Here I Go Again On My Own @idreamofnorway - Tumblr Blog

Cliff jumping!

I jumped off a cliff today! Finally able to cross that off my bucket list! If only Paul were here, I bet he would have loved it. Anyway, Henry went last week and asked if I wanted to go, which of course I did. Britta was up for the challenge, and we easily persuaded Joe into joining as well. Lesely came too, but because her elbow hasn't completely healed from when she dislocated it a few weeks ago, she just took pictures. It took us about an hour to get to Bygdøy, and the whole time just built up my nerves, but it was so exhilarating and I'm glad I did it. It was only about 27 ft. high, but it was surprisingly a lot longer time that you're in the air for when you're falling. I screamed when I jumped of course, but my scream didn't last the whole fall. I tried to do a pencil dive but ended up landing partially on my butt, so my tailbone and crotch are a bit sore now. Trying to get out of the water was a bit of a struggle for all of us, well except maybe Joe. The rocks were slippery and difficult to climb because every time the waves crashed, I'd lose my footing. I eventually made it out, and only suffered a few cuts on my upper thigh and on my toe. Good thing I brought Neosporin. The view was also incredibly beautiful. We got there right as the sun was high and shining bright.

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before shot; during shot; get-me-out-of-here shot; we-survived! shot

#AbroadLife #Norway #Bygdøy #cliff jumping

Our days are dwindling down.

There's only four more days here, and I don't want it to end. I feel like there's still so much left I want to do, that I want to see, that I want to explore.

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Last Thursday, Blindern's power was cut for 3 hours, so Chanda, Chris, Britta, and I decided to go to Villa Paradiso, this authentic Italian restaurant in Grünerløkka. It was probably the best food I've eaten here. One individual pizza was just under $30 though, so Britta and I split one. The expensive prices are definitely one thing I am NOT going to miss. We had pine nuts, gorganzola, and figs on our pizza. Delish!

Friday was the night of the international cultural show put on by the students. It was quite incredible. We got there a bit after 7, but already most of the food was gone. The different countries had booths set up with tastings and flags and other things representing their countries. Jemma made baklava, which I heard was delicious, but unfortunately, by the time we got to her, it was all gone. Another country had coffee candy which was really good. After a while, Britta and I ventured outside and found Tony, our teacher, and Jeff who teaches Scandinavian Government and Politics and a Peace seminar. We sat down and had drinks with them, during which we learned how to say 'damn' in Norwegian. The word is 'faen'. I suggested to Tony that he spend Monday's class teaching us curse words in Norwegian, but of course that didn't happen. We went inside for the show at around 8:40. Russia performed a song, a dance, and a cool rope game. Sonam and another guy from Bhutan did a folk song and dance. Selma and Marigona performed in a dance traditionally done in weddings. Ian played the sax for a jazz performance. A girl from Nepal did a spunky little dance. The Azerbaijanis did two dances; one was supposed to tell the story of a textile peddler seeking a wife. Carol, from Columbia, danced along to Juan, from Venezuela, while he played the guitar. My favorite performance was given by Moisa and a bunch of other ISS students from Africa. They came from a bunch of different countries but decided to combine and perform all from Africa. They did the Waka Waka song and dance and invited everyone else to join them onstage. Of course, we raced down from our seats to dance along. It really was a good time.

We had miserable weather on Saturday, which didn't help my cold any. But nonetheless, Britta, Chanda, Chris, and I still braved the rain and went to the WWII Resistance Museum. Prior to visiting, I simply thought Norway and all the Nordic countries remained neutral during the war. Turns out, Norway was very much aligned with the Allied Forces. It was definitely one of the better WWII exhibits I have been to; there was a lot of artifacts and information. And I was pleased to find most of the information translated into English as well. Some of the things I learned, the photos I saw, and the scaled models of battles were a bit heavy though, and I felt my mood lowering by the end of it. In fact, my eyes got pretty watery that I had to wipe away tears, but I'm not sure if that was because of my feelings about the exhibit or my cold. After the museum, we went back to Grünerløkka to find a grocery store to buy ingredients for cookies for Tony as a thank-you for pulling strings to take us on a tour of the prison a few weekends ago. We ended up buying brownie mix and smarties to add flare. We also went to Tim Wimbledoe's coffee shop. Tim is a world champion barista, so we had to check his shop out. The coffee was incredibly expensive, so I didn't get a cup, but Chanda bought a bag of beans and enjoyed an espresso. When we got back to Blindern, Britta and I went to see the film screening of Troll Hunter. I had heard mixed reviews about it, but decided to see for myself anyway. After about 45 min. in, I ended up zoning out and reading Nils Christie's book on my phone until the end. Well, at least I took advantage of the free film screenings at least once.

On Sunday, Britta and I headed over to Chris's at Sogn Student Village, since they have a working kitchen there. We tried to bake the brownies for Tony, but that ended up a disaster. Neither of us could read the Norwegian instructions on the back of the package, nor did we understand the metric system measurements. We ended up just eye balling it until we thought the batter took on a good consistency. Bad idea. The whole top ended up burnt black, the middle was a lava lake of chocolate, and only the outside edges baked. The three of us ended up just eating the sloppy mess and getting stomach aches. Oh well, at least we tried! Martina, Britta, and I are going to get up early and go to Majorsteun to find a bakery before class tomorrow and hopefully pick out a card and cupcake or something that's guaranteed to be delicious instead.

#AbroadLife #Norway #Tim Wimbledoe #Sogn #Grünerløkka #ISS #UiO #Troll Hunter #Villa Paradiso

My Contemporary Norwegian Society class! =)

#AbroadLife #ISS #UiO

Ice, Ice Baby.

Last Friday, we had a ladies' night and went to this place called the Ice Bar near Nationaltheatret. It was definitely an experience I won't forget. It was pretty expensive; NOK200 for entrance and 1 cold drink and 1 hot drink. They have a limit that you can only stay in the bar for up to 45 minutes at a time because it's too cold. They said they kept it at -5 degrees, but I'm not so sure. They provided us with these cool fur-lined coat, poncho things with attached gloves and optional boots. Luckily, I wore closed-toed flats that night so I didn't opt for putting my feet in used shoes, although I did bring a pair of socks just in case. The entire bar was made completely of ice. It was so cool. The chairs and tables were all ice, the floor and walls were all ice, the bar was made of ice, and all the sculptures were made of ice too. Even our drinks were served in hollowed out cubes of ice! It was pretty pricey, but I'm glad I went. I don't think there are any ice bars in the US. Definitely a one-time experience, but a memorable one for sure!

#Ice Bar #ice #bar #cold #Norway #AbroadLife #Nationaltheatret

Sick.

Ugh. I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with something. I went for a run with Britta and I just about died. We barely did 2 miles, which is nothing, and I felt like death and couldn't go on. Martina gave me this sizzling tablet thing that dissolves in water. She said it's what she takes in Italy when she gets sick. Luckily, my class is ending early tonight because the professor has another meeting to get to, so I can get to sleep before 2 at least.

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Also, I realized I forgot to write about my prison visit! I'll hopefully get to that tomorrow. =)

#sick #AbroadLIfe

It got dark last night! This is probably the darkest it's ever been since I've been here. I think it was because it was raining like crazy last night. I loved it though because I decided to work out in my room so I cracked the windows and drew the curtains and let the lovely smell of the rainfall and the calming sounds of the raindrops soothe me as I stretched and grunted.

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Today, I had my presentation for class. I presented on Ch. 3 of our text Why is Norway a Wealthy Nation? Since the material was so straight forward, I decided to do a quick review followed by a jeopardy game. I was worried people wouldn't participate but everyone did, and my lesson was a hit. A bunch of people came up to me at lunch complimenting me.

Some fun facts:

It is illegal to buy, but not to sell prostitution in Norway.

Part of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was filmed in Finse near the Oslo-Bergen railway.

If you get caught drinking and driving in Norway, your license is immediately revoked for one year, and you are sent to jail for 30 days.

#Norway #AbroadLife #Star Wars #prostitution #rain #dark

Crown Prince Haakon's speech at City Hall

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Today is the one year anniversary of the bombings at Regjeringskvartalet and Utøya. There will be a memorial at City Hall this evening followed by a concert. Last year, Norway chose to respond to violence and evil with love and unity. I admire their courage. Tonight, the streets are filled with love.

#Norway #bombings #memorial #rose

Prison Visit!

Woo Woo Woo!! Tony just emailed me saying he just got word that the prison visit for tomorrow is a go! They were waiting until the final intake today to make sure they had enough staffing and that there weren't any high risk inmates. I'm so excited!!!

#prisons #Oslo Fengsel

It's 'Volume Over Quality' in Dublin.

Alright, it's been nearly a week. It's about time I post about adventures in my new favorite place in the world, Dublin, Ireland.

The Liffey

DAY 3 (Cont.): Friday, 13 July 2012

I know I fall in love with every new city I travel to, but I've never adored any other city more than I do Dublin. The atmosphere is so fresh and fun and friendly. Everything's close enough together that you can just walk everywhere; in fact, the only time we ever took public transportation was from the airport to the city. And the bus driver was an absolute gem! We of course had no idea where we were going, so before boarding, we asked if he stopped near Eccles St. (where we thought our hostel was. Turns out it was on North Great Georges St., but we managed to find it) He said he did not, but he stopped a block away, so we got on board and sat in the front on the top deck. Apparently buses in Dublin are double deckers, and they have bus lanes, something I think every city in the US should adopt. When we neared the stop by Eccles St., the bus driver announced it for us, something he didn't do for any other stop, and when we got off the bus, he pointed in the direction we should go as he drove past. Unbelievably hospitable!

We found Mt. Eccles Hostel pretty easily. It was only a few blocks away and about 2 doors down from the James Joyce Museum. Ms. Pratscher would have had a field day. Our hostel was amazing, so much better than the one in Berlin. The rooms were clean and roomy, our roommates were friendly, they had good 1 Euro breakfast, they had a game lounge and a lounge with 4 computers with free internet access, and the staff was extremely helpful. The guy at the desk even circled places on a map for us and showed us the best way to get places. After checking in, we decided to set out for the famous Temple Bar. For lack of a better word, it was a neighborhood so to speak of dancing, pubs, artists, laughing, and fun. The night life is incredible. There are so many pubs and clubs that they had recruiters more or less standing in the streets offering you wristbands or stamps to get you out of cover or a free drink at whichever establishment they represented. A few recruiters even walked us in to the clubs and told the bouncers (which were sometimes cops) to let us in. I don't think I was even carded once. If anything, they would simply ask us if we were at least 20. Anyway, we went to Club Madonna (no, not the strip club in South Beach) which is this great 80s dance club. It was the absolute best! Good thing Kerry and I both love 80s music. The bartenders were super nice and incredibly spunky too. We stayed there for a pretty decent amount of time and then decided to bounce around. We went to this Club called Sin (where's the irony in that) and got a free shot with our first purchased drink. After we finished our first round, Kerry and I went back up to the bar only to find that the bartender had just made us a delicious coconut cocktail on the house! We only stayed there for a bit before realizing how tired we were, after all we did spend half the day in another country. On our trek back to the hostel, we spotted THE Temple Bar, so naturally we had to go in. How could we go to Temple Bar without going to the place from which it received its name? It was incredibly packed and extremely difficult to maneuver through with our backpacks on, so we only stayed for no more than ten minutes before calling it a night.

DAY 4: Saturday, 14 July 2012

We didn't get up quite as early as we did day 1 in Germany, but we did get up early enough to enjoy breakfast at the hostel before planning our day out on the map and making our way toward Trinity College. When we got there, they were shooting for an episode of that Jack the Ripper T.V. show. It was pretty cool to be that close to a set; I had never been so close to one before. Anyway, the campus is absolutely stunning. I immediately fell in love of course. We saw the Graduate Library, the fields, the Book of Kells, and I can't remember what else, though I'm sure I have photo documentation. The architecture of the university - of the entire city for that matter - is absolutely breath taking. The second I got back to my dorm in Oslo, I looked up my program at TCD to see if they offered it. Turns out they do, and it's the 49th ranked university in the world! I would love love love to go there for grad school if I could. Tuition's actually cheaper than pretty much all of the colleges I'm looking at in the US; the only problem is the cost of living is higher. And my program is incredibly selective; they only accept 20 candidates per year. I'll look more into it, but I definitely want to at least apply and see if I can get an interview at the very least.

Anyway back to my adventures, after Trinity College, we ventured toward the Dublin Castle. As expected, it was also a brilliant sight. We had to pay for the tours, though, so instead we opted for the free choice of wandering the Dubh Linn Gardens, neatly tucked away behind the castle. I don't even need to say the gardens were beautiful too. And I thought it was fascinating learning that 'Dubh Linn' means 'Black Pool' in Gaelic, from which the city got its name. More random fun facts to fill my brain with. After the gardens, we passed Christ Church Cathedral. Again, it was stunning. There was a market type thing going on on the lawn, and we purchased delicious homemade fudge from the most tender middle aged Irishman. Kerry and I split and got Rum Raisin (the vendor's fave), Porterhouse, and Irish Cream, all three of which were absolutely scrumptious. I wish I could have saved it to take some home to my mom, but I don't think they would have survived the journey. Anyway, next we made our way to Dublinia, a medieval/Viking museum. We decided to pass since it cost a pretty penny, and we had already visited the Viking ship museum in Oslo a few weeks ago anyway. As we walked, we passed the beautiful St. Catherine's Church. It was built in 1769 and is still standing!

Next stop was the Guinness Storehouse, the only thing Henry, Kerry, and I all agreed we would spend more than hour and our money on. Both were well spent. It's true what they say about the best tasting Guinness comes from Ireland. Next stop was Kilmainham Gaol which is the prison built in 1796. Unfortunately, all the tours were already full for the day, but I was able to purchase an info book. It was stunning, but the map definitely inaccurately represented how far away it was from the Guinness Storehouse. So by the time we left, we were all cranky, tired, and hungry because we still hadn't had lunch yet. We found this Czech pub that served fish and chips, so we stopped there and grabbed a bite before heading over to the Old Jameson Distillery. The tours were also all booked for the day, but Henry was still able to buy a flask, and I picked up a chocolate bar for my mom. I thought about getting my dad a nice knit sweater, but there was no way I was going to drop 70 Euros on one. Sorry dad, I'll try to find something just as cool in Norway before I leave. Maybe a traditional Norwegian sweater?

After the Distillery, we were all pretty beat, so we headed back to the hostel for a quick 20 minute power nap. We didn't have much time because we wanted to get to The Oliver St. John Goggarty bar on time to catch the Musical Pub Crawl. This was probably my favorite part of the trip to Ireland. Kerry and I drank real Irish coffee (thank goodness I gave up on that bet), and we got to learn all about traditional Irish folk music. Larry and Des were our guides and they played and sang beautiful tunes and taught us about sets and lock-ins. At the second pub, we had a mock noble call, which typically happens at a lock-in after the musician finishes his set. He'll usually step out for a smoke and someone will start singing. You're supposed to sing naked and sing something from where you're from. It doesn't matter if you're good, you just have to be loud. We had someone sing from Canada and from Brazil. It was so cool. I absolutely loved it. After the crawl was over, we hung back a bit so Henry could buy Larry's CD and so we could ask Des for suggestions for where to go for the rest of the night. We ended up going back to Goggarty's and stayed there for a couple hours. It was a really interesting pub because it offered so much. The first floor had typically Top 40s hits playing, the second floor (which is where we were) had a couple Irish dancing and then another group play Irish folk music, and the third floor was a fancy restaurant. At around 12:45, we called it a night and decided to head back since we had an early flight in the morning.

DAY 5: Sunday, 15 July 2012

Henry overslept, so it's a good thing Kerry went up to check on him. He also arranged our shuttle to the airport, but it only got us there 1 hour before our flight, so we were very crunched for time. Kerry wasn't feeling well, and she has a history of feinting which she almost did when we were at the desk checking in. She had to sit down on the floor and the woman called for a paramedic to come check her out. A police office arrived there first and Kerry said she was fine and didn't need an ambulance. After about 20 minutes, he finally gave us the clear to go, so we hustled through security and to our gate. We stopped to get a sandwich though because Kerry clearly needed to get some food in her stomach, but when we arrived at the gate, the attendant lectured us saying it had already close 20 minutes ago blah blah blah and made us leave our food. After we boarded, a flight attendant dropped off Kerry's sandwich. I guess someone must have told the gate attendant that she was sick. So that morning was pretty rough, but overall I had a great experience. I ended up with 9.58 Euros at the end of the trip. I'm not sure if I even want to convert it back to Kroner anymore because there's a NOK50 fee. I might just keep it for when we're back in Europe next summer.

at the gate to the Dublin Castle; Dubh Linn Gardens; The Liffey; Kilmainham Gaol; Temple Bar; the Old Jameson Distillery; Christ Church Cathedral; The Courtyard

#AbroadLife #Dublin #Trinity College #Guinness #The Liffey

The Most Beautiful Run.

On my run today, I found this great little path. I decided to take a mini adventure and see where it lead. I'm so glad I did because it lead me to the most beautiful waterfall and stream. It reminded me a little bit of Turkey Run. For a minute, I just kinda stood there and soaked in the beauty. I wish there were more places like this close to campus that I could run through. Norway's value of nearness to nature is so admirable. After about ten minutes of exploring, I turned back because I didn't want to get lost, and it was getting close to dinner time. Class tomorrow is cancelled because we have a debate with the Scandinavian Government and Politics class at 1 instead, so I might just get up early in the morning and go exploring again. Hopefully it doesn't rain. The weather has been so nice lately.

#runninig #nature #water #trees

Cartwheelin' Through Berlin

So I'm waiting for my EPS class to start, and I'm not in a mad rush to finish homework, so I can finally get to writing about my most incredible weekend! Sorry it's taken so long. I've just been swamped with homework; but that's a never ending stream so I shouldn't make excuses.

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Okay. So Germany was so much fun! Despite the fickle weather and the fact that I had to carry my life around with me on my back (in a backpack which got progressively heavier and heavier), I had a blast.

Street art; Brandenburg Gate; Voltastraße stop; Holocaust Memorial; Olympic Stadium; Siegessäule; Beethoven Monument; Berlin!

DAY 1: Wednesday, 11 July 2012

I must say, flying Ryan Air was quite the experience. It was incredibly cheap, but there were all these hidden costs and they tried to trick us into paying more fees so sneakily. Turns out, the flight is super cheap, but the only way to get to their airport (yes, they had their own airport in Oslo just for Ryan Air) we had to dish out NOK 160 to take the only bus service that'll get us there. Either that or a taxi, but those are probably 3x the price of hailing a cab in NY. Anyway, the flight was only about an hour, and I slept during most of it, which I'm surprised I was able to at all. I guess we found out how they can afford to keep their prices so low. They have super brightly colored obnoxious advertisements plastered all over the overhead compartments, and they extremely loudly announced several others throughout the trip. Oh well, I didn't mind so much considering I only paid about $30 for the flight.

Anyway, so after we landed, we manage to navigate our way to Amadeus Hostel, which happened to be only one tram stop away from downtown. After checking in, we explored our area only to find it extremely dead (although it was a Wednesday after all) and nowhere open to grab dinner. Granted it was 10:30 at night, so I guess it's understandable. We ended up going to a pub a block away from our hostel, only to find that the kitchen closed just five minutes before we got there. Just our luck. We did try all the beer they had and were amazed at how low the prices were. 2 Euros was a steal! Especially after shelling out $11 average for a beer in Norway. I also tried this drink called Snakebite, which was pretty good. It's pear cider mixed with Pilsner or some other beer. Tasty. So since we had no idea really where anything was, we decided to ask the bartender Sebastian for tips on where to go. He told us a bunch of places and wrote it down on our receipt, but we didn't end up going to any of them because we went on a pub crawl instead. One of the clubs he suggested was called Water Gate which I thought was kinda funny. But it was a 21+ club and Kerry's a baby so that wouldn't have worked. Sebastian did say he knew the bouncer or someone though. Oh well.

We didn't want to go downtown because we didn't know what time the trams stopped running, so we just ended up going back to the hostel afterward. When Kerry and I got to our room, we discovered there was only 1 bed left even though we paid for 2. So we got half our money back and ended up crashing in Henry's room. They had better blankets too!

DAY 2: Thursday, 12 July 2012

We woke up at 6:30am, thinking we could squeeze in more adventures. We probably should have done more research and looked up what times things actually opened though because none of the museums, etc. didn't open until 9 or 10... So we ended up just walking around downtown and planning out our day. We couldn't even get breakfast until 8 since none of the cafes opened until then. When things finally opened, we walked through the Zoological Gardens and made our way to the Beethoven Monument. We kept going and eventually made it the Siegessäule (Victory Column) which was really cool. During the war, Prussia stole it, and it was only recently returned. What's interesting is that slabs of the column were purposely left off when returned to remind Germany of the ills during that time period.

Next we made our way to Checkpoint Charlie. I thought that was pretty interesting. They had artists come and paint murals at the East Side Gallery, and they were all amazing. I also signed my name on it when we were at Potsdamer Platz. I'm now a part of history! I really liked reading about the stories of people trying to cross the wall into East Berlin. It reminded me a lot of the border wall in Texas. I don't understand how history keeps falling into such similar patterns. Anyway, Kenny said I could trade 2 slaps for a chunk of the wall. I tried to break off a piece, but my finger muscles are nowhere near strong enough to tackle concrete. I ended up breaking off a piece of a random crumbling wall while waiting on the tram platform, thinking I could be sneaky and trick him. But my guilty conscious wouldn't allow it, so I bought one of those stupid touristy piece-of-the-wall souvenirs that's probably not even the real deal and just some random piece of concrete that someone painted after the fact. Oh well, I tried, and hopefully I only have 4 slaps now. I think that 3,50 Euro should count for something.

Next we went to the Holocaust Memorial, which I really enjoyed. It was probably my favorite part of the whole Berlin trip actually. The outdoor part was beautifully constructed. It was basically a bunch of cement blocks varying in height symbolizing all the European Jews who were murdered. The memorial was underground and free, which I really appreciated. I'm glad that they didn't charge people to memorialize the mass murders of millions of innocent people. I just don't think that would be right to turn it into a profit. (Side note, I also very much disapprove of them charging people to go to Ground Zero.) Anyway, the memorial was amazing, awe-inspiring, educational, and upsetting all in one. They had a room of all documents such as postcards, letters, etc. that Jews wrote to their families. It was all the more inspiring by the way the room was set up. It was completely empty except for lit square panels lining the floor with the documents and a description. There was another room called the Family Room with panels along the walls giving bios of every member of families from different parts of Europe and what happened to them. Majority of them ended up dying in a concentration camp, but I liked reading about the ones that survived and emigrated to the USA or Mexico or somewhere and were able to escape. There was a concentration camp only 40 min. north of Berlin that we could have visited had we had more time. I wish we could have, but it would have been an entire day affair and there was just not enough time for us to go. If I ever go back to Germany, I definitely would want to visit it.

After the Holocaust Memorial, we got crepes for lunch and then went to the Reichstag building, which is the Parliament building.It was pretty on the outside and I'm sure it was on the inside as well, but we didn't want to pay to get in/stick around for an hour taking a tour. Instead, Kerry and I practiced our acrobatic skills (which are pretty slim, btw) doing cartwheels on the lawn while Henry played the role of photographer. I know we're super cool.

After that, we were pretty exhausted so we went back to the hostel for a nap. When we got up, we went to the Berliner for dinner before going on the Insider Pub Crawl. The Berliner was pretty cool because they had a tap on every table and it recorded how many liters poured. It reminded me of BWW in a way because there was a competition between all the tables on the amount of liters poured. We only hit like 3 I think, but we weren't trying to win anyway since we needed to save our livers for the crawl that night. We also finally tried the infamous currywurst, which is basically a brat cooked in this weird ketchup-esque sauce with curry seasoning on top. It really isn't all that it's hyped up to be.

Probably one of the most fun times I had was the pub crawl. We went to 5 different pubs and clubs around Berlin, and I got to meet a load of people from all over the world. I met Captain America himself! Just kidding. It was two guys named Chris and Evan. But I did meet some boys from the UK who were...interesting...and 18 with 12 year old Dragon Ball-Z hair and a guy who's name I've already forgotten from Austria. He was super cool though. He was wearing bright teal pants and chucks and before I even met him when we were still waiting for the crawl to start, I pointed him out and told Henry and Kerry that by the end of the night, he would be my new best friend. Mission accomplished, because when I went to say goodbye as we were leaving the last club, he got my name down so he could friend me haha. Oh! I forgot to mention Tony! He's the coolest guy ever! He's this 46 year old dude from Australia who just ended his relationship with his long term girlfriend. He's the head of this mining company down in Sydney, and apparently they get 2 months or so mandatory paid leave, so he decided to take it all in one chunk and go explore all of Europe. He had just been to Italy and France and Prussia before going to Germany and was headed to Amsterdam next. I hope I'm just as cool when I get to his age (and hopefully have enough money to go gallivanting around the world too). The drunker he got, the more amusing he got too. He kept saying "You're a beauty!" and dancing all crazy. He was a riot. Anyway, let's talk a little bit more about the Captain America boys. I was playing Kerry's wingwoman (and since Henry was off dancing with some girl who's parents were hanging out a few feet away, odd), so I was trying to talk to Evan so Kerry could chat it up with that Chris kid. (I wanted so badly to call him 'Cool Chris' but he just wasn't up to par). I don't know how it happened, especially because I wasn't even trying, but somehow the guys pulled a switcharoo and I ended up with Chris. I guess Evan was playing wingman for him? By the end of the night, Chris was pretty plastered so even if I was interested, nothing would have happened anyway. Shortly after the switch up, we decided to ditch and head back. Unfortunately, by that time it was already past 2 and we discovered the trams had already stopped running. We ended up walking the entire way back to the hostel, which at the time seemed incredibly far. It wasn't too bad though; we eventually made it only to realize that there were zero beds left in Kerry and my room and only one left in Henry's so Kerry and I snuggled. We should have just asked for all our money back. Oh well, that's what we get for booking a hostel. At least we didn't have that high of expectations to begin with.

DAY 3: Friday, 13 July 2012

We woke up at a much more reasonable time, 9:30. Since we already saw a bunch the day before, we didn't have that much left to do today (that was free at least). We rode the tram for about a half hour to see the Olympic Stadium but Henry didn't have enough money left, so we didn't go inside. The outside was pretty though. After that we went back to Alexanderplatz, bought steins as souvenirs of course, and then found this little convenience shop type thing and bought 1 Euro ice cream scoops and watched the rain. We wanted to rent bikes and picnic in Mauer Park, but Mother Nature apparently had another agenda. Instead, we went to the Sony Center and people watched. I had spicy hot chocolate at this restaurant there called Alex, and it is probably my new favorite drink. I wish I had asked what was in it so I could make it back home. Oh well. Since everything seemed to be working against us in the city, we decided to just head over the airport and nap in the terminal until our flight to Ireland. We got there 2 hours early and turns out, that was too early for us to even check in. We ended up sitting on the floor in front of the desk for about an hour before they opened it. The flight wasn't so bad though. Henry and I slept the entire time, but poor Kerry couldn't fall asleep with all the screaming crying babies on board.

Anyway, I'm tired so I'm going to bed now, but I'll post about my adventures in Ireland tomorrow. Goodnight world!

#AbroadLife #Berlin #The Berlin Wall #Reichstag

Vampire Bug.

Martina and I just spent a solid 10 minutes screaming and swatting at this enormous flying spider that somehow finagled its way into our room. I know Norwegians are the outdoorsy types, but how can they be okay with these vampire-like creatures?! Thank goodness we managed to smack it out the door. There's no way I could have gotten to sleep tonight knowing it could at any moment bite me and turn me into a vampire or something.

Kim: Lol youre in my phone as Fran Oslo.

Me: If I could, I'd totally marry this city.

Kim: Oh wow. Im so happy for the two of you :)