Well, it's back to the grind for me. Today was my first day back to classes after my awesome easter break. It's been tough getting back into the swing of things, but I guess that's what happens when you go away for as long as I did. But oh well, here's the full list of the places I went with short reactions to each....
Amsterdam - all other things aside, just a great european city, small enough to walk, big enough to have lots to do
Cologne - very beautiful, city starts right out side of the train station,
Dusseldorf - was only there for a few hours, and that was a few hours too many
Zell am See - in the Austrian alps + on a lake, need I say more?
Salzburg - Mozart, Mozart, Mozart... bit of an overkill, nice old city
Vienna - beautiful, such a rich history, could spend lots of time there
Athens - ancient ruins after ancient ruins, really puts "time" in perspective
Ithaca - ridding a scooter around mountains and the Mediterranean, need I say more?
Milan - fast, fashionable and expensive
Florence - small, artsy, really beautiful, want to go back
Rome - touristy but still a must see
Paris - booming, exciting, but with quiet neighborhoods
Where would I go back to? Paris, Ithaca, Zell am See and Athens
Where wouldn't I go back to? Rome, Salzburg, Dusseldorf
Best food? Athens (gyros for under 2 euros!)
Worst food? Milan (didn't know the system, expensive)
So that's that, now it's back to work. Ask me any questions, and I'll answer them! I could talk for ages about my trip!
Today, I got into my final stop of my trip, Paris. I'm here to see an old friend from home and to see the large chunk of the city I missed last time I was here. Since I last wrote I've been through Milan, down to Florence, down furthur to Rome and now up to Paris. Italy was great, good food, great weather, great sights/walking. But, by the time I was leaving I was ready to be out of Italy. You can only eat so much pizza, and all the resturanuts are either dreadfuly touristy, or way to expensive for a poor backpacker like myself. I did meet some of the best people in the hostels I stayed in there, though. I met two people in Florence, and ended up booking my hostel in Rome because it was the one they were going to.
I'm still taking load of pictures, how can you not keep clicking in the Vatican! When I get back and am able to hook up my camera to my laptop, I'll put up the best of the best here. (have to, can't put up all 1300!)
I have tonight, tomorrow night then I catch an afternoon train back to London! I can't believe it's gone this fast. But, I'm ready to get back to London, back to not having to look for a place to stay every night, a place to cook, a place to see people everyday. London, atleast socially, has become my home, and I'm alright with that.
After many trains, ferries and planes I now find myself in Milan! My trip is more than half over and Im now just getting the hang of traveling. Since I last updated Ive...
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been to Vienna to see Max, a friend from BU whose studying abroad there
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flew to Athens, Greece to spend a few days looking at ancient ruins
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took a ferry to Ithica to drive a scooter through mountains and along the Med.
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took another ferry (this one 19 hrs. long) to Italy
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spent a few hours in Bari, Italy waiting for a 10 hr. night train to Milan
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took about 800 pictures (really!)
Tomorrow I think Im heading to Parma, but that could change when I get to the train station!
*****Sorrz in advance for an 'wrong' letters, I'm typing this on a kezboard in Austria, some things are moved around*****
So, mz second term ended with a stressful bang! But I got through it, because I knew once it was over I would be on the road (or, rail reallz) again. I planned this trip a bit differently than any other I've taken before. I booked a flight to Amsterdam, a flight from Vienna to Athens, and a train ticket from Paris back to London, and that's it! So, reallz I have three weeks in Europe and onlz two places to be!
Hereäs how it's gone so far....
Flew to Amsterdam, got in a bit late and grabbed a room at the first hostel that had one (even though it was a bit too close to the Red Light District for my liking), took a train to Koln (or Cologne) spent a few hours there, then jumped another train to Dosseldorf to catch an overnight train to Munich. There I hung out long enough to eat breakfast and catch another train to where I am now, Zell am See, Austria. Think, Alps, a big lake, quaint town and great hostel!
Tomorrow I'm off to Vienna to see a friend from Butler who is studying there this semester. Then it's to Athens the next day!
Iäm taking lots of pictures, but will have to wait to upload then until i get back to London! I will update everz few dazs though, so keep checking for where I am!
Coming in on my 6th month here it's hard not to get homesick every once in a while. I found somethings make it worse (seeing the movie Juno where the character is chugging "Sunny D" hit home) and somethings make it better. Two of the things I've found that make my homesickness better are listening to the podcasts of This American Life and reading The Onion online.
This American Life (or TAL), is a show produced in Chicago and broadcasted on NPR. The format is simple, pick a topic, have three or four stories relating to that topic. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's sad but it's always worth a listen. The show they broadcasted a few weeks ago was called "Tough Room." Premis is simple, three situtations where one was faced with a "tough room" in some way. The first story was about the writters at The Onion, a satire/lampoon paper/website that mocks everyday life and current events. I won't spoil the story, because it's funnier to listen to than it is for me to re-tell it, but the story reminded me that I should start reading The Onion again. I thought it would just be another way of wasting time online, but it turned out to be a way for me to, for a few minutes, be back in the states. The humor in the stories is very American, and something I will always find funny no matter where I am.
I think I'm allergic to Valentine's Day. Last year I woke up on Valentine's day to find myself feeling kind of sick. By lunch, I cleared my schedule as much as possible. By dinner I was moving only when I had to. I spent the weekend laying on my floor (I decided it was too much of a chore to climb all the way up to the top bunk to fall asleep), only getting up to go play drums in a show on campus.
This year I woke up and felt kind of sick, but I had to make the 30 min. journey to college (yay London traffic!) to take a test. After the test I had to go to Hamley's (the best toystore ever) to buy a present for my girlfriend. By the time I got back to my dorm (again another 30 min. journey) I was clearing my schedule and heading back to bed.
Coincidence? I think not. I think I'm allergic to Valentine's Day.
...as promised here are few (of the hundreds) pictures from my travels with my brother and friends...
My brother and I flew from London to Paris, then caught a train into the city
We saw the Eiffel Tower...
Then we went to Amsterdam to meet our two friends...
...amsterdam by night, very beautiful...
Then we went to Berlin and saw the wall, we spent Christmas there...
Then my brother and I flew back to London to meet my parents and run around the city doing all the touristy stuff for a few days
...like ride the London Eye!...
...and the Tower of London/Tower Bridge!
...next break brings more traveling and pictures!
Ok, I know I haven't updated this in a while, so here's a quick, clif-notes version of (nearly) everything I've done in the past month.......
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traveled to Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin with my brother and two friends from home
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had my family in London for a few days over Christmas
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took hordes of pictures (will be put up soon, really)
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started classes again
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turned 21!
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DJed a night at the bar here at college
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got the oppertunity to go to Scotland for free to write music for a Recorder ensemble in late April
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made plans to travel more
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...and more
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...and more
ok, pictures up soon (really)!
Our first term officially ended last Friday. It feels good to be done, but it also feels like I shouldn't be. Since I'm at a conservatory (re: all music, no academics) there are no finals. Yes, NO FINALS. But, in a weird way, I missed them. Yeah I'm learning a lot, and I've gotten a lot done this term, but it feels very anti-climatic to finish a term with no big tests, or high levels of stress. So what do I do now? Well, keep working. I'm knee deep in writing a piece, and I have a few projects to get started for next term. Other than that I have lots of travelling to do. Later this week two friends from back home are coming out, then next week my brother is coming out and we're doing Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin in a week then heading back to London to meet up with my parents. Expect lots of pictures and lots of stories (some of which I'm guessing I won't be able to post here).
Everyone keeps asking me if I celebrated thanksgiving. I did, and it was, well different. We had the turkey with all the fixings and a flat full of good people, but no one else was celebrating. Here are some pictures, the only other American is Michael, the one in the red Philly's hat. Him and I cooked the whole dinner.
Mike and I in the kitchen, things got heated
The group (L to R): Dave, Tristan, Me, Mike, Drew, Fernando, Mike
Mike, flying at Mike
A few weeks ago was Guy Fawkes Night (aka bonfire night). Read about Guy Fawkes. There was a midway with rides, food places, games, etc. but everything was way expensive.
But there were fireworks!
Then after words we went back to the pub! Here's a long exposure picture I took with some people and their sparklers.
okokok, more to come later!
I realized yesterday that it has been almost two weeks since I posted here! Once I got back from Spain, school hit hard. I've either been working, practicing, composing, or seeing concerts non-stop for the past two weeks, and it doesn't seem like it's going to let up anytime soon. Some of the highlights from the past two weeks include:
Getting lots of work done on a Percussion/Chamber group piece (which I'm writing for Alex)
Seeing a piece by Luigi Nono at the Southbank Center (great piece, great venue)
Seeing Evelyn Glennie play a concerto written by Christopher Rouse with the London Symphony Orchestra (good performance, bad bad bad piece)
Seeing 15 world premiers written by my friends from the RCM at the National Portrait Gallery
and lots lots lots more.
ok, back to work, I'm heading to a party tonight that's being thrown by a choreographer a friend and I are working with.
Here are a few (of the over 200) pictures I took while in Spain:
The first night I was on my own to order/eat dinner. I knew pollo was chicken, and could deduce some other things, but really I had no idea what I was ordering. It was all really good though.
The third day we drove to Salamnaca. The drive was great, really beautiful country. We rented a small European stick-shift, which I learned to drive by the end.
Here is the entry way to the University in Salamnaca. Click for the bigger picture, the facade was very detailed.
Here's a panoramic I took/pieced together from the top of a church we toured in Salamnaca. The city was very old and very cool.
That night I saw a guy spinning fire in one of the Plazas in Madrid. I decided to be artsy and take long exposure photos.
The next (and sadly last) day Fernando and I went to a football match (soccer game for you Americans). The match was great Real Madrid won 4-2.
The stadium's food was provided by Aramark! But, luckly it was good food...not that the food at Butler is bad or anything...
Finaly, here is a panoramic from the balcony of the hostel where I stayed. The hostel was very nice, and inexpensive.
So that's it, if you want more there's some on Facebook. If you add me as a friend, let me know that you know me from here, so I don't think you're just some random person friending me for no reason.
On Monday, my second day in Madrid, I found myself in my hostel around 11:00 pm. Fernando and I had been walking around the city all afternoon, and I was considering going to bed. But part of me refused to let myself do that. So I decided to go find a bar and have a mojito. The bar I found was a small, local place. I ordered my drink and sat down at a table a little away from the bar. A little while later an older, bald, squat man came up to my table. My highschool-Spanish allowed me to tell him that I could only speak a little bit of Spanish (hablo poco espanol), he could speak English so we started a conversation. I ended up sitting by him at the bar for a few hours chatting about this and that. He happened to be a lover of classical music, and a friend of a cello player in the Madrid orchestra. He offered to buy me another drink, but after one mojito, and having to navigate back to my hostel, I knew another would not be good. So I declined, but told him if he was here Wednesday he could buy me one then.
Wednesday I showed up, and there he was, same spot at the bar, drinking the same beer. This time our conversation was more about American politics (he doesn't like Bush, Obama, or Guliani), Spanish politics (bad city government, good national government), Spanish food (great, cheep) and where the most beautiful girls in Spain are (the south). By the time I left, again around 1:30 am I felt like I really learned a lot about Spain - more than most tourists who just come and snap pictures, read pamphlets and leave.
I got back from Spain yesterday. It was amazing. Here's a shot list of things I did/saw:
- Sol, the center of Madrid/Spain
- Plaza Mayor, a very cool, open European plaza
- Real Madrid match, we won 4-2, lots of fun
- Piccaso's Guernica, huge, haunting GREAT!
- learned to drive a stickshift on the road betweeen Madrid and Santamanica
- took lots of pictures (link coming soon!)
- walked and walked and walked
That's all for now, more details/pictures later.
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