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Showing posts from 2010

Goodbye Winter, Hello 90 degrees and Humidity!

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I leave for Panama tomorrow! The wait flew by so quickly with the holidays consuming my thoughts and all of the duties that go along with them. I am so excited to land in 85 degree weather (goodbye cold rain and 50 degree averages) and get a little sun. Wooooo vitamin D! I will say, with all of the storms and cold fronts, it has been rather odd packing sun dresses, shorts, bikinis and sun screen. The flight plan is that I fly off to Miami at 9pm and from there land in Panama City at 1230pm on the 29th. There I will be welcomed by the beautiful Catherine, who just got finished spending Christmas in Columbia. I also now have a large tag along with me. When Catherine’s parents found out I was visiting their daughter they had a favor to ask me. Cat’s Dad is apart of a Catholic Italian heritage group, The Knights of Columbus, who raised money to donate a wheel chair to Cat’s cite, to help some of the elderly to move around. It was going to cost over $1,000 to ship it, but now it will be my

Getting Ready to Leave Once Again

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As I start to mental and physically prepare for this next trip I think about how lucky I am to have so many opportunities to travel and experience the world like I have. I've been all over Europe, Mexico, the United States and now off I go to Panama. Now this trip will be a little (actually a lot) different from all of the others, (ie there is no all inclusive resort, and well, its not Europe in any sense), but Im excited for the challenge and the reality check. Now I have been getting many questions as to my reason to go to Panama, for those of you who do not know, one of my wonderful best friends/ old roommates is in the Peace Corps down there, Miss Catherine Fabiano. Her assignment is working on environmental conservation with a Ngabe indigenous tribe in the Bocas Del Toro region, which is in the north eastern region bordering Costa Rica in the jungle. We have been talking about all of our plans and I am so excited! Its going to be one of the best New Years and birthdays ever! C

Next stop, Panama!

I am sure you are asking your self, "But wait Sarah, haven't you only been back in the country for say a little over 2 months?". Why yes that is correct. One of my best friends, Cat, is doing the Peace Corps down in the jungles of Panama with a Ngabe indigenous tribe in the northern Chiriqui region. So as my quarter century birthday is approaching and happens to be right by New Years, I have decided to celebrate the round drinking on the beach in grass huts, probably surrounded by spiders, snakes and mosquitoes. AND I'M SO EXCITED! I just signed up at a clinic to get all 5 of the required shots (yes 5. that day is going to suck) and a prescription for my malria meds (which hopefully I don't trip out on, Ive heard some horror stories.) All I need to do is buy my tickets! Which will probably happen in the next week or two! Woo!

Last Day

After 32 days in Europe, it unfortunatly is time for me to head back home to reality, ie looking for a job and attemping to start my new life as an "adult". Im not going to lie, Im not looking forward to ditching this Peter Pan-esk life style. I dont think grown-up is a good look for me. Just saying. Last night there was a ridiculous thunderstorm. Right outside my window is a massive construction crane and at some points I thought the lightning was going to hit it. I got some amazing pictures though. After getting all of my things together eariler today, I headed off to the English Gardens with Fabian to relax, swim, and enjoy the Isar river. It was so nice just sitting in the shade, reading and being apart of the local city scene... its all so bitter sweet when I know Ill be cramped into a plane for about 16 hours tomorrow. So my friends\family, by this time tomorrow my feet will be firmly planted on USA soil and I will be back. I look forward to seeing\talking to you soon!!

Let Me Count the Ways...

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...of why I love Munich. I remembered how much I loved this city, but upon arrival, I remebered the amount. In my opinion, this is the best city in Europe (that I have seen thus far). The history, buildings, the people, everything here screams to me "you know you want to move here". It is my San Francisco of Europe. After wandering around for the last few day I am seriously considering of looking for a job here in one of the Universitiey or something when I get back to the states... Sunday. After saying goodbye to Vienna and a 4 hour train ride (with no ploblems, love German trains) I arrived in a very very hot Munich. They have been having a crazy heat wave here and thunderstorms that are wild. On the first night my friends family and I did the typical Bavarian night; we packed up a picnic, rode our bikes to the local beer garden and had dinner accompanied by a few liters of beer and a live poka band. God I love this place. On Monday I had a Frauentag with my friends

Why Hello Mister President

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Vienna!!! I have made my way back to German speaking countries and Im loving it. It is so bice being able to participate in simple, basic conversations again. I got in last night without any super crazy Czech train problems, although at one point we stopped on the tracks for about 25min and I had no idea why. After amazing Turkish food (something the States needs to get btw) I settled in to watch my Germans dominate Spain..... but did this happen? No. What the heck Germany? It was strangly reminicent of 2 years ago at the EU Cup. So now I hope Spain gets their butt kicked by the Orange Army!!!! Today I was super excited to explore this city (thanks to the trusty map Amber left behind for me) and boy did it not let me down. It is such a romantic and beautiful city. I took the underground over to the center of the city and just wandered around. Stunning catherdrials, buildings, gardens and history. There is a consert of Mozarts work by the Philharmonic at St. Stephen's Cathedral

Last days in the Czech

After wandering around this little city for 2 days I am ready to say goodbye and head off to Vienna tomorrow morning. A point of interest; the train system in the Czech is about as good as they are in Italy. For those of you who don't know what Im talking about, let me put it this way, they are normally late, run down and dysfunctional. Like my ride getting here. We left the station 10 mins late, for some reason half way through the ride we had to get off at some random place (not a train station may I add) in the Czech, take a bus for 20mins, get back on a train leave that station late, arrive at the intended destination 45 min late, take the next train running 15 min late which had wooden benches as seats. I swear the theme of this trip is "how interesting can my traveling get"... haha. So I am off to concur the Czech train system again tomorrow. I have 3 train transfers to get to Vienna... so the potential for mishap is quiet high...

An American 4th of July in the Czech

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Ahhh Cesky Krumlov.... Im Krum-loving it! Such a cute little town, very small and quaint. With lots of swimming :) Which always makes this girl happy. The first day I got here I was on a mission to see the Germany vs Argentina game... 4-0! What what!!! I randomly met 2 guys from Nevada and a couple from Australia during the game and hung out with them all night. The two guys actually run the pub crawls in Prague and were having their whole crew coming in for the weekend to hang out and go rafting, and they invited me along! Yesterday on July 4th I went water rafting for 6 hours down the Vltava River with about 10 Americans, 1 Irish and 1 Canadian, junk food and more beer than was ever needed. I think oddly enough it was the most stereotypical 4th of July I have ever had and I was in the Czech Republic... It was a holiday weekend here in the Czech so everyone was out to have a good time and there were so many people on the river doing the same thing and it was a freak'n blast!!!

Exploring Prague

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Yesterday Amber and I were on a MISSION; a mission to bargain shop. I found a local market called Pražská tržnice, that is right outside of the main city. This thing was massive, but we got amazing prices on lots of stuff that we would have been charged triple the price in the tourist areas. Later that night Am and I went to go see our very first Opera (I know, how cultured am I right?). We scored $5 tickets in the nose bleed section, but it still had a great view. The performance was interesting, the music, beautiful. Very Cold War-esk (several references of 'Mother Moscow' clued me in on that one), but overall very enjoyable. Today Am and I were both draggggggging our feet, solution? Hang out in the park reading and eating sandwiches. Nevertheless, since we are only here for a short time and had not even seen the other side of the city, we went on a free tour of the Castle and the surrounding area. We got our butt kicked on a 2.5 hr long tour, and let me tell you, I had m

A WHOLE Different World

Hello Eastern Europe, ie the Czech Republic's capital, Prague. Ive been alllllll over western Europe and am pretty familiar with the cultures there, because they are not to different from my own. Now you are asking, "well Sarah, how does Prague compare?". Great Question, it doesn't. Even though the Wall fell 21 years ago this November, you can STILL feel the drastic difference. Its a strange feeling. Last night when Amber and I came into the city and walked around it we were unsure of how much we would like it. But I am happy to say after taking a tour and exploring the nicer parts (not the sex district or the hookers we saw the previous evening which made me LAUGH, I was like wait, how did I get back to Amsterdam again?) I think it is a nice city. So as I discover interesting tid bits about this city I've decided I am going to make daily lists for you so you can just imagine the funny things going through my head (cause you know I always have a comment for

Summary of Haslach

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Sorry for the large gap in the blogs, I know you are all sitting at the edge of your seat waiting for me to post again. Lo and behold here I am!!!!! So instead of telling you all about the wildness in which visiting family always is, I will summarize... Friday Say hello to everyone, meet up with my other Aunt and cousin from the USA then later than night all of the US cousins, Valeska, Florian and their friends go out to the club in Haslach... lots of dancing, shots and Germans Saturday MASSIVE family bbq, we are talking like 3rd and 4th cousins big at the Bollenbach farm house where most of our parents were born Sunday Hiking up in the Black Forest to Hileger BrĂĽnnen and to the top of the ridge... definitely got an ass workout Monday family stuff Tuesday went to my cousins WORKING farm out in the middle of no where.... learned that I can not handle the smell of farm animals, rather have my nose hairs burned off... Wednesday Went to Frieberg to go shopping.... may or may not have bough

Jet Lag

Yesterday was a much better start to this trip than the previous days. After one of the best nights sleep I have ever had in my life, we woke up, got ready and headed off to a tour that took us through the wine country surrounding Zurich Lake. It was so pretty! Not like Napa though, the vineyards were in between all of the houses. I am sure as you get father out in the country it is more spread out. We ended up on the complete other side of the lake in a town called Rapperswil. We explored there for a while and then took a boat back all the way to Zurich. A great way to see everything. Since everything is amayingly expensive here for a reason I don't know why (like Im talking about me paying 20 dollars on average for a small meal, even in non-tourist areas) we ate on the roof top of our hostel with salad and some other things from the market. Amber and I are having to use our experience of being poor college students to the max here. If I got anything out of college, it was that

Two Innocent Bystanders

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My first half day in Zurich… that’s right HALF day. Amber and I arrived here at 2pm after the worst international travel I have ever had. Now don’t get me wrong, I am happy to be here and we were laughing through the whole thing till the last few hours, but seriously ladies and gentleman, fasten your seat belts to read about the craziest 36 hours of your life. To make it easier, I have made chapters for you to follow along… Chapter 1: Getting to the Airport and Boarding the Plane •My Aunt forgot her passport at home half way to my house and had to turn around to get it •Got to airport early!! •Originally, Amber have a round trip to Munich, but we had previously discussed this with Swiss Air that we were getting off in Zurich with our moms, we get to the airport and find this is not possible •Lady at the ticket booth… I thought she was going to kill me •Amber no longer existed according to Swiss Air •I no longer had a ticket AT ALL •Amber gets her ticket back •They have to rebook me and

I think I'll go to Switzerland today...

Well everyone, in about 2 hours I am off to the airport for 11 hours of blissful flying (i.e., being crammed into a tiny area for way too long). Alas, with the helpful aid of .5 sleeping pills, a complimentary glass of champagne, my blowup pillow (not doll) and a trashy movie, this girl will be out to the world! So my friends and family, the next witty and sarcastic comments will come from the land of chocolate.... which I may or may not have to eat my weight of. Love you!

Essential and practical vs the big bad airline weight limit… and my back.

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I am all packed up! After about 2 days of pondering, thinking, matching, calculating and finding the best geometrical packing pattern to fit as many clothes as humanly possible into my backpack while being restrained by a weight limit, I am done. I swear, packing for trips like this is one of the hardest puzzles. Figuring out what stays, what can be used in multiple clothing categories, and what is just non-essential even though it’s the cutest shirt ever, but you have 5 others in the same color; men just don’t understand! It’s hard! And to answer your question, yes of course I have to bring my 4 inch heels across the Atlantic, even if it means it takes up space and weigh a ton; those are essential and practical…. Anyways, I am done and got everything in for only 37lbs! I might not be so excited when I have to carry that thing around from place to place, but… oh well, I’ll just do it in my 4 inch heels to lighten my load. (and don't worry about the other bags, they are full of gif

One Week - Let the Count Down Begin

7 days till we head off to Europe! Im so excited I can't even stand it. I haven't even started packing..... crud.

the last 3 weeks

Well, its official. Within the last 3 weeks I finished my thesis, finals, graduated with my masters degree and moved back home to Danville. Now its time to prepare for Europe round 2. 15 days left!