update

so if you've been following what i've been up to this year, you know i sort of slacked off on blogging from November until now... sorry. but all i can say is ive done a lot of traveling and i can't even begin to describe to you how amazing it all has been. i really do feel so blessed and fortunate to have had this opportunity to just explore the world and meet some incredible and unforgettable people let alone see some of the most beautiful landscapes on this planet.



okay because i am too lazy to be creative on my own- ill just give u an update about my new years trip from my friend monique's blog... so here we go... now remember- this is not my wit, unforutnately. im just borrowing it for your purpose of entertainment :)



Edinburgh, Scotland- December 30- Jan. 6



Blog written: Sunday, January 4, 2009

So now that i've been in edinburgh for a good 4-5 days i think its time for an update. The first night we got here we immediately went into the city and had so much fun we couldn't tear ourselves away from the downtown. but we did eventually the next day new years eve, we went to edinburgh castle which was fantastic! so beautiful there was even a bride getting married nad taking photos. Then that night was the official hogomany festival with concerts, bars, and a street party lasting till the wee hours of the mourning- geting home at 5 or 6. To say the least hte next day we took it easy and did some eating and shopping. Then the next day we managed to make it to the national heritage site for whiskey and managed to get a tour and sampling. Eww it was disgusting, but nonetheless it was very entertaining. We also found a free walking tour of the city that was about 3 hours long. it was fantastic a knowlegable tour guide with fantastic sights and such. Finally we get to yesterday- the most fabulous day of our trip so far. we went on a highlands tour visiting the ourlaying smaller towns and wonderful country side. We had a wonderful guide Kenny who make sure to keep us entertained and having fun. i immediatly fell in love with Kenny and his good ol' Scottish humor. We once again visited a distilery for whiskey but i still thought it was gross. All in all it was a fantastic tour!The we get to today. We were lucky enough to go to Saint Giles Cathedral in downtown edinburgh for mass this morning at 10 am. Then to increase our holiness we went ot Roslyn Chapel which was made famous through the Da Vinci Code. The tour was great- actually since we were the only ones to sign up it was a private tour in a private car that was catered to our interests. it was fantastic. now i must hurry off to go to a ghost tour of the old edinburgh with a free pint of beer (which is ok since i've been so holy today!)



So during our fabulous highlands tour we made friends with our tour guide, a dashing Scotsman who liked Whiskey and thats about it. He shocked us about the many famous Scots that have a part in our everyday life. His list went on but some include... All members of AC-DC were born in Scotland and later moved to (in his words) lesser Ireland. Snow Patrol and The Frey- both muscians that are becoming popular in the US. johnny cash is also scotish. He went on to make us feel better saying he loves some American muscians like Katy Perry, Beoncye, Britney Spears, and Avril Levigne (i didn't have the heat to tell him she was Canadian). But he went on to say he liked them un-musically because he fancied then for things other then their horrible music! To go on with the list... Fleming who discoverd penicilin, Alex Grahm Bell who invented the phone was also lucky enough (in his words) to be Scotish... and the one he is most proud of the chip from the I-pod was from a Scottish inventor until the Americans stole it and put an apple on it!



Blog written- tues. jan. 6th

We just arrived in Glasgow about 2 hours ago after a wonderfly short and pleseant train ride from Edinburgh. We got to our hostel and are heading out to go shopping (since i have so much extra room in my luggage)!Tomorrow we leave for Dublin and will be going to the Guiness Factory and Jameson Distilary and Trinty College!



Blog- written- thursday january 8th

So we have had a very entertaining last few days...On our way to the airport on the Edinburgh bus (infamously slow and late) we were comidically releieved when we saw two ducks in the pond. Allbeit they were frozen in the pond. The were apparently sleeping (according to a nice scotish woman behind me) and fell asleep and when they woke up- poof they were stuck in the pond which had frozen over.But it was all good... We were told they would make it. The night before at a live music bar- where Steve n' Allen played the likes of John Mayer, Johnny Cash, and Elvis we met some Amerinan Boys from West Virgina ( I argueed the existance of their state). But before i was done arguing Johny alerted us he was from Carlsbad. Jessica and him had this in common (i did not) so i continued listening ot Steve n' Allen.Our last day there we took the bus to Glasgow- just in time because it started snowing... ewe.We got to Dublin and immediatly fell in love. So georgous, so fun, so young, so funny, so nice.The first thing Jessica and I run into is a comedy club. We immediatly signed up- kinda nervous we wouldn't understand the UK humor. But don't worry. They immediatly spoted us as Americans and made it a point to not only remind the rest of the crowd that we were American but took time to explain every UK joke to the two "stupid Americans". IT was so much fun we decided to do it again!Tonight (we just got back) we went to another comedy club where Amerinans were apparently normal. Expect for their expectation of John McCain getting elected (his words obviously not mine). Anywho it was fantastic. We are off too bed since tomorrow we have an early start at 6 am to visit the Cliff of Moher and Limerk and finally the Blarny Stone!



blog written- Friday Jan. 9th

This morning was a frantic rush as our alarm finally decided to go off at 6:50 am which was 15 mins after we were suppose to be at the tour company for our all day adventure up the coast of Ireland. But since that clearly wasn't happening we went back to bed. We resechduled for tomorrow hopefuly this go around we get it.So instead we took a stroll through downtown and went on a three hour walking tour of the city. It was fantastic but our feet hurt. So then jessica and I were on our way to the famous Jameson Whiskey Distillary to relax... before we realized we hated all the other types of whiskey and we weren't sure if it was the best decision to try it for a third time so we opted for a lovely coastal trip for the afternoon.We got on a bus and got to travel up to an ancient castle and then take a coastal bus trip around the ocean and see the bay of Dublin. It was georgous.So now we are going to bed to ensure we wake up for our fun 12 hour tour tomorrow...wish us luck!!



Blog written- Jan. 12

Titled: What Were We Thinking?

Wow German is a hard language... We arrived in Basel Switzerland last night at around 9 PM. After hauling all our luggage out to the curb it then took us a mere 10 minutes to find someone who spoke english AND had a trunk big enough for all our suitecases. Finally we found one...now today was our relaxing day, we chose to sleep in and just aimlessly roam around Basel (a population of 170,00). (the whole country of switzerland is about the size of 1.5 San Diego Counties)....We had a number of interesting conversations most ending with the question "Where you from" and us answering "California" all people responded the same way... "What the hell are you doing here!!!!" Haha it was shortly after that we were wondering the same thing. Our adventure to the train station was interesting. We managed to find a nice woman who spoke english and she managed to get us a ticket to Freiburg (or at least we think). After looking for lunch and buying some essential groceries i started to worry and wonder. What made me want to go to GERMANY and study? They can't understand me and i surely can't understand them. But after shopping around, roaming around, speaking my minimal german (very limited to hi, how are you, thank you) i started to feel more at ease. What i learned was Switzerland has 4 official languages and even though English wasn't one of them they know it and are more than wiling to help as they can.Fun facts about our trip in Switzerland so far.
The airport we landed in is on the border of France, Switzerland and Germany. By simply walking to three differnt corners of the airport we were in each of those three countries. Jessica and i had fun hopping the boarders. The train station as well as an exit to the left for France and to the right for Switzerland. Which was rather cool we thought!
Second is that the keyboard here as all the letters mixed up. The Y is where the Z is on our keyboards at home. I don't know thought that was interesting...
Thirdly Jessica and I are soaking up the prices in Switzerland, while a little more expensive, they use the Swiss Franc which is the frist time our US currency has been stronger and therefore we are able to not cringe at prices!!
Fourthly (i think i'm making words us now!) the weather here is a chilling 14 F (which is i don't know how cold in C but definetly like negative 4 or so... oh we're going to have funLastly...We leave Switzerland tomorrow and travel onward to Freiburg Germany where we will finally move in on Wednesday.P.S. I thought i would share with you some of my very poor German i've learned from the streets of Switzerland.
Hello...Hallo
Good day....Guten Tag / Morgen
Good evening....Guten Abend
Good night....Gute Nacht
Hi....Hi / Tag ( i opt for Hi its much easier and sounds much nicer)
Good bye... Auf Wiedersehen (they also say bye which is nice)
See you soon.... Bis bald (dones't sounds anything like it looks




so here's Monique's blogsite to get the complete update as to what i've been up to and i promise ill start updating more often now...

http://moniqueeu.blogspot.com/

^^^^^CHECK IT OUT!!! ^^^^