Around the World in 80 Days!

This is a result of life happening so fast that i almost can't keep up- or at least i don't update my blog.. but i do want to fill in the last couple months of europe!

We left our job in sabina in the beginning of august and went back to the chaos of rome, only to be joined a few days later by my dear friend amanda! with amanda we traveled, first to tuscany where we stayed with our replacements for sabina (ever seen under the tuscan sun? well this british couple is living that movie, and we caught them at their villa before they moved to sabina to start working after we left) they have an amazing property and new life in the beautiful tuscan town of castiglion fiorentino, and it was a perfect start of our tour of tuscany. of course we went to florence to hang out with the david for a few days, i opted not to go in the museums and pay all over again since i'd been there before, so nate and amanda became "museum buddies" while i enjoyed some alone time- for the first time in a long time! and somehow we were able to connect with one of amanda's friend's cousin, simone, who ran a bed & breakfast in the hills, where of course we stayed for a wonderful night! and the tuscan tour wouldn't have been complete without stopping in pisa, which we did for a few hours and had way to much fun taking silly photos of the tower.

After returning to rome we decided to continue on and found ourselves couch surfing in pescara, on the eastern coast of italy. we stayed with a guy through couch surfing who showed us the town and nearby beautiful beaches and introduced us to many of his friends, we enjoyed it so much that we stayed an extra night! he and his friends cooked us the best meal i had in italy this summer, squid risotto and an assortment of other seafood, so fresh and soooo mouth-wateringly good. i literally still daydream about this meal.. i never would have gone to pescara if we hadn't found someone to stay with there, and i'm so glad we did, it was so non-touristy, i couldn't believe we were still in italy. and we attended a couch surfing dinner where we met a very nice couple from munich, and we ended up staying with them during oktoberfest! amazing.

after pescara, the museum buddies "did" rome for a couple days, and then my parents arrived! we rented a car and all 5 of us went to the amalfi coast for 3 days, stayed in maiori, visited capri where we swam through beautiful grottos, bussed to sorrento, and of course enjoyed the scenery of windy roads and cliff towns.

On the way back north we stopped in pompeii to see the ruins and the bodies that the eruption of mt. vesuvius left behind, and of course, we went to naples- in search of the best pizza in the world! if you've read eat, pray, love, then you know which pizza i'm talking about, and yes, after having to ask several italian men and getting pointed in all different directions, we fatefully ended up right in front of l'antica pizzeria da michele. got there just in time, because shortly after our arrival, a line began to form at the front door. we hungrily and savoringly ate the best pizza in the world while taking in the surroundings of the amazingly simple yet famous napoli restaurant. and this was just the beginning of our travels! we spent one last night with friends in rome, and then amanda left us for spain and we continued north to cinque terre, stayed in a camp ground, i had mentioned how much we missed camping, this was the closest we got and it felt sooooo good! we visited the 5 towns, picnicked on the beach, hiked up to corniglia to eat an amazing seafood dinner overlooking the sun setting on the sea... ate blueberry gelato on the beach (possibly my new favorite) and of course had our fill of pesto and focaccia (local to the area). after our "last days of summer" we headed north to lake como, OH MY GOSH why did it take me so long to go there!? it's really breathtaking, a stretch of lake surrounded by tall mountains, the weather was much cooler, and overall it was a very refreshing experience to get out of the heat and be in a new (and such a beautiful!) place. to top it all off our balcony from our hostel was facing the water, with amAZing views. we ferried across it, oh how i love lakes and mountains, and continued on to venice, only to return the car and be on our way to AUSTRIA!

My dad really wanted to go to salzburg and do the sound of music tour, so that's just what we did! what a beautiful town salzburg is, and the sound of music tour was definitely a highlight of the trip. we saw the von trapp mansion, the lake, gazebo, tree-lined alley, the cathedral, the abbey, the mirabelle gardens, EVerything, and we SANG! it was corny and touristy and so much fun. i highly recommend it:) we followed that up by going to the augustiner brau biergarten, a truly amazing place. the best beer i've ever tasted, right from the old barrel, walls covered in steins, the garden covered with tables full of happy people, and the smell of meat in the air, YUM! we stayed for four very happy hours. short and sweet was the stay in salzburg, for then we were on our way into germany, for a very important date. my parents were about to meet the parents of my german sister lydia, who lived with us for a year in high school. it was a sweet reunion and such an exciting meeting for all the parents! we all stayed at their house that night and had a big family dinner, lydia doing a lot of translating for them:) the next day we continued on, this time with lydia, to berlin! my favorite thing about berlin is the sandeman's free tour of east berlin which i raved about in a previous post from last year, and i happily did that for a second time. it was as amazing as the first one, a storybook come to life. we spent 4 days in berlin, during which lydia left, my parents left, megan came, and daryl also came! so finally, when it was just the four of us (me, nate, daryl, and megan) we started the BEGINNING OF THE END of our travels.

Our first stop was poland! luckily i was able to get a hold of a dear friend of mine from tahoe who is actually from poland, and he put us up and introduced us to his country! in 4 days we saw szczecin, poznan, krakow, and auschwitz-birkenau. POLAND= beautiful people, a tragic and depressing history, a crazy language, and dangerous vodka. na zdrowie! i think everyone should go to auschwitz, the "death camp", it was a very chilling experience learning about the horrible mistreatment of the people, and seeing it all still there is unbelievable. it should definitely never be forgotten. poland was an experience in itself. from there we took a bus to prague, czech republic. prague was amazing! we arrived on the first day of the wine harvest, so there was a festival going on in the town square, with little huts selling amazing-smelling food and drinks, people dancing, horses pulling buggies, parades, etc. there is an astronomical clock that puts on a show every hour, and it's just a very comfy and cozy place to be. we actually did a pub crawl one night and it was really fun, but the best part may have been the food! i had the best cheeseburger i've ever had outside the states, and the next morning we went back for a big american-style breakfast, something at least 3 of us were really missing! kudos to prague for quenching our cravings. there's a lot of history there that i knew nothing about, actually it was really interesting to have gone from the walking tour of berlin to the concentration camp in poland, and into prague because it seems to make the history of the area really come together. this is my favorite european city thus far, we spent 3 days wandering the streets and enjoying the sights before taking a deep breath and heading to munich, and you all know what that means- Oktoberfest!

Here we met up with our friend frances that we knew from rome, and like i mentioned before we couch surfed with the nice couple we had met in italy, they were so accomodating! they cooked for us and drove us to and from the train station and gave us comfortable beds to sleep in and a really nice shower! it felt good to be taken care of, and was SUCH a needed change from our first experience at Oktoberfest last year. we spent one entire day at oktoberfest, a TUESDAY, which meant we walked right into the tents at 11am and commenced the drinking. it was just what it should be- a band, people singing and dancing on tables, ladies carrying 29 steins, platters of meat, giant pretzels, and new friends everywhere you look. plus we couldn't stop eating, the food was too good. SO MUCH FUN, eventually we ventured outside and rode a roller coaster, the ferris wheel, the bean bag racing slides, and the drop tower, and the whole day went off without a hitch! and most of you know what i mean by that! thank god:) until we lost megan, but then we found her and all was well. and with that checked off the list, the last stop on our list was istanbul, for which we bought tickets all the way back in april i think. so the 5 of us went to turkey and stayed with my ever so kind and generous friends blake and liz in their tiny apartment. in the next 10 days daryl left, my friend michelle (from florida, texas, ohio, and costa rica) came, megan left (so weird! after all this time, she went back to the States), and frances left, which left just nate and i, michelle, and blake and liz. we ventured to the black sea one day, went to asia twice (across the bosphorous canal), ferried to the princess islands, and went countless times into the old town and the bazaars. my favorite was the spice bazaar, talk about overstimulation! istanbul has a population of about 18 (give or take a few) million people. it's literally shoulder to shoulder walking in some of the places in that city, and there are just people EVerywhere, it's really overwhelming. but the food was tasty and the people were really nice, and we learned a few things in turkish. it was good to see michelle again after so long, it's been since new years 06 in spain! it was challenging to be in a world ruled for and by men, when i'm so used to being treated fairly and even with chivalry in the US, and elsewhere. i saw an old woman on a bus actually get up so a younger man could sit down, WHAT!? and once i saw a man run into a woman on the street and then actually have the audacity to yell at HER for his fault. it's definitely different there, and after such a long time away and such a whirlwind of travel, i was so excited to be returning to the states after turkey. for me, there was only one foreign country left to visit: a place called minnesota.

We went "home" and surprised nate's entire family, his mom screamed so loud that both his little nephews started bawling. we went back for a wedding, so we spent the next 2 weeks visiting friends and family and seeing some of the sights of minnesota, a BEAUtiful place, before finding a ride (craigslist- love it) across the country (with a bonus layover night in Bozeman) back home to tahoe. where we are now, finally settled in truckee and just awaiting the winter season. i'm thinking about taking a bit of a break from traveling and enrolling in a program next fall that will prepare me for taking the translator certification test for spanish/english. what? me? career? yeah maybe, we will see what the next year brings! oh and i'm thinking about writing a book... so thanks to all who actually read my stories, and stay tuned:)

j

when life gives you figs, make fig jam!

so its now almost the end of july and so much has changed, im very behind as usual on updating my blog! as i mentioned in the last one, the pub crawl job wasnt really working for me, it was long hours and exhausting! though it definitely was fun, but it just wasnt for me, or nate. so we began looking for different jobs online, and we happened to come across an offer to work at a villa in the hills just north of rome, managing a yoga retreat. then basically within a week we had completely changed direction and rather than living in rome, we found ourselves in the sabine hills, in a villa/property that might as well be called paradise. its beautiful, green, flowers everywhere, the garden is perfect and happens to be the pride and joy of a romanian who works very hard full time to create this paradise. its on of one of many rolling hills (just imagine tuscany.. even though we are in lazio) so we have an amazing view and even more amazing sunsets. there are about 250 olive trees on the property, from which they harvest their own olive oil each fall, and the olive oil is GOOD! there is a swimming pool with lounge chairs, a pond, an organic vegetable garden, an outdoor yoga platform that overlooks the hills, hammocks everywhere, and 2 beautiful villas with guest bedrooms, the kitchen, etc. oh and 5 yurts for the crowded weeks.
FAQs- 1- what exactly do we do? 2- what about megan and the apartment!? 3- how long are we doing this for? 4- are we glad were doing this?
1- this happens to be a pretty demanding job and we are being compensated for working 8 hours a day 6 days a week, with one full day off. the task list is too detailed to explain, but basically i do a lot of managing work. the villa is a property owned by one woman who provides rooms and 3 meals a day to groups of about 22 people who visit one week at a time with their own yoga teacher and schedule of events, etc. so that said, she does not live on the property. thats where we come in, we are the ones who pretty much run everything. i deal more with the guests, answering questions, making reservations for car transfers and restaurants, making the shopping list, doing the shopping, and what have you. my task list is endless basically. im the right hand person of the owner, and i keep everything organized for her. i also set up breakfast every morning, while nate cleans the pool and outdoor showers. we both are responsible for watering about 900 flowers, ok, a bit of exaggeration there, setting up and cleaning up for every meal (at least we have an amazing local woman who comes and cooks lunch and dinner), and generally making sure everything is perfect and tidy. its a lot of work for such a big property and so many guests! nate works often with the romanian gardner whos name is fani, yep. and he only speaks italian (well and romanian but that doesnt help), which nate doesnt, so often they climb trees together to pick figs and all you hear are monkey sounds going back and forth in the trees, i guess they have figured out ways to communicate! when hes not picking figs nate is mowing the lawn or fixing something or helping me with something. and he has learned some italian, he might not know how to say how are you, but he can say where is the lawnmower:) and other garden-talk.
did i mention we have at our disposal an old fiat panda to drive around and do errands in? we also get it on our days off, but old pandy doesnt like to go too far..
2- dont worry, we didnt leave megan high and dry:) she basically gave us her blessing to take this job if thats what we wanted to do, and literally the day we left some of our friends moved in, so she isnt lonely, and she is still loving rome. shes a bit worn out on pub crawls now too and finding other things to do, but is thoroughly enjoying the roman city life. weve seen her a few times on our days off, and shes coming to visit us one of these days!
3- we only promised that we would work for a short time, not through to the end of the season which happens to be until november, no way! so we plan to stay until the mid-end of august until people start coming to visit and its time to start traveling! which we still plan to do with megan at the end as well, though we have no clue whats going to become of october-december. and if any of you read my posts from my horror story at the brasilian airport, youll appreciate that now amanda and i have finally set another travel date! shes coming august 18th, so we will get to finally start our abroad adventures together, it just took us a year and a half:) and megans family is coming in august, mine in september, and there will be lots to see and do for a month until october, when we plan to go to turkey and meet michelle, yay! and then no plans yet..
4- yes we are very glad we took this job. it may be a lot of work and it may be really hot days, and it may just be my last job in the service industry (yeah right) but it is very rewarding. and thats what we werent finding in roman pub crawls. i guess i always wanted to live in a villa in italy and experience real italian small town life, and i am now. we are learning something new every day about italian cooking from elide our cook, weve learned to make really yummy bread, kneading and everything, we have some of the best olive oil in the region, we drive up the road to the old farmer every few days with our empty jugs to refill them with wine, from his very own warehouse full of huge vats of merlot, san giovese, etc.. the tiny nearby village has festivals almost every weekend that we sometimes get to attend, weve been able to roam the roads in our little panda and see parts of italy that we simply would never have seen, and i personally am learning a lot about management for one, but also traditional work like making bread, cooking for 25 people (did i mention we cook the lunch of fridays?) and working in ways that we just wouldnt do things in the states, sometimes i feel like cinderella but its also fun. and nate actually really enjoys his work with the garden/gardener and is learning some italian, and we are meeting people from all over the world which is always good. we miss camping and hiking and biking and floating the river and bbqs (this retreat is vegetarian- good thing we have a meat fridge just for us!) but in the end yes its worth it and we are glad to be there doing it.
right now we happen to be in turin, where i studied abroad 3 years ago. we took the job under one condition- that she would allow us a week to take a vacation to paris, which we just got back from, stopping in torino for a couple days before heading back to sabina. id never been to france before and i loved it! paris is a lovely city and the eiffel tower at night really is a sight to be seen. no one had told me that at midnight, the tower has a series of lights that flash, and it appears to be sparkling, its amazing, and we were literally underneath when it started. so glad we were there for that! we mona lisa-ed and walked around everywhere, we stayed with a friend i had met in montana last summer, and it was nice to have a guide for at least a day! i think now id really like to try southern france and really learn to speak the language better than a few sentences!..
so that catches us up to where we are now, there are at least 2 photo albums on my facebook page, one of rome, one of sabina, and more to come! i cant believe its already the end of july!

just another day in rome!

well, the hard part is over with! it ended up taking 4 1/2 days for my luggage to arrive (let's not talk about that again), 2 weeks for us to find an apartment, and almost 3 weeks for nate to get here, but now that all that is said and done, we are free to focus on work and enjoy the hot roman summer! we found a nice apartment in san giovanni, which is only a 15 minute walk to the colosseum, and we are very happy with it, its spacious with high ceilings and internet included! being able to give my family virtual tours of the apartment through skype is unbelievable. our landlord only speaks italian, so it was a test for me right away to scrape it all up from the back of my mind and put it to use making phone calls and meeting with him, and dealing with all the lovely issues of signing a lease, paying rent and deposits and getting a new washing machine while megan stood by and politely tried to be part of everything. but now that we have our own space, it is worth it. the neighborhood is nice, easily accessible, and has everything we need within a couple blocks. we figured that we probably walk at least 6 miles a day, back and forth between home and the colosseum and the rest of the city. this is our justification for eating pasta every night and panini every day:) 

and yes, we have jobs. megan and i have just finished week 2 of work with the colosseum pub crawl. what exactly do we do? well we, along with about 15 more staff members from various english-speaking countries, hang out around the colosseum during the day (or the pantheon, spanish steps, or wherever we are in between) and invite people to come out to our pub crawl that night. it's a promotional sales job, we make commission on everyone we personally get to come out that night. then we all go back out at about 9pm to the colosseum where we meet everybody and play drinking games and get to know each other (we have anywhere from 60-150 people each night) and then depending on how many recruits we get, how long and hard we work etc, we find out at about 10pm if we "get a shift" that night, which means we either stay, party, keep the group together and get paid for it, or we have the option to go home and sleep, or stay and party and not get paid for it. i always go home and sleep if i don't get a shift, i know, no surprise there, but this job is exhausting and we desperately need our sleep! so in a nutshell that's what we are doing right now to pay the rent, and nate started friday and he'll be working with us too. i'm hopefully going to start selling tours soon (of the colosseum, vatican, roman forum, whatever) because it's strictly a daytime job and the commission is higher, but we will see how things go. 

meanwhile, in rome, the uefa champions league (european soccer) final is in a couple days, and there are tons of festivities going on, this event is way bigger than the superbowl or the world series i'd say, and it's right here in rome, so even though tickets are 1500+ euros and already sold out anyway, it'll be fun just to be in rome while it's happening, and if im lucky maybe i'll get to see cristiano ronaldo or ronaldinho walking down a street somewhere!:) it's manchester united v barcelona, it's going to be a great game, go barcelona!

today is memorial day, and usually we would be working except there's a big concert tonight at the colosseum for the festival, so for some reason we get the day off. yesterday we went to the beach, which apparently is what every roman does on a sunday, and i wont make that mistake again, but the water was cool and refreshing. and last night we went to a staff bbq and it actually felt somewhat like memorial day, since our host was from new york. we will probably check out the concert tonight and enjoy our night off! and we are planning on a taking a few day trips here pretty soon, to remind ourselves of where we are and why we are here, not just to work 24/7! but so far so good, i'm going to put up some fotos, and for those of you on facebook i already posted an album to my profile of pictures from megan's camera, more to come.. 

a presto!

j

from a 4th story hostel window..

What do you get when you mix 6am flights that last 24hrs, afternoon roman thunderstorms, 2 homeless girls, and pub crawls? Well, where to begin. First you get your luggage left behind in denver because the clueless united airline woman in reno was obviously not doing her job, which leads to wine before noon over pizza and much conversation, interrupted by phone calls from italians trying to rent us rooms in english (thank god i had my italian phone in my purse, not my luggage). Then in attempt to not look like i just got off a plane on which i hardly slept, i borrowed shoes and a shirt from megan to walk to the colosseo where we were enthusiastically greeted by our new co-workers of the pub crawl, where we promptly got stuck in a rainstorm and huddled under the arches of the colosseo with a couple gladiators and several penguin jokes. After quickly becoming part of the team we tried to brave the rain, ended up giving in, bargaining and buying a 2 euro umbrella, made it back to the hostel where we crashed until we had to wake up and go back to the colosseo for our first pub crawl, and my second t-shirt in the last 8 months that says "i came, i saw, i crawled," which i happily wore because it was a clean shirt, and all i had were my flying clothes. After flip cup, beer pong, new friends and a few strange shots, we had to drag our somehow wide-awake selves back to the hostel at 3am, where we got about 6 hrs of sleep, more than the previous 2 nights combined. 

That was day 1, this is day 2, and today our priorities were just as straight as yesterday. breakfast was gelato. we were supposed to start working today but decided i need my luggage first (which didn't come yesterday, hasn't come yet today, and better be here by tomorrow) and we need a place to live when we have to leave the hostel tomorrow morning. Fortunately we had a couple options which we checked out, and tomorrow we will be moving into a small room in a nice apartment about 15-20 minutes walk from the colosseo, with 3 italians but only for the next week. We are starting to set up appts to look at several apartments in the next few days and are hoping to find something perhaps by the end of this week that will work for the 3 of us all summer. our first apartment viewing is tonight, and i think pasta is in order and perhaps an emergency visit to H&M (i have a good excuse this time) (not that i need one) before we embark on pub crawl #2, wish us luck! (for which, i'm not sure:)  

i thought i was slowing down, but no, im addicted to travel

i've never claimed to be good at keeping up with these posts, but i figure better late than never, right? we returned to the states about 3 weeks ago now, but this europe trip has really stayed with me. literally i was jetlagged for 2 good weeks, but i mean it really played a part in deciding some things for my future that i'm going to stick to. i'll get to that. i left off as we were headed to mykonos, aka the party island, also the gay island, this was interesting. paradise beach resort, a crowded concentration camp-looking property with people sleeping everywhere, and then a beautiful private cove with bars, stores, restaurants (i think.. i pretty much stayed on the beach). it was what i imagine spring break to be like in mexico or something. we made a great group of friends for the few days as we explored the island and partied, and partied, and partied. it was amazingly fun, but by the time we left for italy, we were desperately in need of showers and sleep. ITALY!!!!! ...i cant describe the feeling of arriving in torino again... like being at home, only a lot warmer, fuzzier, and more nostalgic. and we stayed with my dear friend and used-to-be-co-worker at the bar, sergio. and we ate pizza and pasta and drank wine for the next 2 weeks straight! i love italy. torino was amazing, i got to see old friends and make new ones, then we went to genova, santa margherita, portofino, cinque terre... the riviera was as beautiful as ever. the pesto and focaccia delicious as ever. and then.. finally.. we arrived in rome! my favorite city. we spent 5 days there i think, doing everything again- trevi, pantheon, st peters, vatican museum, trastevere, and my favorite.. the colosseo. we pub crawled, sketched, and basked under the roman sun, and i spent a lot of time just staring at the colosseo and trevi, a LOT of time. by this time we had met up with an aussie we had met in greece, he traveled with us for the remainder of the trip, and 3 was a party everywhere:) but when youre with an aussie what can you expect? from rome we ventured south to the amalfi coast, where we stayed in the tiny town of atrani, with one small piazza and two luigis who we immediately befriended. it was such a cute friendly place, right next door to the town of amalfi, i will definitely go back there. we bused it one day to positano, had pizza and soaked up as much sun as we could, the amalfi coast is definitely a sight to see. the roads are sketchy and narrow and the bus drivers are probably the most amazing drivers in the world (right up there w latin american bus drivers), the cliffs drop like a hundred meters right out from under you, it was all i could do to get close to the edge! but it was incredibly beautiful something you should take your mom to see, i promised mine i would.
after amalfi we headed north to trento for a couple days, a big town on a river in the mountains of northern italy, and then into austria. austria took my breath away. its sooooo beautiful, green, really tall jagged mountains, tiny quaint chapels everywhere, and chalets. we stayed just outside of innsbruck in a really beautiful hotel right next to the old olympic bobsled track in the foothills. we trammed it up to the top of nordpark, the big ski resort of innsbruck, vowed to come back and ski, and spent a couple days exploring the town. and it snowed.. the first snow of the season, completely blanketed the mountains in white. it was quite a sight, and that is when i decided not to move to san diego, i need my winter. the food was delicious, the owners of the hotel memorable, and overall it was a lovely experience. did i mention the down comforters and the spa? this place was NICE. i told my parents id take them there too:)
the rest of the trip happened very quickly, starting with oktoberfest. we arrived in munich in the morning, locked our backpacks at the train station, went to oktoberfest allllllll day, drank, sang, cheered, rode a rollercoaster, a ferris wheel, made new friends and had another quite memorable experience, then made it back to the train station in time to catch a night train to berlin. it was a looooooong day. but its something i want to plan better and go again next year, just book a hostel in far advance.. berlin revisited was fun, we rented bikes and my german sister lydia met up with us on our last day. it was so good to see her! we went to the berlin version of oktoberfest that night, drank and danced some more, then said our goodbyes. we left the next morning, daryl was ready to go home, i was absolutely not. with no plan of where to live or work, all i wanted to do was stay in europe, but my best friend in the world got married 2 weeks ago so i needed to be back for her. after 3 weeks of living out of my truck and couch hopping (and mooching off the parents), im finally in a new place in truckee for the next few months so i can ski, be close to friends and family, work and save some money... and then im moving to rome in march or so. i love europe, i love italy, i love rome, i love prosciutto e funghi pizza, i have nothing holding me back, so what better time than now? this is an open invitation for anyone who wants to join me, you know how i roll, its going to be amazing. a presto a roma!..
j

Kalimera, yog er hungrig!

That means good morning (in greek), i'm hungry! (in swedish- and don't quote me on the spelling of that one). These are just a few of the many new things ive learned on this trip! i'm in europe with my brother daryl for 5 weeks, starting sep 4, and ending oct 7, that means were somewhere in the middle. we actually had a long layover in amsterdam, which weve never been to, so we found our way downtown on the trains and walked around for a few hours. we learned a few things about the dutch in this time- they love h&m (good taste) we saw about 5 of them within 2 blocks, no joke. they really must like flowers, because seeds and bulbs were for sale EVERYwhere, including "cannibus" seeds, funny. and in the red light district you can window shop for girls just like seeds, i did not know that before and found it.. kind of disturbing actually. we ended up steering clear of there and finding a nice cappuccino and baguette in a different neighborhood before heading back to the airport. its really a beautiful city, looks incredibly similar to copenhagen i thought, and now that ive seen it, i probably dont need to go back (and i never say that about anywhere) but it definitely was a worthwhile stop. we finally made it to berlin after... i dont even know how many hours (or days?) and managed to find our hostel pretty easily. the next few days were spent walking all over the city and back like 37 times, my poor joints werent keeping up with my muscles very well. but i liked berlin so much better the second time around, we went on an awesome walking tour with this guy paulo from england. he was like a storybook come to life, we learned so much history that day we were just hypnotized by this guy. it was like reading an entire book, and all of it was right in front of our eyes, it really was amazing, and i recommend sandeman's free tour of east berlin to anyone who goes there.
anyway we did some shopping and pub crawling and photographing, day and night, oh and sketching! that was fun even for me, daryl being the architect.
it was a little cold for my taste, which was doubly (is that a word?) made up for with our next move- to greece! we flew to athens at night (the 8th?), and when we walked out of the metro station, the first thing we saw was a huge lit up ruin (we later figured out was part of the roman agora), and behind it, up on the hill, was the acropolis. just there to be revered in all its glory of being on top of the hill. it was quite the sight. and we were afraid eateries might be closed by this time, boy were we wrong! the city was coming alive, people were out everywhere. so we got crepes and sat by this ruin to try to take in our new surroundings. athens is a hot place, literally, and it was nice to be in shorts and tank tops again. everything id ever heard anyone say about athens is that its "dirty" and you "only need a day there" and its "sketchy" and whatever. but my first impression, and lasting impression, is that it reminds me of latin america, and i immediately loved it, narrow streets with local crafts for sale, shops and restaurants everywhere kinda like italy, and then ancient ruins thrown into the mix just for fun. yeah it was "dirty" but nothing compared to some places ive been. it was comfortable, and greek is such a pretty language, it sounds like a mix of russian and italian to me, i want to learn it. so ive learned 4 words for sure- kalimera, kalispera, efharisto, and parakalo- good morning, good evening, thank you, and youre welcome (and please). but everyone speaks english so its easy. anyway we roamed the streets, drank cappuccinos, and of course visited the acropolis, and sketched the parthenon which unfortunately is covered in scaffolding, i think theyre trying to rebuild it (its pretty beat up). but it was well worth it. we spent two days kicking around athens before taking a ferry to naxos, one of the many islands, which is where we are now. staying in a sweet place with 2 swedish girls, our new friends. mt zeus is on this island, daryl keeps talking about running up to the top, but the drinks here have kept him from waking up early. ha. so our time has been spent on the beaches, today we went to one and the water looked like lake tahoe, it was beautiful. we were in the topless section, and realized later that the nude section was just next door. guess im gonna have to get used to this.
little cobblestone streets, shops, restaurants, fresh seafood, another strange square shaped ruin thing, beaches, boats.. and a lot of white white buildings, with cobalt blue windows and roofs. thats what makes up this island. its very pretty. and relaxing. we head to mykonos tomorrow for a few days before going to italy next week, which im so excited about! so until then, kalisomething that means good night:) hope all is well! (pictures to come soon)
j

Vacation with a suitcase!

just in case anyone is still checking this, i figured i would at least post an update. so before we even went to hawaii we went for a night in napa valley, and i just have to say i love plumpjacks. they set us up in the sweetest place ever! imagine 3 girls in a cabin with a king size bed and a heated stone floor in the bathroom, oh and an indoor outdoor shower. it was crazy fun. and i had never been to napa so it was an amazing first experience. it was a good start to our vacation, and we did bring suitcases, and we stuffed them full of clothes and shoes, and then of course we went shopping in hawaii and they were practically overflowing. but it was worth it. hawaii was so much fun. we stayed with amandas friend ian in kailua, about a 2 minute walk from the beach. he took us up to the northshore and we went to pipeline, caught some sick waves, yeah right thats for the pros. we did actually go surfing in waikiki though, it was soooo much fun, and now i have a whole new respect for surfers, dude its hard and its scary! and i cant even imagine waves like the ones we saw up at pipeline, the power in them is... intimidating to say the least. but now i can say ive been surfing, and we learned in the first place that anyone ever surfed! so i thought that was appropriate. we also went kayaking, cliff jumping (well i didnt, i took the pictures, but amanda and ian did), we went out a few nights in waikiki to dukes and hula grill where we used our ts employee discount, that was nice. and like i said we went shopping, but only a little bit:)
i couldn't believe how pretty it was there, i mean everyone has told me and i've seen pictures, but its really is amazing and i think you have to see it for yourselft. the weird thing about me going to hawaii is that im like the last person to go. usually i go places my friends havent been to, and this time i feel like im just catching up to everyone else. it was so strange to me too that hawaii is part of the US. i couldn't get over it, i almost actually started speaking to a cab driver in spanish out of habit i guess. its just so different from anywhere in the country. it has its own definitive culture, language, customs, and natural beauty. yet they use the american dollar and fly the american flag. weird! people also used to tell me that i would love hawaii and should try living there, but i also felt kind of claustrophobic out there. ian says its the single most isolated land mass on the planet. and in the middle of the biggest ocean, it should be. heres what goes through my mind- "what if hawaii sinks! there wont be anyone here to save us, and theres nothing to hold on to.." i know its ridiculous, (we actually had a conversation about this) but if youve ever felt claustrophobia you might understand. so i dont think i could live there, but it was a beautiful place to visit.
and now the story goes on, i spent another week or so in tahoe, sort of continuing my vacation and hanging out with friends, and then i packed up my truck and made the long haul up to bozeman, montana. so here i am, in my brother's new house, i've played in my first softball game already (which we dominated 16-5 wahoo!) and i'm just looking for a job.
daryl and i are going to europe for a month in the fall, but until then i think i want to chill out for a while and stay in one place. and im excited about it. so i hope everyone has a good summer! and if you want to hear about europe, check back in september:)... ciao!

Looks like Plan Z!

hello everyone,

so.. theres been a change of plans, a HUGE change of plans. long story very short, at the end of a long bus-ridden day to sao paulo, i get to the airport (headed for bolivia) only to find out that the documentation i had for yellow fever* wasnt going to be accepted in bolivia, which meant i couldnt even get on the plane.. *as of december bolivia is now requiring visas for US citizens, including a yellow fever vaccination, which ive had, but we didnt know about the visa till after i left (my lonely planet was published in march), and i didnt have the proper proof with me, great. so i literally spent the next 4 hours running back and forth between all the airlines and phones and internet and meanwhile my gigantuan (is that a word?) backpack was painfully going with me. i cancelled my flight to bolivia just in time to get most of a refund, and changed my return flight home just in time to catch the last flight to the states.. that very minute. i barely had time to call my mom to desperately ask her to pick me up from san fran the next morning. it all happened sooooo fast, i couldnt believe i was heading home. but deep down, i was actually really relieved, this whole trip was really stressing me out and i didnt have a good feeling about it ever since we found out about the visa. something is to be said for women's intuition on that one. like i said, this was a long complicated, emotional and stressful story short, there were more details than what i mentioned, everything was working against us. luckily amanda was a saint and helped me through it and we decided we would use our budget and time to take a 2 week vacation somewhere else. and within an hour of getting into my moms car the next day, that somewhere else quickly became 2 tickets to hawaii. hawaii? i cant believe i was supposed to be in bolivia, now im in tahoe, and in a couple days ill be in hawaii. but im SO excited! i was joking that i want to bring a real suitcase instead of my backpack just to be different, (or would that be normal?). and purses that i dont need to zip for fear of getting something stolen (of course ill be careful anyway), and dresses and cute shoes (not that i really own many), because for a 10 day trip i will have room for that stuff in my suitcase, and i can justify bringing it:) we will be staying with a friend of amanda's on some beach that has a name like kahlua, sounds good to me. ive never been to hawaii, and ive really been wanting to go, and now i actually feel like im going on vacation. i think vacation is different from traveling, at least the way that i usually travel.

in the end i am of course bummed that i wont be hiking machu picchu just yet, but i really cant complain about going back to the beach. plus ive had such a good time with friends in just the 2 days ive been home, so its good. 

and, i do have to say that i am really proud of myself, because i figured out this entire problem, worked through it with all the different airline personnel, ALL in portuguese! i was almost beside myself listening to me talk, the words were all coming out so fast, i mean, i was stressed, emotional, totally clueless as to what to do, and i was able to explain everything, ask all my questions, and do everything in portuguese, you guys would have been really proud of me. at one point i was frustrated and i asked the woman if she spoke english, she said no but go on, im understanding you fine, and then she said oh well i speak spanish, do you speak spanish? my goodness, you dont know how hard it is to switch from one romance language to another, even to spanish which i speak so much better than portuguese, and i couldnt do it. i couldnt even think of a single word, which is actually normal in that situation, but it just made me realize how far id come with the language. and that was one good thing about the horror of the situation. 

so, im sure i will put up a post or two from hawaii if you want to read about our daring adventures to a foreign land that im sure will be full of beaching, surfing, tanning (thats a definite), hiking, and who knows what else. south america will just have to wait a little longer, cuz we both promise, we will make it eventually! so until hawaii...  aloha!

i went sandboarding!

it was probably the most exciting thing ive done yet in brazil, though i was also really scared i was going to kill myself. im a skier, the whole sideways thing never worked too well for me, and i heard that sandboarding is a lot more dangerous than it looks (don't worry mom, i didnt even fall!) i pretty much handled it like a pro:) the dunes are huge, and there was a big bowl that we just kept climbing up and going down, luckily it was cloudy, otherwise it wouldve been scorching. only one other guy wanted to try it with me, he crashed and burned a few times, but in the end it was super fun and i would definitely do it again. and ive got some hilarious videos. and it really made me want to try snowboarding again, but i guess that will depend on getting me away from the beach and back to the mountains when its winter time..
a few days ago we (the canadian girls and the english guy and i) took a "lovely" boatride out on the lake to a little village about half an hour along the shore. it was sooooo beautiful, and for the first time since ive been here, i really really missed lake tahoe (people in tahoe dont be offended, im talking about the actual lake) and im sad about not living there this summer, even though i know bozeman will be awesome. i love the ocean, but theres just something about lakes that will always get me. theyre so peaceful, and the houses along the shoreline all make me want to live in them. we ate some awesome seafood and walked to a little waterfall, it was a really nice afternoon. its crazy having the lake near the ocean, its literally the best of both worlds in one place. if only there were high mountains with snow:)...
it was good to have some excitement, because this week has actually been pretty stressful for me, planning my route to amanda, aka la paz, bolivia, by the morning of the 18th. and i know some of you at home think that travel is all sun and fun, but unfortunately, its not, and youd never believe the extent of planning and exhaustive researching ive been doing these last few days just to see if la paz is even possible. in the end, it looks like it will be, though expensive, possible. my plans just keep changing by no fault of my own, and since i was supposed to set off on this 6 day adventure tomorrow, and still didnt know what i was going to do, it was tough. today i received more news that completely changed my plans yet again, but apparently this was better, because i think i finally know what im doing. im going to stay with the canadians for a few days and then bus it to sao paulo where i can catch a flight to santa cruz, bolivia. this means im avoiding "the death train" so mom you can rest easier. ill have a few days in santa cruz to figure out getting to la paz, which will be much much easier once im actually there. then itll only be a couple days till i meet amanda and we start our exciting two weeks to copacabana, lake titicaca, and on to cuzco and machu picchu, yay! after that i might just find a beach and stay there for another month, i like this lifestyle.
on the homefront, were having a goodbye dinner for me at my house tonight, just some of the closer friends ive made, were going to make moqueca, a brazilian seafood dish, some typical crab appetizer of some sort, and tapioca for dessert (no its not pudding), which i made all by myself! pretty much. ill be bringing home some great recipes, and some really great memories. its crazy how one month flies by, but at the same time it feels like ive been here for a long time. im speaking conversational portuguese which was my main goal, picked up samba and forro enough to know that ill forever be a salsa dancer, and added a bunch of new friends to my worldwide collection. so i would say it was a success.
the next few days hopefully ill be stress-free on the beach, then be able to muster up all my energy to take on bolivia. for those of you who have actually called me, i leave brazil on the night of the 15th, so no more phone after that, but i might get a chip in peru too. who knows. bom fim de semana para todos.. ate bolivia!

so many beaches, so little time..

olá! so ive figured out that we are pretty much in september weather right now, summer is "over" and all the students have gone back to university, and its getting cold, but its still mostly nice. so weve been taking advantage of every sunny day and going to the beaches. i hung out with hennia from holland and jeremy from san diego for a little while, which was nice. strangely enough they are both gone now, but such is the way of the school down here. i met a couple canadian girls, we went out the other night with my friend jim from minnesota to see a jazz-ish type trio, the music was amazing, and they were so nice! and we drank strawberry caipivodkas, dangerous! we also all went out dancing one night at a club that plays forró music only. so it was interesting, i was expecting it to be super fun, but it really just made me miss salsa, cuz really forró itsnt as fun, and the guys that i danced with werent really all that great. but whatever, when in rome..
i also went out with ariana and hennia one night to dance samba, it was samba de raiz, i didnt even know i could dance it, but the steps are all pretty similar, and wow, that made the forró seem awesome. i think i just found it boring, cuz the guys werent even twirling me around, how boring is that! but the band was really good. its all about the experience. so i think were going out dancing again this weekend, but now i guess i know what to expect a little more.
as for school, luckily (because shes awesome) we got the same teacher 2 weeks in a row. by the end of the second week we had gone through every single verb congujation, like how to say "if i were you, i would.. and i would have if i could have..." stuff like that, which usually comes after like 2 years of language study. awesome! so now were practicing vocab and conversation and using what weve learned. i gave a presentation in class yesterday about the history of brazil from discovery to independence, and it was actually really cool. i only talked for like 5 minutes or so, but i never hesitated or anything, it was easier than i thought it would be, so i was excited:) i almost feel like i speak more portuguese than italian now, but i think thats cuz its really hard to switch between romance languages since theyre so similar, i even speak portuguese when im trying to speak spanish, so i dont think i need to worry. i just need to go back to italy!
so one thing that has been kinda stressing me out lately is my trip after i leave here, we found out that since december of 2007 bolivia is requiring visas ($100 visas- ouch) for US citizens, so now amanda and i are tyring to figure things out for that. and my route to la paz so far doesnt exist, im tyring to figure out which way to go, cuz paraguay requires a $50 visa too, buses take days and arent the safest, but theyre cheap, and anyone ive ever talked to about bolivia has warned me not to go there alone- i thought, yeah right! like i would! and guess what... now im pretty sure i am, so im trying to be positive about it, im finding out good things that are starting to outweigh the horror stories, so im sure itll all work out. but i only have another week! i cant believe ive already been here almost 3 weeks, actually its not even that, its that i only have a week left. weird. im gonna be in peru before i know it. with amanda! im so excited for that.
so this week its been pretty cold, so i started running again (im training already for the ridge run daryl!) and thats been really nice. near my house is the big highway-type road that goes along the water, its all lit up at night and has ample space for runners, walkers, and bikers, so its super safe and theres always tons of people running, its awesome at night. ive also really taken time to talk to ariana, its so fun. shes probably my best friend here, its just like having a great roommate, we can talk about all sorts of things, and hang out, like girls should. and our director at school has taken some of us out lately too, us being me and some other brasilians, so i always am speaking portuguese. and thats really the reason im here, so by the end of next week im sure ill be able to say im more than satisfied with what ive experienced here. its a lot for a month.
oh- james youll be proud of me, i bought new flip flops, and they work in the rain! and theyre red:) i also got another pair of brazilian sandals, a new sarong and some shirts, oh and i did buy a brasilian bikini top..but only the top, the bottoms here are missing a lot:) im definitely gonna have to send a bag home with amanda, but thats okay! so anyway i think the ice cream in my freezer is calling my name.. next time i write hopefully ill know where im going in a week! hope all is well!! tchau.. jaque (thats how they spell my name here..)

its already been over a week!

oi! tudo bem aqui no brazil.. e estou falando e aprendendo portuguese muito rapido.. que bom!
it only took until that first day of classes for me to stop speaking spanish at home, pretty much since then ive been able to speak almost entirely en portuguese, but its largely due to the fact that the language is pretty much spanish, just have to insert different words and accents. class went well, we learned so much in the first week, verb-wise we went through what you would go through in one semester in college. it was perfect though, we all already spoke 2 other languages so we were able to move quickly. i made a friend, and i didnt really have a choice of who, there was only one other person who is here alone who wanted to explore and do stuff, so my new friend became jean-francois from french-speaking quebec, canada. hes a bit older than me, but oh well, its nice to have someone to explore with so you dont feel quite so lost. we quickly learned the bus system by traveling to different beaches everyday, so far weve had 5 sunny days, and ive seen 5 beaches. everyday the beaches are more beautiful than the one before. seriously... its unbelievable. we hiked 2 days through jungle-like trails to remote coves that were amazing. so far ive been west, east, south, and north, this island is beautiful. towards the east theres a lake, its kinda strange, but its a lake right by the ocean, and it has little towns and bars and restaurants, ive been out once to see a bossa nova band there. and just beyond the lake are some sand dunes where people go sand boarding, i have yet to do it, though i think ill prefer sand sledding, instead of voluntarily trying to kill myself sandboarding. and as it turns out, my house is super close to the water, however the water on the continental side of the island isnt beachy, its city. the beaches are north, east, and south. the closest one is probably 30 min away w 2 busses, its cuz busses are so fast and organized and i just love them (some of you have experienced 3rd world busses)..
the city is really nice, it reminds me of panama city, its modern, has huge malls and nice clubs, though theres still trash in the streets and you can still tell its latin america. but more towards the south of the island, it looks much more like the rest of latin america, like costa rica, just dirtier and poorer. theres a small aquaduct thing that runs across my street and down towards the mall about a quarter mile away, and one guy from the school said he saw a crocodile in it by the mall last week. thats funny. ive seen monkeys, cows, and horses all from my kitchen window. the best part though was the horse- it was the trash truck! with a big cart full of trash and one guy in a buggy type thing..i took a picture. there are tons and tons of dogs on our street too, but luckily they arent strays, and i love to stop and play with a couple puppies on my walk to school, which is just at the end of my street about 10 min away.
so last wednesday night i went out for my first ladies night in brazil, which is nowhere near as cheap as say..costa rica ladies nights, but it was fun. we ate sushi and danced, the club was much like italy, house music, flashing lights, i loved it. and i had my first caipirinha, it was okay, but i hear theyre better on the beach.
for easter i stayed home (rainy) with ariana my host and we ate lunch with her parents who live downstairs, it was delicious and was nice to have a family lunch for a holiday. i also started yoga again and am going to try to take full advantage of cloudy days doing other things. unfortunately for social me, everyone else in the school left this last weekend, except 3 of us, me, jean-francois, and a swiss guy named rico, and im desperately in need of someone else to hang out with, so im trying harder to meet brasilians. last night i went to dance classes! oh it was awesome. i did 2 classes, the first was samba de gafieira, which is a partner dance, kinda like bolero or tango, i caught on pretty quick, which was good cuz i when i got there they told me it was a level 3 class, yikes! but i met one of the dance teachers there and she taught me really well. then i did forró (pronounced fohó) which was so much fun, its a lot like salsa so for me it was easy, and i cant believe how much i miss dancing! so i plan to do that a lot more. (i think salsa will remain my favorite, but this is once of the things i really wanted to do here!)
so our teacher this week (we change teachers every week, this is good) gave me the biggest compliment yesterday, she was absolutely amazed with my level of speaking and comprehension based on the fact that a week ago i didnt know a word of portuguese, that made me feel so good! it really is awesome how fast im picking it up, i never speak english though so that helps. even in costa rica and italy we spoke tons of english cuz everyone was from the usa, but nobody but me is a native english speaker now, so we all just speak portuguese together. its great practice. so things are going well mais o menos, theres a girl from holland who arrived today who speaks spanish but not portuguese yet, so im making friends with her, and i cant tell you how excited i am just to see another student, and a girl is even better. and she wants to learn to dance too! so hopefully ill have a new friend there. its hard to be in this position and trying to meet people, its harder than it seems.
anyway i think thats it for now, im going to put up pictures when i can use arianas computer at home, so hopefully soon. i hope everyone is doing well! até logo..
j

im in the southern hemisphere!

Oi! After a very long two days, i did finally make it safe to Florianopolis, and am starting to enjoy myself.. for various reasons it was kinda hard to be super excited to come down here. the flights were long and thank god i slept, i would have slept all the way from new york to sao paulo if it werent for our emergency landing in brasilia, somebody had to go to the hospital, i dont know i slept through most of it. but i was awake enough to notice the grey clouds and rain outside, and wasnt too stoked on that. it was the same in sao paulo, which definitely didnt lift my spirits. it was the first time id ever been in an airport, needing to fly somewhere, and didnt already have a ticket, plus i didnt speak a word of portuguese, but somehow i got a flight that was supposed to leave in 30 minutes, this is funny. so the guy was all flustered and hurrying for me and i ran to the gate and then the intercom comes on and luckily i understood enough to hear that our gate changed, however, when we got to the new gate it was mayhem, and no one spoke spanish or english, and suddenly everyone starts following the airport guy down the hall, through the airport, out an exit, and stops at the door of a restaurant! i seriously thought there was some exit we needed to get to, but no, they started giving us all vouchers for free food. apparently we had been delayed 4 hours. i made friends with a brazilian woman whose husband is colombian so she spoke some spanish, it was comforting. 3 gate changes and 4 and a half hours later, i was finally on my last leg, and i started to feel better as we were descending over a beautiful island where the sun was shining and the hills were green, and the ocean..everywhere.. and that was to be my new home. and the guy next to me who had gotten in trouble for smuggling in and drinking a beer on the plane was telling me how much i was going to like it here, yay!
i ran into another slight problem when i called my host mom whom i thought spoke english from some previous emails, and find out she doesnt speak a word, and i couldnt understand her portuguese, all she said was -i need one people talk portuguese!- so i gave the phone to a very confused airport worker who finally hung up and said she would meet me outside. as i waited for her, i finally started to get so excited i could hardly stand it. it hit me all at once, and memories from my first day in costa rica came back to me and i finally started feeling good for the first time. my host mom if you can call her that, is only 30 it turns out, and lives alone, so its more like having a roommate, which is perfect. good that she doesnt speak english, but we figured out that i can speak spanish to her and she understands most of it, and i understand most of her portuguese, so this is how we communicate, and as im learning, im speaking more and more portuguese to her. it also turns out that another student will live with us, as there are 2 extra rooms, but she still hasnt arrived.. but there was still a guy there when i came (he left saturday) and i went with him the first night to a bbq and met a bunch of people from the school (about 10 but the school isnt much bigger than that) and i couldnt believe how much i learned in the first..6 hours or so.
unfortunately its been raining here so i havent done much yet. today was our first day, well my first day of class, and im really in disbelief how easy it is and much i just get it, so im confident i will be fully conversational pretty soon, spanish and italian both help sooooo much. by the way the other night i was noticing how young everyone is, and i was the oldest student by over a year at the bbq, and then i got to class today, and my 3 classmates are 27, 37, and 42, so i guess im not so old! i went with one of them and another guy to a beach today, praia mole, it was so beautiful! kinda like youd imagine a brazilian beach, surfers, thong bikinis, fruit juices and cocktails, and some guys playing soccer. unfortunately it was pretty cloudy, we stayed for a couple hours, and right when we left it started to rain, sad!
but anyway some exciting things- yes, the stars are different, i am going to learn all the new constellations, the first one i saw was the southern cross, how cool is that! i still dont know if the toilet flushes the other direction, i cant think of what it did in the states, but if anyone wants to tell me, i will see if it really does go the other way.. and i got a cell phone today, for about $17. yeah- cheap! so from the states you would dial 011 55 48 8446 1225. if anybody wants to try, just remember im 4 hours ahead of the pacific coast! my time is about up and i hope i didnt bore you! im known for writing books. id love to hear from anyone, write me back, and tell me if you think this blog is a good idea... tchau tchau!!!
ps pictures to come as soon as i can figure out how to get them on this stupid computer!:)

pre-departure hello

Hi everyone!
I've decided this will be the easiest way for all of you to follow me around, those of you who want to can pay attention, and those who don't won't get long emails they don't want to read in their inboxes.
My last trip to Latin America was absolutely amazing, and now I wish I had kept a blog of it, but my next trip starts in less than two weeks. I'll be heading first to Brazil for a month or so to study Portuguese, and then I have a flight out of Lima, Peru at the end of May. I am going by myself and don't really have a plan, but I will keep this updated.
I just received my housing information for my Portuguese program in Florianopolis, Brazil, I'm so excited! And I most likely will be getting a cell phone down there, so I'll post the number when I get it. And hopefully I can figure out how to post pictures and everything, so please stay tuned!