spending time with my beautiful big sister, Monica. It's been way too long since we've seen each other. We had fun attempting to do the whole royal icing thing...although it didn't turn out quite like we expected, we still had a blast. Sisters are the best.

And the last update from our exciting unemployed life is...my husband turned 26 years old! I can't believe it. This year, Christopher got a "Choose Your Own Adventure" Birthday - which was full of fun surprises.

There were 7 levels, with 3 choices (images to circle) on each level. He was only allowed to pick one, although he didn't really know exactly what he was choosing. We started off with (1) cereal for breakfast, (2) picking up his gift - an XBOX360 Slim, (3) lunch at Raising Cane's [aka the best fried chicken on the planet and Christopher's new favorite place], (4) failed attempt at bumper cars; rain-checked for another day, (5) oreo ice cream cake (6-7) not enough time/room in our bellies; rain-checked for another day. So overall... it was a really fun day filled with mysterious choices AND we still get to finish celebrating in the next few days to come.

So that's the update of our lives. With all this down time, you'd think I would have more time to catch up on blogging, maybe even share a few stories about the European Adventure...but not yet. I'm still spending all my free-time job searching (and yes, I admit I take breaks for Pinteresting too). Don't let it fool you though... the unemployed lifestyle is not glamorous. It's hard not knowing where we are going to live or what's going to happen + having to live out of suitcases and boxes / at our parents' and siblings' houses. I'm trying my best to enjoy though - I'm sure once the full-time job kicks in, I'll be wishing I could have this freedom back.

And the BIG decision for our future is...

2011-10-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

Unknown.

I've been thinking a lot about decisions lately and how much they impact our lives. Marriage is probably the biggest one - but I think your home and where it's located has got to be #2.

Where you live impacts everything about your life: how much it costs, the fun things you can do, your neighbors, the people you meet, the friends you make, how often you can travel home, or travel at all... each city will provide a completely different experience and will impact your life differently.

Right now, I'm looking for a job. And the toughest part is that I could get a job ANYWHERE. Yes I know, it should make it easy and it should make it exciting (which are both true) - but it's also stressful. Where do you go when you have the whole world to choose from? There are so many choices, it's overwhelming.

We've basically narrowed it down to east of the Mississippi River, but then again if I got my dream job in California, Arizona, Colorado or Texas...we'd totally go.

Which brings me to the point of - what is my dream job? I've gone through all those little aptitude tests, made lists of things I love to do, etc. But I have a feeling I wont really know my dream job until I find it. In my head I say I would die to work for Apple or Google or some really big-name, awesome brand. But would I really enjoy the actual work I do everyday? Or do I just want it because it sounds cool? Would I rather work for a small company, where everyone is my friend and I feel comfortable and love the work I do? Time will tell.

The current update is: The first job I applied to was an awesome job for a private jet airline. I didn't expect to hear back, but I did! They scheduled an interview on Monday in New York. I'm super excited about it - however I just researched apartments in the area and the average price is $1,500 A MONTH! Crazy.

I've also applied for several other jobs in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Ohio. I've gotten a few call-backs and interviews but declined because they just didn't feel right.

Anyway, it will be fun to get my first, full-time, grown-up job, with benefits! Despite all the stress of where to go and what to do - I really am excited to advance my career, move to a new city, learn all about a new company, oh, and have a salary.

I just hope the decision we make is the right one.

Autumn Means Change

2011-10-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

I know I have A LOT of catching up to do. I have been absent from the blogging world for more than a month now. It was hard because I kept on wanting to write but I wasn't sure where to start.

Basically, we have spent the last 30 days backpacking through Europe. But before that, we finished up a 13-week internship in Belgium, which also deserves its own post. I feel like there is so much to stay, but I don't feel like saying anything because it's so overwhelming. There are so many stories...and SO many photos!! So I think I'm going to take the easy way and just share the highlights.

Maybe if I feel motivated, I'll get into more details/travel advice in a later post - or do some back blogging. We'll see. I've finally caught up with my "Photo-A-Day" blog if you want to see some of my favorite pictures from our travels. I only have a few months left, so I can't fail the challenge now.

During our time in Europe, we visited 12 different countries (13 if you count the Vatican City as a country, because we recently learned that it is? Weird.) Anyway, we also learned some new phrases in French, Dutch, German, Italian & Greek (sort of - it's super tricky).

At one point, we were both sick of traveling/Europe and wanted to come home (yes, even me! surprising, I know). And then we got over this little "hump" and adapted quite well to the new lifestyle. I even adjusted to living out of a backpack and having to repeat outfits. By the end of our trip, I was actually rejuvenated and we almost gave in to a spontaneous desire to fly to Thailand and keep traveling...but I think we'll save that for later.

During our 5 months abroad, I fell in love with European architecture, ancient culture and most of all - the food! I never thought about it before, but a lot of American food is just an adapted version of European food. Italian pizza, French fries, Greek pitas, Swiss chocolate, Turkish Kebab, German pretzel-bread... just to name a few :)

We were so happy to be able to visit family and friends in Germany and Switzerland - it was really special to meet them and practice a little bit of our German skills too.

Overall, living in Europe taught us so much about the world. We learned about the economy, different cultures and all the do's an dont's of traveling. It was an amazing experience and I'm so happy I finally had the chance to fulfill my dream of living (not just traveling) abroad. If you get the chance - DO IT.

If you're anything like me, living abroad will be a (super fun), eye-opening experience that in the end will remind you just how much you appreciate, love and belong in America.

And on that happy American note...we are back! and homeless. Our fun adventures have come to an end and I know our lives are changing and will never be the same. We've jumped from students, to interns, to backpackers and are now transitioning into the "grown-up," full-time salary job stage. I like the idea that we have no commitment or expectations right now, but at the same time it's a little scary.

We have a lot of big decisions ahead of us (medical school? career? babies? car? home?) that will greatly impact our future. I just have to keep reminding myself not to stress too much or rush through life. I want to enjoy every phase of our lives and treasure each moment.

Top 10 of Holland

2011-09-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

In no particular order, here are the top 10 things about Holland.

1. Amsterdam Canals

2. Second-Hand Markets

3. Kibbeling (Best Fried Fish of My Life!)

4. Dutch Shoes

5. Bicycles, Bicycles, Everywhere!

6. Awesome Museums: My Personal Favorite - The Anne Frank House

7. Beautiful Harbors

8. Amsterdam Red Light District
(I preferred to see it at 7pm...any later and it gets creepy with drug dealers)

9. The Beach at Den Haag

10. Kinderdijk - Windmills

Overall - Holland is fabulous! We loved it :)

*Special shout-out to our new friends John and Els who showed us around their amazing country, fed us delicious Dutch food and let us sleep in their beautiful home! Thanks a bunch!

Proud to be a Marshmallow-Eating American

2011-09-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Can you believe there are people in this world who have NEVER eaten a roasted marshmallow?

Or even crazier...

People who have never even HEARD of a "S'More"?!?

Well, we work with a whole bunch of these unfortunate people - so we had to plan an "American-Style" BBQ to show them what they were missing.

They don't really have graham crackers over here...or Hershey bars. So we had to compromise with some Speculoos and some Belgian chocolate. It was ALMOST equally delicious. And just like we expected...everyone LOVED them :) It was fun evening with our co-workers at Obelis.

Martin and Chris - the BBQ masters.

Evan, Beth, Chris, Lu, Nina and Roxana - Eating in the Veranda

Lu (crazy Lu), Marika, Me & Nina

It's so fun to have so many co-workers our same age!!

European Roadtrips

2011-09-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

As much as we love trains... it was nice to finally be in a car again. This weekend we got to take a few road trips with our friends. They are lucky because their employer's provide them with cars AND pay for all of the gas! Nice perk :)

Road Trip 1: Dinant, Belgium

I LOVED this town. It is so picturesque and cute. It's actually the home of the man who invented the saxophone... and they don't let you forget it - statues, monuments, plaques, artwork, everywhere. I really loved the view from the river - like a postcard.

Luckily, the weather was AMAZING - 80 degrees and hot... perfect for kayaking! We spent the day hanging out in the water and the sun with our friends Fernando and Sarah. We even ventured down a few "rapids" too. Then we finished up with some delicious french fries.

If you ever get a chance to visit Belgium - I think this city is definitely worth your time.

Road Trip 2: Lille, France

We had been planning this one for a while - ever since my friend Lucie told us Lille was home to one of the biggest flea markets in Europe!

So we enjoyed a nice afternoon looking at antiques, eating ice cream, finding a SWEET deal on a backpack (bartered it down from 9 Euros, to 6) and wishing I had unlimited luggage to bring home the awesome antiques - I really fell in love with a red dresser + they had SO many cool trunks, I NEED a trunk someday.

Then I found 2 perfect scarves that I had seen once in Belgium but didn't buy and regretted ever since. Plus... I also found a cute sweater for only 10 Euros. The only downside was how disgusting the streets were - trash piled high plus it rained pretty hard the night before so all of the trash was damp and floating all around... pretty nasty.

But overall it was great!! We loved our day spent with Lu, Guney and his girlfriend.

The Best Way to Spend a Weekend

2011-09-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

At our internship, we don't get many vacation days - but it just so happened that we had a four-day weekend we didn't know what to do with. We contemplated our options: Barcelona, Morocco, Prague, Croatia... they all sounded amazing but for some reason, none of them "felt right."

Then we had a new idea... let's visit Oma, Opa and Aunt Silke in Germany! Originally it was going to be a surprise, but then we decided it might be smarter to let them know in advance just to make sure they were home and we could spend time together. It was definitely the right choice.

While we were in Germany we had the opportunity to do a lot of special, little things that meant a lot more than a weekend on the beach. And there's something more peaceful and relaxing about just being with family, compared to the stress and exhaustion of being a tourist. It was the perfect weekend.

Some of our favorite memories were:

Walking up "the big hill" and finding a giant snail. Christopher used to walk up this hill frequently when he lived with his Oma for the summer as a child. He and his brother went on errands to the local grocery store to buy bread in the mornings - his favorites were Käse Brötchen and Pretzel Brötchen. After trying them... I definitely agree!

I got to try my first official bowl of "Spaghetti Eis." We have eaten it homemade before but it's a little different in the shop. They put ice cream through a press so it looks like noodles (on top of whipped cream which freezes a little) and then add strawberry topping with shaved white chocolate and more whipped cream. It is SO delicious!!

We also got to see a really beautiful panoramic viewpoint of Stuttgart. Aunt Silke told us it was where Christopher's parents got engaged. It was neat to visit such a special place. At the top of the hill, there is a tomb of some important Russian leader and (in German) it reads "The Love Never Ends."

Oma also took us to see the "Burg Hohenzollern" - a castle straight from the fairy tales! It was fun to see the tour inside and learn about the royal family of Germany. Then afterward, we made a pit stop at the Ritter Sport factory! I definitely enjoyed the free samples and we stocked up on my favorite kind: Erdbeer Joghurt! This tasted even better after my month of fasting from sugary-sweets.

Other great memories were going to church with Oma and Opa, seeing Silke's apartment, taking pictures with the beautiful Sonnenblumen (sunflowers), riding the "Nussdorf rollercoaster", seeing the Pig Museum, eating yummy Fleisch Brot and Doners, taking a mini bus-ride on Opa's bus, picking plums with Oma at their orchard and playing our favorite game of Stadt, Land, Fluss.

I really couldn't have imagined a better way to spend our weekend. As we were running to catch our train Oma said, "I'll always remember this summer we spent together." It was the sweetest thing. As we waved goodbye to her from the train window, I couldn't help but cry. I can never say this enough... spending time with family makes me the happiest.

Touring Around Belgium

2011-08-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

In between our long weekend trips, we've had the opportunity to do some neat things around Belgium.

The first was a day trip to Waterloo. This is where a historic battle was fought back when Napoleon was trying to conquer Europe and expand his empire. He was defeated by the British and the Prussians... a battle that changed European history forever.

It was really interesting to see the famous Lion Mound, the wax museum and watch the videos which explained the strategy behind the battles. I'm not much of a war fanatic, but it was really intriguing.

I even found an adorable mini British soldier who was pretending to "fight the enemy." I know it's stalkerish but I had to take a few pictures of him... it was too cute to pass up. We were lucky that we had really great weather!

Our second day trip was to Breendonk Concentration Camp. I've always been really interested in the Holocaust so it was a special experience for me. It was so eye-opening to see how these people were forced to live, where the prisoners slept, ate and worked. It felt like the whole day was black and white - so I decided all my pictures should be too. The worst part was when we entered the "Torture Chamber" where they brought people to try and get information out of them. Often times, the people didn't know anything and were tortured endlessly anyways. I could hardly stand to stay in the room to finish the audio segment, it felt so evil and sickening. One of the last segments was where the prisoners were hung or tied up and executed. There was a board that showed all the names of people killed there... some barely teenagers. I still can't believe human beings could treat people this way. I understand there are a few psycho serial killers in the world - but normal, everyday men who were proud of the crimes and atrocities they committed? Men who bragged about the innocent people they tortured or murdered? Shocking. Unbelievable. And mostly sad. Right as we were leaving the camp, it started pouring rain. Somehow, it seemed appropriate.

After our tour of the camp, we headed back to Brussels. Our friends Lu and Guney were with us and we decided we needed something to lift our depressed spirits. Some New York style pizza was just the trick. Later, Lu and I found some giant baguettes of bread - so of course, we had to snap a quick picture. There's always interesting things to find while wandering around Grand Place.

Our third day trip was to Oostende, on the Belgium coast. We FINALLY got a beautiful weekend with warm weather so we couldn't pass up the chance to visit the beach. It was super relaxing and we both got some desperately needed sunshine. The North Sea was a little chilly, but once I went past my knees I adjusted pretty quick. We were both very surprised how packed the beach was! There were soo many people for such a small space. But we didn't really mind- it was an optimal situation for our people-watching hobby. It's always fun to analyze people that come to the beach...what they wear (or more often what they don't wear) haha, quite entertaining.

My favorite part of the day (besides my new tan lines) was our delicious seafood dinner. I had been craving seafood for quite awhile and this totally hit the spot. Crab, shrimp, lobster and carrots - I was surprised by the shredded carrots but they actually made a great side dish that complemented the flavors. I was one happy girl :)

We definitely feel like we have been taking advantage of our time here in Belgium. We've actually checked off most of the things we wanted to see including: Antwerp, Brugge, Gent and our three recent day trips. It's been such a fun opportunity exploring this country. I'll have to admit, if we didn't have our internship here, Belgium probably wouldn't have made the "European: Must Travel To" list. But I'm glad we are here because we would have missed out on a lot of fun adventures!

The London Experience

2011-08-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

95% of our time in the UK was fantastic! So I'll mostly focus on that... but I do feel like I should briefly mention the 5% that was horrible. On our way flying from Ireland to the UK, we passed a small little booth called: Immigration. No big deal... we've been through these before. They ask us how long we're staying, the nature of our stay, look at our passports, make sure the picture matches and send us on our way.

Not this time.

I think I may have caught a small glimpse of what it feels like to be a Mexican trying to visit America. Long story short- we messed up the customs application, couldn't remember the address where we were staying, they threatened to punish us for some Schengen rule (even though they are a non-Schengen country and it's not their jurisdiction) and then they proceed to ask Christopher 9235359 questions about his life like he may just be a terrorist. Seriously UK... we just want to see Big Ben, check out Buckingham Palace and eat some fish & chips.

So after we were "luckily" allowed through immigration, despite the desires of the grumpy immigration official... it was smooth sailing.

The best part about London was definitely the Underground (public transportation). It was SO convenient and actually really reasonably priced. For about 5 pounds each, we got to travel unlimited for a whole day. It was definitely worth it.

We got to see all of the classic touristy stuff: Big Ben (life goal, check!), the London Eye, Tower Bridge, West Minister Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the changing of the guard (twice), Picadilly Circus and Oxford Street for some fabulous shopping. Christopher got a brand new suit for only 23 pounds...jacket AND pants! Plus of course, I splurged a little... it's hard to stop myself in the middle of a giant Primark - my favorite store, ever.

Once again, we got to stay with another awesome Couch Surfer. His name was Jonathan and he lived in a north London suburb. He told us a little about the riots which had just ended. It was crazy hearing all the stories. We didn't really see much... just a few busted windows and boarded up buildings. They had most of the remains cleaned up.

One highlight of our trip was a little day excursion to see the famous Stone Henge (another life goal, check!). It was awesome listening to the audio guide about this "mysterious" monument. It's crazy thinking they have no idea who made it, why it was created or the biggest question HOW it was made. I couldn't believe that humans moved these huge stones across hundreds of miles...each of the stones weighed more than 3 elephants! I loved the mystery of it all.

We of course had to snap a couple classic tourist photographs with the red telephone booths and my personal favorite... the Prime Meridian of the World in Greenwich. It was cool thinking that we had one foot (or in my case, one hand) in each hemisphere... or that we kissed while he was standing in the Western Hemisphere and I was standing in the Eastern. I loved it.

While we did enjoy the fish and chips... we actually ventured out and tried some Korean food. And we are so glad we did! The restaurant was brand new and catered to our every need - offering us free upgrades, free appetizers and constant attention. Our waiter even offered to let us use his laptop when we were surfing the web on our iPhone. It was the best service I've ever had at any restaurant in my life...and I'm being 100% serious. It was the best.

One idea Christopher had was to visit the big attractions during day light...and night time. This was a fabulous idea. Here are my favorite pictures of Big Ben, the London Eye and the Tower Bridge during the day and at night... so beautiful!

Our journey back to Belgium was long...and tiring. We decided to take the night bus because it was 1/4 the cost. We pictured getting on the bus, sleeping for 6 hours, coming home, sleeping for 3 more hours and then going to work. However... we forgot to take into account that they clear out the whole bus to check everyone's passports and then once we arrived to the coast, we had to get out again, get on a ferry for 2 hours and then get back on the bus before continuing our journey home. It was long...and tiring - but looking back, I still think it was worth saving a few 100 pounds.

We really loved our time in the UK. Partially because everyone spoke perfect English, partially because it was so clean and I think partially because it reminded us most of America. We are getting a teeny bit homesick...although we are definitely taking advantage of our time here in Europe. We are so grateful for this opportunity to see so much of the world. Traveling is definitely an adventure!

Discovering Ireland

2011-08-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

We were lucky to have a 5-day weekend which allowed us enough time for a nice little vacation. It was quite the journey just getting to the airport. We were happy our plane tickets from Brussels to Dublin only cost 10 Euros... but boy was it a hassle. Since we flew out at 6AM, we had to wake up at 3, leave our house by 3:25 so we could rent a few bikes to get ourselves to the train station, where our shuttle left at 4 to drive an hour to finally arrive at the airport by 5. It was quite the adventure...and was a little bit farther of a ride than I expected...and we almost missed our shuttle. Luckily, I was able to push through the pain and we arrived to the bus 2 minutes before its departure. Yes, we could have taken a taxi... but we like to travel cheap.

One thing we noticed about Ireland right away, is how friendly everyone is. Seriously, I've never been to a place where literally everyone is smiling and happy to help. I'm pretty sure we never got honked at, even though we were always entering other peoples' lanes and cutting people off when we got lost. They were just so patient and easy going.

But speaking of driving...we rented a car and drove on the opposite side of the road! It was CRAZY at first...especially when making right hand turns. But eventually, by the end of the trip (and after one busted left-side mirror) we adjusted quite well. Funny story though: while we were driving on the highway we both had a couple "freak out" moments when we looked over and shouted, "What the! That driver isn't paying attention!" or "Holy crap- that driver is sleeping!" ...then we we realized it wasn't the driver, it was the passenger. haha, just funny things you have to get adjusted to.

But seriously- I'm SO glad we rented a car. Even though it was a little bit more expensive than a bus pass, I think it was totally worth it. We were able to stop when we wanted to take pictures of the beautiful landscape and we were able to readjust our trip when we encountered some fog and rain. I would definitely recommend it.

The best part about Ireland was the scenery. There were so many giant castles, small stone ruins, bridges and rolling green hills. We were able to drive the famous "Ring of Kerry" which was absolutely breath taking. It's known as one of the most scenic routes in the world. Even with the patches of clouds and rain, it was still amazing. In fact, I must say I'm happy it rained because we were able to see 5 rainbows...the biggest, most vibrant rainbows I've ever seen in my life.

The highlight of our trip was seeing the Cliffs of Moher (one of my life goals). I think they've even made it on some list for natural wonder of the world and I can see why. They are spectacular! If you are planning a visit, I would be careful with booking a coach tour. The first day we went to see them it was so foggy and cloudy that you couldn't see ANYTHING. I could barely see people 25 feet in front of me. I felt bad for the people who had paid like 60 Euros for some fog and an out-dated visitor's center. We were pretty disappointed, but luckily since we rented a car we were able to drive back the next day when it was sunny and clear.

Despite the risk, we had to venture past the "No Trespassing" sign to get a better view of the cliffs. I was a little nervous, but tons of people were doing it so I felt a little reassured. After we made it to the other side, I was SO happy I did. We had to shimmy through a rock fence and hop a mud puddle, only a few feet from certain death...but we made it. I was somewhat freaked out after reading yet another sign: "Dedicated to all those who have lost their lives at the Cliffs of Moher." So we were extra careful.

While in Ireland, we enjoyed some super Couch Surfing. We met a really great couple - Jim and Katri who were really fun to stay with in Limerick. There's just something special about staying with local people and truly experiencing the culture firsthand that makes traveling so much more fun.

After exploring the countryside and the cities of Galway, Limerick and Killarney, we headed back to Dublin. It's funny that Dublin is such a famous place because there wasn't really that much to do there. Mostly it's just filled with tons of pubs, famous beer factories, St. Patrick's Cathedral and some shopping. Our favorite part was actually Trinity College's old library. It reminded me of Beauty and the Beast. It's really beautiful and I would totally recommend everyone go see it...especially if you can go during the week because then they let you reserve one of the old books and you can actually go upstairs and read it! I've never seen so many ancient-looking books. It was awesome.

One special part about Dublin was meeting my friend John Green. He is the owner of Chem-Dry of Ireland and I had worked with him (over the phone and internet) at my old job. We kept in touch and he was generous enough to take us out to eat at a nice Chinese restaurant. It was so fun getting to meet him in person and hear all of his interesting stories. We really enjoyed our evening together.

Overall, our time spent in Ireland was amazing. The only things we didn't get to see were Cork, the Blarney Castle, Belfast, the surfing beach and Giant's Causeway. Maybe we will have to make another trip someday! Oh and another great thing about Ireland: their cute accents and funny lingo. So let me re-phrase myself..."Me thinks Ireland was grand!"

Day in the Life of An International Intern

2011-08-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

One of my friend's did this type of blog post and I thought it was super interesting and cute - so I decided to do one for us too.

We wake up around 8:00AM (8:25AM for Christopher), shower, get ready, eat breakfast (usually cereal or a baguette and yogurt) and then head out the door of our apartment by 8:32AM.

First, we have to lock our inside door...

Next, we have to lock the outside door...which is definitely a good idea in our neighborhood.

Then most mornings we walked, well...sometimes sprinted, to catch the tram. It was supposed to leave at 8:36AM but sometimes it was early, sometimes it was late, and sometimes it didn't come at all. We never had to walk to work, but we did take the yellow "rent-a-bikes" a few times.

Luckily, our work paid for a monthly transport pass. Every time we got on the tram or bus, we had to validate. A lot of people didn't pay - and we never witnessed any enforcement so it seems like a lot of Belgians get free public transport. Unfortunately, some days we missed the tram by only a few seconds as we watched it drive away. It was a bummer... but they come every 6-10 minutes so we just caught the next one.

Most mornings we just stood, rather then taking a seat. A lot of mothers, children and old people take the trams so would often just leave the open seats for them.

After about a 15-minute tram ride, we would arrive at the Meiser stop and walk a few blocks to Obelis.

Then we put in our thumb print to clock-in by 9:00AM.

Once I got to my desk, I would start making phone calls right away. We had to meet certain KPI's each day and since there is a big time difference for Australian and Asian companies, it's best to call early. It was nice to have a team all working toward the same goals. Meet my awesome marketing and sales buddies: Evan (from Utah), Irena (from Slovenia), and Marika (from Poland).

Pictured above: Christopher, the Regulatory and Notification Consultant and Natalie the Marketing Coordinator and Sales Representative.

I spent my days calling potential clients from around the world, creating email marketing campaigns, developing social media strategies, planning for three international exhibitions, writing content for the website and helping other team members.

Christopher spent his days dealing with the clients, ensuring their paperwork was filled out correctly, requesting information from clients and doing research about EU medical device regulation and GMDN codes.

At 12PM or 1PM (depending on the week), we had a one-hour lunch break. Christopher and I usually packed a lunch, or walked over to Aldi (the supermarket) to pick up some food. Some of our "regulars" were: fresh mushroom & ham pizza, salt & pepper chips, Guappos (like cheesey Bugles), bread & salami, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, frozen seafood & rice mix and grilled cheese. We were glad to have an Aldi so close - it was relatively cheap and we could understand most of the labeling :)

At 6:00PM Monday-Thursday, and 4:00PM on Fridays, we clocked-out and headed to the Meiser tram stop. Often we would walk over to Aldi again to get some food for dinner. Yes, we went grocery shopping almost every day, sometimes twice a day. It was really exhausting. But since we only had a small mini-fridge and no freezer - it was necessary if we wanted to have food to eat.

Poor Christopher... he got so tired of public transportation. We could never get away from people. And often times... smelly people that stand really close to you and have no sense of personal space, or really loud obnoxious people that talk on the phone, or listen to their crazy, cha-cha music on speaker phone.

Finally around 6:20PM, we would arrive at the Liedts stop and then walk a few blocks home. By the time we got back in the evening, we were usually pretty tired. On Tuesdays, we went to the park for soccer / Friskis & Svettis - but most days we just ate a quick dinner and watched some movies online.

Overall it was a really great experience living and working abroad! We are happy we did it...but we also learned that we prefer to live in America. The best part about Obelis was that we met some awesome people! We now have friends from Israel, Italy, Slovenia, Poland, Portugal, Belgium, France, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Thanks for the memories, Obelis!

Half-Way Day

2011-08-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

Wow. Our internship is half over already. Time has seriously flown by. I cannot believe we have been living in Brussels for almost 7 weeks.

Here's a little re-cap of our work & the European life.

What's Been Great...

Making new friends from all over Europe
Weekend trips to Paris, Brugge, Gent, Antwerp & Waterloo
Waffles!
Learning some French and Dutch
Shopping at all the European stores - love their clothes
Accomplishing new "life goals" - like visiting the Eiffel Tower
Friskis & Svettis (the Swedish version of Zumba)
Bakeries and fresh bread
My mom learning how to Skype all by herself
International business experience
Becoming a better "big-city" navigator

What's Been Difficult...

A (mostly) rainy and gray summer
Learning and understanding European law, in-depth
Trying to talk to people who don't understand English
Missing our favorite things from America
Unreliable, smelly & irritating public transit
Using a real map, instead of Google Maps on our phones
Getting lost
Living out of only 2 suitcases of clothes

What We Have to Look Forward to...

Weekend trips to London, Ireland, Lille and the Netherlands
A few extra vacation days we weren't expecting
Learning a little Italian and Greek
Exploring more of Europe on our post-internship bus trip
Visiting family again in Germany
Becoming experts in the CE marking and selling products in Europe
Receiving our Utah State University diplomas as official college graduates
Finding real jobs in the U.S.

Overall, life is great and I really can't complain. We are so lucky to have this experience together. It's funny though - I tend to find myself focusing on the future, instead of the present. At USU, I day dreamed about life in Europe and all the adventures we would have... now that I'm here, I day dream about what our life will be like in America and where we will live when we move back. But I'm working on improving my thought process and learning to enjoy each moment we have now.

So I'm going to smile at that smelly guy on the tram, I'm going to learn 3 more phrases in French, and I'm going to love this city, even on the days when it's gray and gloomy...I'm going to make the most of it because I'm 99.9% sure, we will never have an experience like this again.

I can't believe it!

2011-07-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

So... this is a big deal.

I think today was my first, real, completely, 100% surprise (from Christopher).

We went shopping this past weekend and I was looking for a satchel. I've been looking for this perfect bag since May. I saw one that I thought I loved, but I was nervous I may find something better...so I didn't buy it.

Then at another store, I found a cute shirt with the #36 on the front. This is Christopher's football number (and lucky number might I add). It was such a cute shirt but was a little bit too big. Then I found the same shirt in another store, my size!! I tried it on but in the end I decided I should be practical and since I didn't NEED another t-shirt, I restrained.

Then after we got home, I had the opposite of buyer's remorse...buyer's regret. I kept on thinking about the cute shirt and bag and wishing sooo much I had bought them! I pictured myself in the shirt...with the bag...traveling around Europe. They would be perfect!

So a few days later, we went back to the stores right after work- but of course, I forgot it's Europe and the stores close at 6pm. (Ironic because the people who actually work and make money, don't get off until 6pm - so it doesn't really make sense, but whatever). I was pretty bummed. It had been 3 days since I saw my perfect outfit and I was sure they were both gone by now. Plus - we wouldn't even be able to go back to the stores until Friday so they would definitely be gone by then.

Here comes the good part. Today at lunch, Christopher said he couldn't eat with me because he had to run home to do some banking stuff really quick. I thought, "Why can't he just do it later?" But I didn't really think much of it. Although, I'll admit - I was a little sad to be eating lunch alone.

Then after work, we were getting ready for our exercise night in the park and I put on my white leather coat. He looked at me and said, "Are you sure you want to wear that coat?" I knew the styles didn't go that well but it was the best color for what I was wearing. But I decided maybe he was right and reached for my light rain jacket - when I pulled it off the coat rack, I revealed my perfect bag!! I couldn't believe it. At first I thought it was our landlord's and she had left it on the coat rack - but then it hit me. He snuck out at lunch to go find it for me!!! I was ecstatic!

Then after we got back from our work out, I was so excited to arrange everything inside of my new satchel. But once again... he surprised me! My lucky #36 shirt was hidden inside! I couldn't believe they still had it in my size. PLUS instead of 10 Euros, it was only 3.

I seriously have such a thoughtful (& lucky!) husband. I love him...and this day full of happy surprises :)

36 Months.

2011-07-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

So I didn't write a blog post on our anniversary, but I figure it's never to late to write something special.

We have been married for 36 months.

I find this cool because 36 is Christopher's favorite number. It's also my favorite anniversary yet. Not just because we are here in Europe, but I think each year of marriage gets better.

Our first 3 years of marriage were a lot of things: new, exciting, disappointing, fun, depressing, fulfilling, worthwhile, annoying, interesting, challenging, happy - and far from perfect.

If you asked me to go back and live through them again, I would say, "no way!" But am I glad they happened? "definitely!"

We have learned so much about communication, relationships, life, marriage, our families, what works, what doesn't, and what we need to do to get better.

We have also, of course, learned a lot about each other...

He hates washing silverware...I hate washing pans.
If I have a breakdown, don't try to fix anything, just feel sorry for me.
I chew a lot of gum...and drink a lot of Diet Coke.
Everyone has morning breath.
He is a "saver" - when it comes to all things: money, holiday chocolate, new clothes.
Never fight when we're tired (yes, we break the "don't go to bed angry" rule quite frequently... we are much more understanding and patient after a good night's rest).
He's great at spotting animals, I'm great at spotting signs.
I will always take tons of pictures.
He is a really great sleeper.
Girls fart too.
I'm scared of the dark and people hiding under my bed and grabbing my feet, he's scared of people hacking our computer and watching us through the web cam.
We are really bad at sharing one computer... and the covers.
I get stressed and worried... he stays calm.
He should always be the navigator.
Humor is the best way to end (or prevent) a fight.
Our personalities are opposite - but somehow we balance each other out.

So these are just a few of the things we have learned so far... and I love learning new things about him all the time. That's why I think each year it gets better because we learn how to adjust, adapt and handle each other in all different types of situations. We learn that sometimes we need time apart and sometimes we just need to eat dinner first. haha

Basically, it all comes down to this:

I love this boy, through our worst moments and our best, he makes me so happy and I never want to live without him.

It's exciting thinking about everything we have to look forward to in our future - a house, a dog, babies... I'm so glad we have had these 3 years to get know each other and share so many special memories.

July 11, 2011... the best anniversary yet :)

L'amour à Paris

2011-07-21T02:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend we celebrated our 3-Year Anniversary in Paris, France! I always dreamed of this moment my whole life- but I never thought it would come true so soon, at such a perfect time!...Paris with the love of my life, on our wedding anniversary, how romantic! Thanks to my awesome friend Lucie, we knew all about the best things to see and most of it actually worked out perfectly. :) I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Here are my favorite 17 things about Paris:

1. Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower

This was the highlight of our trip for me (and also the reason I wanted to go so badly). It was France's Independence Day and they put on the best firework show I have ever seen in my life! It was coordinated with music from the most popular Broadway shows, plus it was directly behind the Eiffel Tower...seriously breathtaking! Luckily, we were able to take the fast train after work, check-in to our hotel and navigate our way to the tower with just a few minutes left to spare. It was pretty crowded and we had to stand up to watch them, but it was totally worth it. We met a cute family from New Zealand and I found the perfect picture-taking spot. My favorite part of the show was when the tower sparkled AND the grand finale began. There is no other word to say but, "AMAZING."

2. Sacre Coeur

My friend Lucie told us to go here because it's her favorite place in Paris. & It's definitely the most beautiful church I have seen in Europe so far! Probably because it's different than all the rest, sits on a hill with a beautiful overlook of Paris and the weather was perfect... we loved it! The inside was really beautiful too - you aren't supposed to take pictures but I decided to be sneaky and just snatch one. (For some reason when people tell me not to take pictures, it just makes me want me to take one even more). But even with my most sneaky, "not even looking at my camera" skills, I still got caught! haha, luckily the guy was nice and just shook his finger at me.

3. Arc de Triomphe

This is a really famous monument in Paris that honors the soldiers who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleon Wars. All the names of French victories and generals are inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Also, beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers from World War I. We could have paid to go up to the top for a view of Paris, but the line was SO long. (That's one bad thing about going on a big holiday weekend...the lines were really long for everything.) So we decided that we would rather go see some other sites instead of waiting in line.

4. Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame is considered one of the finest examples of "French Gothic" architecture in Europe. It was first built around the 1200's! Also on the outside of the grounds is "Kilometre Zero"the official center of Paris. I just saw a bunch of Japanese people taking pictures of something engraved in the concrete so I decided it must be important and Christopher took my picture standing on the gold circle. Then when I got home I did some research and figured out what is was. Also, we decided that this is probably the church from the Hunchback of Notre Dame Disney movie!

5. Banana Nutella Crepes

I love the combination of chocolate with bananas... and with a fresh, warm, delicious crepe? YUM!! Plus everything is better with Nutella - I know they have it in the States but I forgot how much I love it!

6. Lock of Love Bridge

I was waiting for this moment for MONTHS, ever since I saw my friend's pictures of this cute little bridge. But unfortunately, we FORGOT to bring a lock! I was devastated and positive that we would never find a lock in these small Paris shops. But luckily, Chris was persistent and we found a super market that just happened to have one! I sketched our names on the outside with a pen and Christopher wrote the date, "July 2011." Then we locked our "love" to the bridge and each threw a key into the Seine River. (We made a cute little video of it too, but I hate my hair in it, so this picture is better).

7. Statue of Liberty

A mini version of America's greatest monument! I was so excited when we found this picture-taking spot because you can see the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. I also learned something new in my research - she is a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tablet evoking the law- upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence... thanks for the gift France! Seeing lady Liberty made us feel a little more at home.

8. Bakeries

They have bakeries EVERYWHERE! This is both fabulous and not so great because it just makes me hungry and crave delicious pastries all day long. I had to try Lucie's favorite - Pain au Chocolat and it was definitely delicious! I'm pretty sure I would get fat living in Paris - I would eat pastries and crepes all day long. But maybe not...because we probably walked about 15 miles throughout our 4 days in Paris. It evens out, right?

9. Jardin des Tuileries

These are beautiful gardens right next to the Louvre Museum. It was fun to walk around and they even had a carnival going on too. One thing we liked in the center was a circular fountain and you can put a small sailboat inside and it sails all around without a motor or anything. It was pretty entertaining.

10. Place Vendome

This is a fun square filled with expensive shopping and a large column originally constructed by Napoleon and made out of cannons to celebrate the victory of a war. We just did some window shopping, took a few pictures and saw some kids "planking." We were surprised at first because we had only seen our friend David from Utah do it... but apparently it's a worldwide trend right now and people are "planking" everywhere. haha it's pretty funny - you should Google it.

11. Centre Pompidou

I wasn't expecting this... but I think it is one of my favorite parts about Paris! I love it because on the outside, they have a cool water fountain display with crazy shapes and artwork that spin around and shoot out water. Then on the inside, in the basement, they have a crazy "hang out" place with computers and the decorations are awesome. Plus the best part of all...the photobooths!! They have free photobooths that give you a 4x6 picture and then the highlight...a GIANT photobooth with a printer that's 2-stories tall and prints out a HUGE portrait of your face. haha it's seriously the coolest. Apparently an artist is behind all of this and he encourages everyone to display their picture in their home community - it's some sort of modern art movement. But basically... the best part was watching a giant poster of your face get printed and fall down from the sky. There was a long line, so we were glad we got there early - but it was totally worth the wait!

12. Chalk Artwork

This is the first and only "street performer" I gave money to. He was the cutest, old little guy and his artwork was amazing! It was so cool to watch him create this masterpiece and all with just a little bit of chalk. Now that's talent that deserves compensation!

13. Moulin Rouge

There's not much to say about this one... basically we just got off the metro, took a picture because it's famous and went on our way. But it was pretty cool to see - especially with all the lights on. Apparently there's a famous show with dancers that is performed here, but I don't know much about it except that the tickets are pretty expensive.

14. Les Catacombes

Another highlight of our weekend! We LOVED the Catacombs. We came one day but due to security reasons they couldn't let anyone in for awhile and even if we waited in the line, there was no guarantee for getting in. Luckily, we still had one more day so we came back earlier...still had to wait in line for a few hours and only got to see half of them...but it was still worth it! It's still hard to believe that these are actually human skulls and bones. One thing we found out when we got back is that you can go on a guided tour (sneaking in and illegally, of course) but they take you to the parts of the Catacombs that aren't open to the public - like to German bunkers and places where you have to hike through water and walk on piles of bones... but there are 400 miles of dark trails and if you lose your way... you're basically done for. This was more of a desire of Christopher's... I think I would be a little creeped out, not to mention the fact that if the police find you - the Paris jail isn't exactly the way I would want to spend our vacation. haha but anyways- it would be pretty crazy!

15. Kebab

BEST MEAL EVER! Again, my great friend Lucie said that she missed this a lot in America and we are so glad we tried it!! Apparently it's banned in the U.S. for sanitary reasons...but we never got sick from it. It's skewed all day long with spices and they shave the meat off, fresh for your sandwich. It was only 5 Euros for a sandwich and a pile of fries, plus they didn't charge us for ketchup! We ate this for dinner 2 nights in a row... Christopher even said these words, "I like this better than a hamburger." And if you know him at all- you may not even believe that, but it's true.

16. Mona Lisa

She is the main reason I wanted to go to the Louvre Museum. I've always wanted to see her in person - even though I've heard it's a little disappointing. I was happy that we got in for free because on Friday nights from 6-10pm anyone under 26 doesn't have to pay. So we wandered around the museum (which is really confusing, like a crazy labyrinth!) and found Napoleon's apartment, some Egyptian stuff, some Macedonian stuff, TONS of artwork, statues, artifacts - it was really overwhelming. Then finally - we saw her! The painting is pretty small and behind a big glass window which makes it a little tricky for pictures - but we saw her :) Life goal complete!

17. Eiffel Tower

Obviously the MAIN attraction of Paris was the beautiful, breathtaking "La Tour Eiffel." We were lucky because we got to see it at sunset, at night, during fireworks and during a beautiful blue sky, puffy white cloud day. We decided not to go up in tower because (once again) the lines were ridiculous! But we had a picnic and took SO many fun pictures instead. Here are my 3 favorite:

So basically...WE LOVED PARIS!!! Everyone should go :) And thanks Lucie for helping us plan such a fun weekend!!

Best of Brugge & Gent

2011-07-12T13:06:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a jam-packed, touristy, exploring adventure.

Stop 1: GENT, BELGIUM

We left on a train from Brussels early in the morning. When we arrived in Gent, it was raining, the iPhone map wasn't working, we were lost, tired, irritated and hungry. Not the best way to start off a "fun-filled pre-anniversary celebration trip."

Eventually, we went back to the train station and did what all smart tourists do... follow the crowds of people. Usually this works wonders and you see something cool even if you don't know where you're headed.

So luckily, it worked! We hopped on a tram and got off when everyone else did - at the Centrum. Once we arrived, we found a McDonald's which saved our lives - FREE WIFI! We were able to re-download our map and were back on track.

Through out the day we ventured around looking at the cool architecture from Medieval times. I even found my own knight in shining armor...AND a beautiful castle we could live in. If only I were a princess back then ;)

We enjoyed a picnic at the city center, explored some fun little shops and eventually found the famous graffiti street. I must say this little street was my very favorite part about Gent. Partly, because spray painting is legal here and everyone does it and partly because it was the perfect occasion to share (and document) our love for each other. How fitting for our pre-anniversary weekend! We found a nearby shop that had unlimited color choices of spray paint - even high and low pressure. Of course I wanted hot pink :) We definitely dominated the walls of this street with lots of messages and artwork. However, I'm sure in a few days someone else will paint over it. That's the cool thing about this street. They say the paint is always wet. After we explored the best of Gent, we hopped back on the train and headed toward our next destination.

Stop 2: BRUGGE, BELGIUM

Apparently, this town is known as the "Venice of the North" filled with romance and beauty. We loved it because it was so cute with all of the little canals, houses lining the water, beautiful landscaping and buildings. I'm not really sure how it compares to Venice... but we definitely loved it there!

We walked around most of the day, venturing into little shops and following our Use-It map (the greatest thing EVER if you want to travel Belgium). So we were able to find most of the touristy stuff plus a few not so popular things like a club with a bar that is actually an aquarium (unfortunately closed) and the oldest cafe in Belgium, built in 1515!

Another cool thing was the traitor's skull - screwed to the outside of the city gate. In the Middle Ages (the 14th century) Smedenpoort, was a heavily guarded gate which allowed access into and out of the city, and protected the city's ramparts. Just above the gate is a bronze head, which symbolises the skull of the traitor who opened the door to the French in the 15th century and was hanged at the spot. - A small but interesting landmark.

I think Christopher's favorite part about Brugge was the "Holy Blood." The people claim that they have a vile of Jesus' actual blood. So we stood in line and he went up and placed his hands on a glass capsule with the vile inside. The lady cleared her throat when Christopher didn't place any money in the donation bowl... I guess you're supposed to pay to touch the Holy Blood? Oops...we didn't know. He said it just looked really dried up and gross.

Another touristy thing we did was visit the "Madonna with Child." I'm not really sure why this is famous, but I did get in trouble for taking this picture.

We loved our day spent exploring Gent and Brugge and definitely recommend these quaint little cities to anyone traveling Europe. I think that's one lucky thing about us living here for the summer - it gives us a little more time to visit the smaller cities that might not make the cut if we had only a few weeks to travel. One little piece of advice...you should probably invest in the money to rent a bike because walking is exhausting!

Best Surprise EVER...

2011-07-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

Sad moment today.

My BIG, fantastic, awesome, sneaky, SURPRISE plan...

ruined.

For once this was going to be my grand moment where I actually surprised my husband. (It's more difficult than you think... especially when you share debit cards, credit cards and a computer).

Well anyway, here was the plan:

This coming MONDAY (July 11) is our 3 Year Anniversary. (crazy, huh?)

So this weekend we are going to Brugge, Belgium to celebrate (aka: Venice of the North, voted one of the most romantic cities, with "places to kiss" on the map)... and I am SO excited about it, however I knew Christopher was just kinda excited. So I wanted to plan something really great for him.

Originally we were going to try and take Monday off so we could have a 3-day weekend but it didn't work out because (long story short) the policy at work is you have to request off 1 month in advance so we couldn't get it off. We decided to just hang around Belgium and go out to a nice restaurant on the night of our anniversary.

Then I got this fabulous idea... Thursday, July 14 is Bastille Day in France (kind of like Independence Day in the U.S.). So picture this: the Eiffel Tower AND fireworks! Romantic times a million. I HAD to find a way to make it work. I knew we could take the train to Paris right after work and make it in 1 hour 20 minutes- with plenty of time to spare...the only problem is we would have to work Friday and there would be no trains to bring us back in time.

So without Christopher knowing, I asked my boss for special approval for us to take the day off. (I was pretty petrified because my boss barely even knows me and here I am already asking for days off & not following the advanced request policy... ahhh, but I had to). Thankfully, he was super nice and said we could!! I was ecstatic :) My perfect dream plan coming true.

In my head it went like this:
Thursday, July 14 - the clock strikes 6:00 pm. Christopher and I hop on the 25 tram to go home. We walk through the door. Take off our shoes. Walk to the kitchen to start cooking dinner and then I say... "Pack a suitcase! We're going on a trip!" And he says "What? Where?" And I say "It's a surprise! Pack enough for 3 nights." Then we get to the train station and he sees the sign - Train to PARIS. Then he says, "Wait? What about work tomorrow?" And I say... "We have the day off and we're going to see the fireworks!" He's super excited, partly because he doesn't have to work tomorrow, partly because he's so shocked from the surprise and partly because we're going to PARIS!

Well... it was nice in my head.

Too bad the HR girl dropped the "approved vacation" form on his desk with the whole scenario about my surprise idea explained in the "More info" section.

BUMMER.

I almost cried. (not really, but I wanted to).

But I guess the good news is... next weekend we're going to celebrate our 3rd year anniversary watching the fireworks in Paris! If you can't already tell... I'm really excited :)

Hey USA

2011-07-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

These are all the things we love (and miss) about you...

1. Red, white & blue fireworks

2. Backyard Barbeques

3. Driving in our car with the windows down on really wide open roads

4. People that speak English. Signs in English.

5. Wal-Mart! and rows of unlimited choices of cereal

6. Giant Family-Sized packs of everything

7. Taco Bell, Arby's, Dairy Queen

8. Dollar Menus

9. Great TV shows, like How I Met Your Mother

10. Our families

11. Unlimited refills of FREE water (or soda)

12. The data plan on our iPhones

13. Our friends

14. Drinking fountains

15. Outlets that don't burn up our electronics

16. Giant freezers to stock up on food

17. Ice cubes

18. Jell-O, Macaroni & Cheese, Tacos, Ranch dressing

19. Free public bathrooms, free ketchup!

20. Free plastic bags at the grocery store

21. Weekly pick-up basketball games, American football

22. Cheap haircuts from the beauty school

23. Drive-thrus, drive-ins

24. Cold milk in a jug

25. Freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Happy Independence Day, America!

We sure do love you.

We even ate hot dogs and blasted Katy Perry "Firework" today at Parc du Cinquantenaire in your honor.

Our First Weekend Trip: Antwerp

2011-07-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

We pretty much planned out the next 10 weekends of our life. I was looking at the calendar and the list of places we want to go and realized we don't really have that much time! Our first weekend here we spent in Brussels, just relaxing and getting to know our own city.

Weekend #2 (this past weekend) we took our first trip together since arriving in Belgium. We decided to explore the city of Antwerp (Dutch: Antwerpen / French: Anvers), capital of the Flanders region of Belgium.

One of the main things that intrigued me about this city is it's known as "the Diamond capital of the world." It was fun to walk around and look at all of the beautiful diamond rings, earrings, necklaces and unique designs. I joked that one day for our wedding anniversary he should bring me here and say "Pick one. Any one you want." haha... it was fun to admire and I was excited to find a shop called "Natali" located at 74B (7 is my lucky number).

Apparently Antwerp is also home to the oldest zoo in the world, however, we didn't want to pay 20 Euros to see the same exotic animals we could see in America... so we ventured around the city instead.

One of the coolest parts about Antwerp is the "Grote Markt" - which is sort of similar to Brussels' Grand Place. I loved all of the flags on the building and of course the giant green statue / water fountain is pretty cool looking. We were lucky that we had such good weather. It was perfect for traveling because it wasn't too hot or too cold.

Another beautiful building in Antwerp is the Het Steen Castle. Apparently it was built during Viking time back in the Middle Ages. It used to be a fortress, a castle and a one point a prison but now it's a museum. We didn't go inside but it was really neat to walk around. I always love castles.

One thing I'll never forget about Antwerp is all the walking we did. It was definitely good for me but our feet were SO sore. We walked across the Saint Anna Tunnel because I really wanted to see the Antwerp skyline. I'm really glad I did. The view was beautiful! We also heard there was a small beach nearby, so we walked quite a ways but finally found it. It was a little bit of a disappointment... but I was still happy to put my feet in the sand.

On our walk back to the city center, I found the coolest playground! It had the most fun contraption I'd ever seen... with a great view too. I'm not even sure what to call it, maybe a Zip-Swing? Anyway, this just may have been the highlight of my day.

Before grabbing some dinner, Christopher spotted a group of guying playing basketball. Normally, we would have passed by but he just happened to be wearing tennis shoes... and he has been looking for guys to play with for weeks. (It's easy to find soccer players, but not so easy to find basketball players). So he played a few games and despite my dying hunger... I enjoyed watching him too :)

We ended our day with a meal from Quick Restaurant (kind of like McDonald's) which was a great choice because they had unlimited refills on drinks!! I almost couldn't believe my eyes. We were in Coke Zero / Fanta heaven. Plus the burgers and fries were pretty good too.

Overall, I really liked Antwerp. It was a beautiful city with great views, cool buildings, a fun atmosphere and great shopping! I definitely recommend it :)

Brussels Life

2011-07-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

I find it a little funny that we are living in Brussels this summer. To be honest, I never would have pictured myself here. I have dreamed of London, Paris, Dublin, Rome and Athens... but Belgium never quite made the list.

During our first few weeks here, however, we have already grown to love it. It's so fun to experience a new lifestyle and although adjustment is a little difficult, I've always enjoyed change. I'm surprised how quickly we have gotten used to the public transportation and we know our way around pretty well.

Luckily, the food is pretty similar to what we are used to and isn't a drastic change like we experienced in Guatemala. Due to the fact that we are both working full-time (and our laziness) we haven't been cooking very luxurious meals. So far we've mostly been living off of pasta, pizza, bread, meat, cheese, cereal, bratwurst, french fries and our Swiss/German chocolate stash. I can tell my body is deprived of fruits and vegetables... I definitely need to work on that.

One thing I love about Brussels is the beauty of a big, but old city. The architecture everywhere is gorgeous. I love the little streets and cute buildings. There are big cathedrals and the famous Grand Place is only a few train stops away. I could sit and people watch there all day. Plus just standing in the center is amazing. It's hard to describe and nearly impossible to photograph. There's just something special about standing in the middle of Grand Place and doing a 360 turn. Everything surrounding you is tall, beautiful and architecturally amazing.

We've also done some exploring to another famous tourist destination: The Anotnium. It was originally built in 1958 for a Fair Expo but since it was so popular and soon turned into a big attraction for Brussels they decided to keep it. We only visited the outside but hopefully we will venture inside before we leave. I hear it has a great panoramic view of the city.

That's another thing I love about being in Europe. It gives us an excuse to get out and do things. Even if we are worn out from work and just want to watch a movie- it's nice to live in a big city where there are so many fun options and things waiting for you. We loved our time spent in little Logan, Utah but it's so refreshing to be in a new place, with new people and explore things together.

Even if we get lost and don't end up where we planned, there is always something new to experience. Whether it's a cute little shop with bread that tastes like orange candy or a park we saw on the map that actually ended being a "royal" park that was gated with barbed wire and forbidden to enter so we just peaked through the fence instead. Or then there's those nights when you go out dancing after work with friends and then you forget that public transportation doesn't run at 1:30a.m. and you have to figure out how to walk home...at night...in the dark...Holy crap was I freaked out.

Not just about the fact that we were lost in a big city with people who don't speak English- but the fact that we just happened to wander into Brussels' Red Light District. I have heard about this in Amsterdam and knew it happened but it just took me totally off guard. It was like a combination of a zoo for hookers / window shopping for strippers. It just made me feel sad for them. These girls looked a little drugged and were just sitting / swaying in their underwear, inside of glass boxes while men by the car fulls drove by looking for the one they wanted. This wouldn't be so scary (more just revolting) except for the fact that these disgusting men started looking at me on the corner. NOT okay. Eventually we found our way home, safe and sound... but I'll never forget the looks on their faces. Some people say they chose their lifestyle, but I still can't help but feel bad for them.

Anyway...on a happier note... Brussels beach opened up! It is basically more like a little street carnival with yummy food, drinks and music. We went after work with our friends and enjoyed a sun-filled evening. We've also found some delicious Greek food - they have the best pitas and gyros!

Another great thing about Brussels is the SHOPPING! They do have high-fashion shopping + the normal stores like H&M but my favorite is actually the shopping by our apartment. It's super cheap and fun because it's a lot like Canal Street in New York City. I can't wait to bring home souvenirs :)

Overall, we love it here - despite the crazy weather and creepy whore streets it really is a nice place. We still love our apartment, especially on the sunny evenings when we get to eat outside on the back patio. We hardly ever hear or see our neighbors and we feel pretty safe.

I'm so excited for more adventures in Brussels, in Belgium and all around Europe!