I'm back from London. I really have nothing exciting to add to all that I have written so far. I did sleep on a couch last night. My flight was on time. See? Not exciting.
Slightly more exciting is that I made a picture album on facebook. One could check that out by clicking this link. That's all from here.
Monday, November 26
Sunday, November 25
London Days 3 and 4
Lots o' fun was had over the last two days. Yesterday was so good that I can't really remember what all I did. Actually, we didn't do all that much. We had a huge breakfast that was semi-English style, because we included beans in the meal. After that, we lounged around for awhile, and a group of us (two kids from the Oxford Program, a kid from Dublin, one girl in the London Program, and myself) headed over to the Tower of London, and after waiting in line for about an hour, we got in and did the whole tour thing. We were led around by one of the Beefeaters, and he was especially chummy and entertaining. We then saw the crown jewels and a bunch of guns in there. Royals, guns, and money.
We then headed to the Cheshire Cheese, which is one of the oldest pubs in London. I had some onion rings there (like 4 pounds... oh God I paid 8 bucks for onion rings) as well as a delicious bitter. The pub was the ultimate English pub. Great fun. From there, we walked back up the road to St. Paul's, where we tried to listen to some choir song thing. I say tried, because a few minutes after we got in, someone pulled a fire alarm or something and we got kicked out. Darn. We rode the bus back to the apartments, and after going to a grocery store, Chad and I cooked a huge feast combining ground beef, onions, peppers, some special spice, and tomatoes. We had no idea what we were making, but it turned out delicious, and everyone who ate it was impressed. So were we. While we were cooking, Durst managed to find some stolen slingbox feed of college football games, so we watched college football all night! I seriously miss that stuff. Chad and Durst went out to some pub, but a lot of us stayed in (maybe 10 kids), because the ND game was on. We won! After that, bedtime.
This morning we headed out to see the changing of the guard at Buckinham Palace at 11. Crowds blocked my view, generally, but it was still pretty cool to see what I saw. From there, we split up, and I headed over to the Westminster Abbey area while the rest of the group went to Trafalger, where I'd already been. I was starving, so I tried to find somewhere to eat. Incredibly, it took like 15 minutes to find a grocery store or anywhere with food really in that area. It felt like forever, because I was dying. Anyways, after eating, I made my way back to the Abbey, only to realize that it is not open for tourism on Sunday. Darn. I met back up with the crew at some pub near Trafalger, and from there we tubed out to Fulham, to watch Fulham FC, my favorite Premier League team (because they have my favorite player, Clint Dempsey He's the skinny white guy in the video. Great unintentional comedy). They tied Blackburn 2-2. Very good time. Me likey soccer. Anyways, we came back, and here I am. I need to go eat.
We then headed to the Cheshire Cheese, which is one of the oldest pubs in London. I had some onion rings there (like 4 pounds... oh God I paid 8 bucks for onion rings) as well as a delicious bitter. The pub was the ultimate English pub. Great fun. From there, we walked back up the road to St. Paul's, where we tried to listen to some choir song thing. I say tried, because a few minutes after we got in, someone pulled a fire alarm or something and we got kicked out. Darn. We rode the bus back to the apartments, and after going to a grocery store, Chad and I cooked a huge feast combining ground beef, onions, peppers, some special spice, and tomatoes. We had no idea what we were making, but it turned out delicious, and everyone who ate it was impressed. So were we. While we were cooking, Durst managed to find some stolen slingbox feed of college football games, so we watched college football all night! I seriously miss that stuff. Chad and Durst went out to some pub, but a lot of us stayed in (maybe 10 kids), because the ND game was on. We won! After that, bedtime.
This morning we headed out to see the changing of the guard at Buckinham Palace at 11. Crowds blocked my view, generally, but it was still pretty cool to see what I saw. From there, we split up, and I headed over to the Westminster Abbey area while the rest of the group went to Trafalger, where I'd already been. I was starving, so I tried to find somewhere to eat. Incredibly, it took like 15 minutes to find a grocery store or anywhere with food really in that area. It felt like forever, because I was dying. Anyways, after eating, I made my way back to the Abbey, only to realize that it is not open for tourism on Sunday. Darn. I met back up with the crew at some pub near Trafalger, and from there we tubed out to Fulham, to watch Fulham FC, my favorite Premier League team (because they have my favorite player, Clint Dempsey He's the skinny white guy in the video. Great unintentional comedy). They tied Blackburn 2-2. Very good time. Me likey soccer. Anyways, we came back, and here I am. I need to go eat.
Saturday, November 24
London day #2
Yesterday was a pretty good time as well. Chad took me around, and we blew through the British Museum in about 20 minutes, then headed to the National Gallery and saw some neat paintings. From there we walked about 200 feet to the Notre Dame London center, which has an unreal location. Apparently Notre Dame outbid Germany or some comparable country (maybe France, I can't remember) for the building. It is very nice, way better than JCU.
Then Chad and I went to this War Cabinet museum that also has a Churchill Museum attached. That may have been one of the neatest museums I have ever been to. The War Cabinet museum is this underground bunker that Churchill and the rest of the War Cabinet made a bunch of their war plans during WWII. It is apparently essentially exactly as it was. A lot of the stuff down there was left by those guys after the war ended, and they restored the rest. Very cool. The Churchill Museum was also very impressive. It is only a couple of years old, and has recently won a bunch of "best museum" awards. It has this long, interactive computer (about 30 feet long) that has all the years of Churchill's life on it. You choose a year, and all the months pop up. You choose a month, and there's practically a fact on what he did at least half the days of his life. Ridiculous amounts of research must have gone into that.
We essentially skipped lunch. It was 3 PM by the time that we got out of the museum, and after walking through Hyde Park (and seeing the Peter Pan statue!), we were back at the apartments around 4. We chilled for awhile, and then a couple of kids from ND that I kind of know showed up from Oxford and Dublin. We ended up hanging out all night last night, and it was a really good time. First we ate some stir fry that Chad cooked up (eating out here is ridiculously expensive... and the dollar continues to make it even more expensive. Jeez, it's 1.49 right now to the euro! Pretty soon my card won't let me take out 200 euro at a time even if I wanted to. Ugh.), and then we went out to some pub. It was packed with ND kids, because some student was having a birthday. From there we went to another pub (the London kids here drink a lot, more than our program. I think they need the energy from drinking, because the food ain't so hot here), and then we went to a hookah bar. We stayed there for an hour and a half, and then walked a few blocks back to the apartments. It was really, really cold last night, so when we finally went inside, it felt fantastic. One of my new friends thinks I have some kind of syndrome or something that she said she has because my hands and feet were whiter than snow by the time we got in. I think I just have low blood pressure. Whatever.
By that point it was pretty late, and we started a movie, but after about 15 minutes I was ready to pass out (and some other kids were already asleep), so I went upstairs. Perhaps the most important moment of the night were those 15 minutes I was sitting there watching the movie, because in front of me was a Physiology book. I was flipping through it, and the only thing I could think of was "my God, I have no interest in this at all." So, yeah, maybe medical school isn't for me after all.
Then Chad and I went to this War Cabinet museum that also has a Churchill Museum attached. That may have been one of the neatest museums I have ever been to. The War Cabinet museum is this underground bunker that Churchill and the rest of the War Cabinet made a bunch of their war plans during WWII. It is apparently essentially exactly as it was. A lot of the stuff down there was left by those guys after the war ended, and they restored the rest. Very cool. The Churchill Museum was also very impressive. It is only a couple of years old, and has recently won a bunch of "best museum" awards. It has this long, interactive computer (about 30 feet long) that has all the years of Churchill's life on it. You choose a year, and all the months pop up. You choose a month, and there's practically a fact on what he did at least half the days of his life. Ridiculous amounts of research must have gone into that.
We essentially skipped lunch. It was 3 PM by the time that we got out of the museum, and after walking through Hyde Park (and seeing the Peter Pan statue!), we were back at the apartments around 4. We chilled for awhile, and then a couple of kids from ND that I kind of know showed up from Oxford and Dublin. We ended up hanging out all night last night, and it was a really good time. First we ate some stir fry that Chad cooked up (eating out here is ridiculously expensive... and the dollar continues to make it even more expensive. Jeez, it's 1.49 right now to the euro! Pretty soon my card won't let me take out 200 euro at a time even if I wanted to. Ugh.), and then we went out to some pub. It was packed with ND kids, because some student was having a birthday. From there we went to another pub (the London kids here drink a lot, more than our program. I think they need the energy from drinking, because the food ain't so hot here), and then we went to a hookah bar. We stayed there for an hour and a half, and then walked a few blocks back to the apartments. It was really, really cold last night, so when we finally went inside, it felt fantastic. One of my new friends thinks I have some kind of syndrome or something that she said she has because my hands and feet were whiter than snow by the time we got in. I think I just have low blood pressure. Whatever.
By that point it was pretty late, and we started a movie, but after about 15 minutes I was ready to pass out (and some other kids were already asleep), so I went upstairs. Perhaps the most important moment of the night were those 15 minutes I was sitting there watching the movie, because in front of me was a Physiology book. I was flipping through it, and the only thing I could think of was "my God, I have no interest in this at all." So, yeah, maybe medical school isn't for me after all.
Friday, November 23
London day #1
So far, so good on the London front. Most of the day was spent in transit, but my flight from Ciampino to Stansted (30 euro round trip!) was actually ahead of schedule. From there I took the Easybus to Baker Street, which is located conveniently near the apartment building with the ND kids. After walking about a half-mile, I called Mark Durst, and he met me outside the building. I went up to his room, dropped my stuff off, and we immediately went to the grocery store. There I bought a pastry and a wrap, because I was starving. Aside from a banana, I hadn't eaten in 9 hours. That's just not right on Thanksgiving. After that, we went back to the apartment, where I rested on a couch in Durst's room.
Eventually Chad, who is my official host of the weekend, showed up from class, so I went upstairs to his flat (floor 9). The rest of the afternoon/ early evening was spent in preparation for the Thanksgiving feast. I had the totally wrong idea of what the ND london dinner was, but that's okay. Apparently, we had to cook, but they provided the food with instructions. Well, we are ND students and all, so we can follow orders pretty well. The dinner was excellent. Truly... it was no Thanksgiving at the hall, but the turkey was actually better. I was pleasantly surprised.
We cooked for 12, and they provided us with a whole hell of a lot of potatoes, turkey, wine (ND subsidized alcohol!), stuffing, spinich stuff, cranberry sauce, gravy, and some veggies, as well as pumpkin pie. I probably ate two days worth of calories in about 20 minutes. It was by far the fastest Thanksgiving meal of my life, and I paid for it (and am still currently paying for it) for the next couple of hours. But it was totally worth it.
Eventually Chad, who is my official host of the weekend, showed up from class, so I went upstairs to his flat (floor 9). The rest of the afternoon/ early evening was spent in preparation for the Thanksgiving feast. I had the totally wrong idea of what the ND london dinner was, but that's okay. Apparently, we had to cook, but they provided the food with instructions. Well, we are ND students and all, so we can follow orders pretty well. The dinner was excellent. Truly... it was no Thanksgiving at the hall, but the turkey was actually better. I was pleasantly surprised.
We cooked for 12, and they provided us with a whole hell of a lot of potatoes, turkey, wine (ND subsidized alcohol!), stuffing, spinich stuff, cranberry sauce, gravy, and some veggies, as well as pumpkin pie. I probably ate two days worth of calories in about 20 minutes. It was by far the fastest Thanksgiving meal of my life, and I paid for it (and am still currently paying for it) for the next couple of hours. But it was totally worth it.
Thursday, November 22
London
I wonder who's commenting sometimes. If you do leave a comment, try to remember to leave your name. It'd make things a lot less confusing.
It's 6:23 in the morning here. I did not sleep too well last night. I suppose its anticipation of my trip to London, which will start in a few hours, but I haven't been sleeping all that well recently anyways. Lots of stress about the whole picking classes stuff. Lots of worrying about that, which probably isn't so great for my health/sanity.
I hope everyone has a pleasant Thanksgiving. I'll be with 100+ of my closest ND friends in London. I hope the meal is delicious.
It's 6:23 in the morning here. I did not sleep too well last night. I suppose its anticipation of my trip to London, which will start in a few hours, but I haven't been sleeping all that well recently anyways. Lots of stress about the whole picking classes stuff. Lots of worrying about that, which probably isn't so great for my health/sanity.
I hope everyone has a pleasant Thanksgiving. I'll be with 100+ of my closest ND friends in London. I hope the meal is delicious.
Saturday, November 17
The Evil Empire
Ohio State beat Michigan. Bummer. More importantly, however, Notre Dame is winning the Duke Super Bowl 14-0 at the half! UPDATE: WE WON! Jimmy Clausen is finally looking like Football Jesus, or at least that's what the radio guys are making it sound like. Hooray!
I had a very good time at Abbey Theater watching the game. It was completely packed: not only was the Ohio State-Michigan game on, but also an Italy-Scotland Euro 2008 game. Still, most people were there for The Game. Lots of English speakers. About 10 minutes after I sat down, a kid from St. Thomas in Minnesota sat down across the table from me after I offered him the seat. We had a pretty lively conversation for the first half. The kid is studying to go into the seminary. Very nice kid. As he was taking off, he says "Jamie, it's a pleasure to meet you. Oh, and don't pay for your beer." There was a second of general confusion; I thought he saw the waiter spit in it or something. After he saw the puzzled look on my face, as he walks out he says "I picked it up already". He says this as he walks right out of the crowded bar. He scurried off as I tried to catch up to him. Nice guy.
Also talked to an Asian couple; the guy went to UM. Turns out they're on their honeymoon. "He really owes me," said the newlywed bride.
I had a very good time at Abbey Theater watching the game. It was completely packed: not only was the Ohio State-Michigan game on, but also an Italy-Scotland Euro 2008 game. Still, most people were there for The Game. Lots of English speakers. About 10 minutes after I sat down, a kid from St. Thomas in Minnesota sat down across the table from me after I offered him the seat. We had a pretty lively conversation for the first half. The kid is studying to go into the seminary. Very nice kid. As he was taking off, he says "Jamie, it's a pleasure to meet you. Oh, and don't pay for your beer." There was a second of general confusion; I thought he saw the waiter spit in it or something. After he saw the puzzled look on my face, as he walks out he says "I picked it up already". He says this as he walks right out of the crowded bar. He scurried off as I tried to catch up to him. Nice guy.
Also talked to an Asian couple; the guy went to UM. Turns out they're on their honeymoon. "He really owes me," said the newlywed bride.
I love ND
Reason 32345 why I love Notre Dame: I am walking down Corso Vittorio Emmanuele after working out, in my ND gym shorts, just breezily walking along, when through my allegedly sound-blocking headphones I hear a loud "GO IRISH!". I turn around, and I had blown by a family of about six or seven, and nearly all of them are wearing some form of ND gear.
We proceed to have a 15 minute conversation. This is totally normal; when you have ND in common, it is really easy to have a long conversation with a group of complete strangers. In Rome. I would say it it's weird, but at this point I have gotten used to it.
It was some family just on a family vacation. Their kid was an ND transfer, came into Dillon, transferred into Knott (not. cool.), graduated last year. Of course, they seemed like charming, nice people.
Anyways, I just wanted to blog that, because stuff like that happens more often than one would think, and I might forget it. I'm off to go watch Michigan play Ohio State. Go Blue, send Lloyd out with a win. Of course, Lloyd, Mike Hart, and Chad Henne are the last remaining things from my old intense fandom with UM... it'll be odd seeing them go.
We proceed to have a 15 minute conversation. This is totally normal; when you have ND in common, it is really easy to have a long conversation with a group of complete strangers. In Rome. I would say it it's weird, but at this point I have gotten used to it.
It was some family just on a family vacation. Their kid was an ND transfer, came into Dillon, transferred into Knott (not. cool.), graduated last year. Of course, they seemed like charming, nice people.
Anyways, I just wanted to blog that, because stuff like that happens more often than one would think, and I might forget it. I'm off to go watch Michigan play Ohio State. Go Blue, send Lloyd out with a win. Of course, Lloyd, Mike Hart, and Chad Henne are the last remaining things from my old intense fandom with UM... it'll be odd seeing them go.
Friday, November 16
Pizzeria Est! Est! Est!
Today was a fairly (actually very) lazy day. Cold, very cold outside, so I didn't leave the room until dinner time. I did watch a lot of the Sopranos, season 5, however. Good stuff. Also chilled out online, talking to some friends in the states. Chris had a hectic day: I was talking to him last night, and he was working on a paper, then I went to bed, woke up, was up for two hours, got online, and he was still at the library at 4:30 in the morning (his time) working on that same paper. That is part of my idea of hell.
Anyways, I was getting a little stir crazy in the room, and I got the other three guys who are here this weekend from my room (Joel, Brian, and Edguardo Pizzaro aka Pizza) to go out to pizzeria Est! Est! Est!, which is supposed to be one of the better pizzerias in Rome. It was, in fact, delicious stuff. I had a calzone, and their calzone was better than Baffetto's. Also, they had an excellent table wine (the Est! Est! Est! is a white wine). And that got me thinking: when I go back home, I won't be able to legally drink for six months. How incredibly patronizing is that dumb law!? Yeah yeah yeah, MADD has those statistic thingies, but who cares about those drunk driving accidents: give me liberty or give me death! Or, in this case, maybe both! In all seriousness, however, it is fairly ridiculous. I'm not a big drinker at all, but, I mean, c'mon people. It's about time that law changed back. Or, even better, make the legal age something closer to, oh, about 12. Europeans handle themselves way better with alcohol than Americans, and that may have something to do with it.
After dinner, I took a stroll by myself back home. My roomies wanted out of the cold, and hopped on the metro before it stopped running. I went by the Trevi Fountain, and nobody was there! At 9 on a Friday night! This city is dead. Same thing with Piazza Navona. It's amazing how few tourists there are here compared to only a month ago when my parents were here (it was a month ago that my parents were here? Oh God, where has the time gone?).
Thursday, November 15
Still here
Yes, I am still alive, despite soccer riots and other Italian excitement. Today I worked and finished a paper for Italian. Also worked out and went down to the library at school and found out a book I need isn't in, so I can't do another paper I wanted to write this weekend. So it was like a day at Notre Dame, except for the crappy library part. If I were at Notre Dame, I wouldn't go to the library. I've only been 2x for academic purposes in 2 years, after all.
Sunday, November 11
Another (not so) lazy Sunday
This weekend, aside from the Tivoli trip, was very quiet. Lots of going to bed early, waking up early, and getting work done. I wrote three papers. I despise you JCU, you and that work stuff.
I really wish I had something more exciting to blog about. Aha, I do! Last night, instead of going out (admittedly, this isn't starting off so exciting after all), I was online and set up my travels with Max and Sadie. PDS Europe field trip 2007 will involve stops in Madrid (where I fly into December 15th, a day before Max and Sadie get there), Barcelona, Berlin, and Munich. Munich should be especially fun, because they have a bunch of Christmas-y stuff. Though I guess I haven't looked into things like that in the other cities, maybe it will be there as well. Total accomodations are going to only be about 120 euro (which is about 15 dollars more expensive now than when I got here. I will just suppress my anger about this for now. Damn you economics, damn you.), but travel is surprisingly expensive: the train from Berlin to Munich is 70 euro. Luckily, we found a flight from Barca to Berlin for 30 euro. We still need to get the ticket from Madrid to Barcelona. All things considered, however, it will be good fun for a reasonable price.
Now all I need to do is firm up plans for after the ski week with my parents. I'm not all that sure that I need to go to Switzerland any more. I had my permesso di soggiorno unintentionally stamped while traveling to the Czech Republic, which may have been a blessing in disguise. I believe that makes me a tourist now, and my tourist visa works for 3 months after I got stamped back into the Schenegen zone, so I should be fine... but I may want to go to Switzerland anyways. We'll see. These are things I need to discuss with Konstantin. He, however, did invite me to stay with him in Stuttgart, and I think he meant the entire week. We'll see. Either way, I'm excited to see Spain, Germany, and the Austrian and maybe Swiss Alps after the semester. This semester abroad has been quite the lucky blessing. Not to mention not having to go through the ND football season this year...
I really wish I had something more exciting to blog about. Aha, I do! Last night, instead of going out (admittedly, this isn't starting off so exciting after all), I was online and set up my travels with Max and Sadie. PDS Europe field trip 2007 will involve stops in Madrid (where I fly into December 15th, a day before Max and Sadie get there), Barcelona, Berlin, and Munich. Munich should be especially fun, because they have a bunch of Christmas-y stuff. Though I guess I haven't looked into things like that in the other cities, maybe it will be there as well. Total accomodations are going to only be about 120 euro (which is about 15 dollars more expensive now than when I got here. I will just suppress my anger about this for now. Damn you economics, damn you.), but travel is surprisingly expensive: the train from Berlin to Munich is 70 euro. Luckily, we found a flight from Barca to Berlin for 30 euro. We still need to get the ticket from Madrid to Barcelona. All things considered, however, it will be good fun for a reasonable price.
Now all I need to do is firm up plans for after the ski week with my parents. I'm not all that sure that I need to go to Switzerland any more. I had my permesso di soggiorno unintentionally stamped while traveling to the Czech Republic, which may have been a blessing in disguise. I believe that makes me a tourist now, and my tourist visa works for 3 months after I got stamped back into the Schenegen zone, so I should be fine... but I may want to go to Switzerland anyways. We'll see. These are things I need to discuss with Konstantin. He, however, did invite me to stay with him in Stuttgart, and I think he meant the entire week. We'll see. Either way, I'm excited to see Spain, Germany, and the Austrian and maybe Swiss Alps after the semester. This semester abroad has been quite the lucky blessing. Not to mention not having to go through the ND football season this year...
Friday, November 9
Tivoli
So I spent today at Tivoli and Hadrian's Villa. Very, very neat ruins. I liked them more than Pompeii. The picture comes from the Villa d'Este, which may have one of the coolest backyards ever. Very worthwhile trip.
Another highlight of the day was the meal we (a group of 7 JCU students, 2 archies, and Maria Younes, the ND contact for Rome) had at the expense of Mr. Nanovic, the benefactor of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at ND. Anything we wanted at this really nice restaurant in Tivoli was on the house. My meal probably cost over 40 euro, including wine/water/bread. Hooray for really weathly people subsidizing at-least-somewhat wealthy people! I had steak for the first time since getting here, and red meat tasted delicious. Also had a tiramisu for the first time this trip (I'm not quite sure why that is the case; I suppose gelato has been doing just fine so far), and it was easily the best tiramisu I've ever had. Three cheers for Mr. Nanovic.
The rest of the weekend is not looking so promising. I wrote a paper yesterday, and I have 4 papers to write in the next two weekends, so I'm hoping to finish one tomorrow and one Sunday. We shall see how that goes.
Thursday, November 8
Class selections
Okay, I will admit: the whole "reading maps" thing was rude. Moving along. Actually, everyone was fairly responsible and compentent on the trip; we never really lost anybody for an extended period of time, which meant minimal worries, which made life really nicer than it would have been otherwise. Apologies.
Internet is down at Medag. We are again reminded of how reliant we are on the tubes. Life is way more boring without them, and my email box fills up way too fast when I am getting online only 2 or 3 times a day, instead of the normal constant checking. Also, the google reader fills up too. Too many things to do; too little time with the tubes here at JCU.
Class this week was painless, once again. I have five papers to write over the next two weekends, but they are reasonable, I suppose. I want to finish them off so I can travel to London over Thanksgiving weekend and then Budapest the following weekend without worries.
The big development of the week is that the classes for next semester have been released. This is leading to the annual Jamie McGinnis Existential Crisis (copyright 2005). I, of course, have no idea what I want to do with my life. Actually, I am currently doing the only thing I have ever wanted to do with my life. It's going really well, but unfortunately it seems that there's not really much of a future in it. So, pretty much, I am at a crossroads. I have some options.
Option 1: I could do Physics 1 next semester, Organic Chem next summer (this is recommended by Shauna, a girl who is studying here now), Physics 2 and bio senior year, and I would have all the premed requirements. I would have to take a year off after school to take the MCAT/ apply to med schools, but that isn't the worst thing in the world. Doing this would not really eat into my schedule, because I'm doing fine on my major. If ND made me do some science electives to pick up the Arts and Letters Preprofessional major, I would probably have to go an extra semester. I don't think they would make me do this.
Option 2: I could try to pick up a Poly Sci major as well. I would probably have to overload, because I would have to take 9 poly sci classes, 3 econ classes, write my thesis, and 1 art class before graduating. This is still not unreasonable, because even if I took a normal amount of classes, I would have 15 classes left before graduation. It's certainly doable. With this option, I have no idea what I would do next summer. This is what I call the Law School-likely option.
Option 3: I could simply finish out my Econ major. This would be unbelievably easy. I would have 3 econ classes, my thesis, and an art history class to graduate. Spacing this out over three semesters, I could do this in my sleep. If I do this, I really have no reason to go to 2nd semester next year, because I will almost certainly be done by next December. This is the Law School/private sector/ econ grad school/ minimal-thought-required option. Here I would probably try to get an internship with some consulting firm over the summer, to see if I like that.
Usually, I am fairly decisive. Not with this. Any thoughts? Leave some comments, or email jmcginni@nd.edu.
Internet is down at Medag. We are again reminded of how reliant we are on the tubes. Life is way more boring without them, and my email box fills up way too fast when I am getting online only 2 or 3 times a day, instead of the normal constant checking. Also, the google reader fills up too. Too many things to do; too little time with the tubes here at JCU.
Class this week was painless, once again. I have five papers to write over the next two weekends, but they are reasonable, I suppose. I want to finish them off so I can travel to London over Thanksgiving weekend and then Budapest the following weekend without worries.
The big development of the week is that the classes for next semester have been released. This is leading to the annual Jamie McGinnis Existential Crisis (copyright 2005). I, of course, have no idea what I want to do with my life. Actually, I am currently doing the only thing I have ever wanted to do with my life. It's going really well, but unfortunately it seems that there's not really much of a future in it. So, pretty much, I am at a crossroads. I have some options.
Option 1: I could do Physics 1 next semester, Organic Chem next summer (this is recommended by Shauna, a girl who is studying here now), Physics 2 and bio senior year, and I would have all the premed requirements. I would have to take a year off after school to take the MCAT/ apply to med schools, but that isn't the worst thing in the world. Doing this would not really eat into my schedule, because I'm doing fine on my major. If ND made me do some science electives to pick up the Arts and Letters Preprofessional major, I would probably have to go an extra semester. I don't think they would make me do this.
Option 2: I could try to pick up a Poly Sci major as well. I would probably have to overload, because I would have to take 9 poly sci classes, 3 econ classes, write my thesis, and 1 art class before graduating. This is still not unreasonable, because even if I took a normal amount of classes, I would have 15 classes left before graduation. It's certainly doable. With this option, I have no idea what I would do next summer. This is what I call the Law School-likely option.
Option 3: I could simply finish out my Econ major. This would be unbelievably easy. I would have 3 econ classes, my thesis, and an art history class to graduate. Spacing this out over three semesters, I could do this in my sleep. If I do this, I really have no reason to go to 2nd semester next year, because I will almost certainly be done by next December. This is the Law School/private sector/ econ grad school/ minimal-thought-required option. Here I would probably try to get an internship with some consulting firm over the summer, to see if I like that.
Usually, I am fairly decisive. Not with this. Any thoughts? Leave some comments, or email jmcginni@nd.edu.
Tuesday, November 6
Vienna
I have a test in less than 2 hours that I feel completely unprepared for. So study? Nah. I'll blog.
Our first night in Vienna, Dan and I went out and got some kebabs while everyone else settled in. We then went to bed. Whooo hooo party.
The next morning, the whole group went to some sweet arty cafe in the Old Town area for breakfast. The cake and coffee were not especially memorable, and the price was even worse (7.50), but it was still worth it to have a very Viennese coffee morning. They even had the newspapers out and the dudes in ties serving and whatnot. After that, we split up. Dan, Michelle, and I headed to St. Stephens while the girls went out to go see the horses prance around in the Hofburg Palace, the old home of the Hapsburg Dynasty. We saw a sweet view of Vienna (pictures are two posts back in the picture post), and then went down to go see if we could meet up with the girls at the palace. Success. We then went into one of the palace tours, where we saw a whole lot of plates and other silverware (and goldware, I suppose, if that is a word), and saw some other old imperial rooms. They were really, really loaded. It was fairly disgusting.
Dan and I blew through the exhibits, mainly because we were bored and one of the things was this really long exhibit on some old Hapsburg princess who reminded me a lot of Princess Diana. She died young (she was assassinated) and people ascribed far too much meaning to her life post-mortem. Also, she spent a lot of time on her appearance and whined a lot about how hard it was to be a princess. Actually, she was exactly like Princess Diana. Anyways, Dan and I went out and explored for a bit, and the girls finally came out of the museum about half an hour after we were done. After that, we played around in a park in the Hofburg. Tons and tons of leaves were on the ground, so it was war. Good times, good times.
After eating delicious hot dogs, brats, and kebabs, we headed to the Belvedere Gardens, where we looked at some pretty flora and whatnot. Any time we can get some stuff like that, we take it, because Rome has very little green. Sadly, it is November, and a lot of plants were dead. Still, it was all right. After we split up at the Gardens, we got lost as a group. It took us a good hour to all meet up, and from there we decided to go to the Opera, because we weren't sure how far ahead of time we had to get there to get the cheap standing room only seats.
Luckily, we arrived early enough. There was already a pretty big line when we got there, about an hour before the tickets went on sale around 6:20 (they should have gone on sale at 6, but it is a government-run Opera house). We ended up getting 2 euro balcony tickets to the show, Tosca. What a steal. And by steal, I kind of mean it: the whole thing is totally subsidized, so my cheap opera experience came on the backs of the Austrian taxpayer. Hooray!
Between getting our tickets and going to the show, we ate at the Mozart cafe, one of the two swankiest cafes in Vienna (that and the Sacher cafe, as in Sacher torte). The cakes there were pretty expensive, and I paid five euro for an apple strudel with hot vanilla creme sauce, but it was totally worth it. We were the only people anywhere near our age in there, and a lot of people were dressy. We were not.
Speaking of being underdressed, we went from there to the Opera house. Some people were really, really dressy. We were chilling in jeans and polar fleece. We didn't quite fit in, but we had a blast with it. I mean, what do you expect if you sell 2 euro tickets to the Opera? The building was ornate, and seeing the building made it worth the price of admission. Our view was pretty much entirely obstructed, so we amused ourselves with the actual dialogue of the opera in English translation (hilariously corny), and trying to see if we could catch any Italian phrases we understood (not really). We left after the first act.
From there, a group of nine went out to ride the famous Vienna ferris wheel. No success there; the famous old one was not up and running. Fortunately, at the base of the old wheel is a really creepy, 1960s type old amusement park. Being that it was November at night and freezing, the place was a ghost town. Totally, totally creepy. There was another ferris wheel (smaller but faster), and we rode that (check the pictures... I think there are some). We went from there to the Bermuda Triangle, a bar area that was not so cool, so we headed back to the hostel. From there, we went out to a really late dinner. Dan and I tried Weiner schnitzel (sp?) for the first time there. I figured it was appropriate (Wien = Vienna). I ended up having some for lunch the next day, too.
The next morning, we went to another swanky cafe and got more expensive cake (see the food porn pictures... they are amazing). I paid over 6 dollars for a piece of cake. Oh God. But it was delicious. From that cafe, we went to Starbucks, where a lot of people got their American coffee fix. From there we broke up with the understanding that we would meet at 6:15 at the hostel, because our train home was taking off at 7:35 (we double-checked this time). My rest of the day was pretty much exploration. Michelle, Teresa, and I went through a beautiful park on the East side of the city to some incredibly weird but awesome house that was built without straight lines or flat areas. Yeah. It's way cooler in person than in theory. It's all painted up and everything... wow, my descriptions are worthless, but check the pictures. That might help.
After that, we split up. I was all alone for the rest of my time in Vienna, which was actually really nice after a lot of hustle and bustle. I rode the loop tram around the city once, which provided some cool peoplewatching opportunities. Then I got off, and let myself get lost a little bit. Fun fun, but really cold too. Eventually, I wound up at a Metro stop, so I went back to the hostel.
After everyone got back on time, we set out for the train station. Not as much worry as the last time, for sure. We got there with plenty of time to spare, and got on our train and in our seats. The setup was nice for a night train: 4 to a compartment, with two drop down beds on each side. For the first 2-3 hours of the train ride, we thought that maybe there was not going to be anybody else in our compartment (we had two full compartments, and Dan, Emma, and I were in another), but some chatty African dude jumped on. He had been everywhere travelling as a computer dude for Microsoft. He has Nigerian, Austrian, and American citizenship. Crazy stuff. I slept reasonably well on the train, all things considered. I probably woke up only two or three times. At about 8:50, there was a knock on our door: "Jamie, Dan, we're at Termini". Home sweet home.
Our first night in Vienna, Dan and I went out and got some kebabs while everyone else settled in. We then went to bed. Whooo hooo party.
The next morning, the whole group went to some sweet arty cafe in the Old Town area for breakfast. The cake and coffee were not especially memorable, and the price was even worse (7.50), but it was still worth it to have a very Viennese coffee morning. They even had the newspapers out and the dudes in ties serving and whatnot. After that, we split up. Dan, Michelle, and I headed to St. Stephens while the girls went out to go see the horses prance around in the Hofburg Palace, the old home of the Hapsburg Dynasty. We saw a sweet view of Vienna (pictures are two posts back in the picture post), and then went down to go see if we could meet up with the girls at the palace. Success. We then went into one of the palace tours, where we saw a whole lot of plates and other silverware (and goldware, I suppose, if that is a word), and saw some other old imperial rooms. They were really, really loaded. It was fairly disgusting.
Dan and I blew through the exhibits, mainly because we were bored and one of the things was this really long exhibit on some old Hapsburg princess who reminded me a lot of Princess Diana. She died young (she was assassinated) and people ascribed far too much meaning to her life post-mortem. Also, she spent a lot of time on her appearance and whined a lot about how hard it was to be a princess. Actually, she was exactly like Princess Diana. Anyways, Dan and I went out and explored for a bit, and the girls finally came out of the museum about half an hour after we were done. After that, we played around in a park in the Hofburg. Tons and tons of leaves were on the ground, so it was war. Good times, good times.
After eating delicious hot dogs, brats, and kebabs, we headed to the Belvedere Gardens, where we looked at some pretty flora and whatnot. Any time we can get some stuff like that, we take it, because Rome has very little green. Sadly, it is November, and a lot of plants were dead. Still, it was all right. After we split up at the Gardens, we got lost as a group. It took us a good hour to all meet up, and from there we decided to go to the Opera, because we weren't sure how far ahead of time we had to get there to get the cheap standing room only seats.
Luckily, we arrived early enough. There was already a pretty big line when we got there, about an hour before the tickets went on sale around 6:20 (they should have gone on sale at 6, but it is a government-run Opera house). We ended up getting 2 euro balcony tickets to the show, Tosca. What a steal. And by steal, I kind of mean it: the whole thing is totally subsidized, so my cheap opera experience came on the backs of the Austrian taxpayer. Hooray!
Between getting our tickets and going to the show, we ate at the Mozart cafe, one of the two swankiest cafes in Vienna (that and the Sacher cafe, as in Sacher torte). The cakes there were pretty expensive, and I paid five euro for an apple strudel with hot vanilla creme sauce, but it was totally worth it. We were the only people anywhere near our age in there, and a lot of people were dressy. We were not.
Speaking of being underdressed, we went from there to the Opera house. Some people were really, really dressy. We were chilling in jeans and polar fleece. We didn't quite fit in, but we had a blast with it. I mean, what do you expect if you sell 2 euro tickets to the Opera? The building was ornate, and seeing the building made it worth the price of admission. Our view was pretty much entirely obstructed, so we amused ourselves with the actual dialogue of the opera in English translation (hilariously corny), and trying to see if we could catch any Italian phrases we understood (not really). We left after the first act.
From there, a group of nine went out to ride the famous Vienna ferris wheel. No success there; the famous old one was not up and running. Fortunately, at the base of the old wheel is a really creepy, 1960s type old amusement park. Being that it was November at night and freezing, the place was a ghost town. Totally, totally creepy. There was another ferris wheel (smaller but faster), and we rode that (check the pictures... I think there are some). We went from there to the Bermuda Triangle, a bar area that was not so cool, so we headed back to the hostel. From there, we went out to a really late dinner. Dan and I tried Weiner schnitzel (sp?) for the first time there. I figured it was appropriate (Wien = Vienna). I ended up having some for lunch the next day, too.
The next morning, we went to another swanky cafe and got more expensive cake (see the food porn pictures... they are amazing). I paid over 6 dollars for a piece of cake. Oh God. But it was delicious. From that cafe, we went to Starbucks, where a lot of people got their American coffee fix. From there we broke up with the understanding that we would meet at 6:15 at the hostel, because our train home was taking off at 7:35 (we double-checked this time). My rest of the day was pretty much exploration. Michelle, Teresa, and I went through a beautiful park on the East side of the city to some incredibly weird but awesome house that was built without straight lines or flat areas. Yeah. It's way cooler in person than in theory. It's all painted up and everything... wow, my descriptions are worthless, but check the pictures. That might help.
After that, we split up. I was all alone for the rest of my time in Vienna, which was actually really nice after a lot of hustle and bustle. I rode the loop tram around the city once, which provided some cool peoplewatching opportunities. Then I got off, and let myself get lost a little bit. Fun fun, but really cold too. Eventually, I wound up at a Metro stop, so I went back to the hostel.
After everyone got back on time, we set out for the train station. Not as much worry as the last time, for sure. We got there with plenty of time to spare, and got on our train and in our seats. The setup was nice for a night train: 4 to a compartment, with two drop down beds on each side. For the first 2-3 hours of the train ride, we thought that maybe there was not going to be anybody else in our compartment (we had two full compartments, and Dan, Emma, and I were in another), but some chatty African dude jumped on. He had been everywhere travelling as a computer dude for Microsoft. He has Nigerian, Austrian, and American citizenship. Crazy stuff. I slept reasonably well on the train, all things considered. I probably woke up only two or three times. At about 8:50, there was a knock on our door: "Jamie, Dan, we're at Termini". Home sweet home.
Monday, November 5
Prague madness
I am going to split up my posts about the Prague/Vienna MADNESS 2007 into a couple of posts, mainly because I want to post, but it is late and I have an econ test for which I have studied very little tomorrow. Yay school. Pictures came in the previous post, so scroll down.
Anyway, I took off on Wednesday afternoon trying to get to the Trastevere train station via bus 492 and tram 8, but I never caught the bus, so I ended up hopping on the train to Termini and took the Leonardo Express (2x as expensive as going to Trastevere) to Fiumicino. From there, our flight to Bratislava was delayed a bit, but no serious trouble. Here is slightly more serious trouble: my permesso di soggiorno was mistakenly stamped by the dude going out of Rome, so I'm not altogether sure it is valid now. Also, we had some excitement, because Elise, the girl who more or less put the thing together in terms of planning, left her folder in the airplane. That folder had our train ticket back to Rome, and that would have been an utter disaster.
Anyhoo, our plane to Prague was even more delayed (European discount airlines: you get what you pay for), so we got into Prague at about 10. It was a good 11 hours of travel. We then quickly hopped on some public transpo, and had no serious trouble finding the hostel, Emma Hostel. Dan and I were in a double, and it had a sweet loft area where I slept. What a deal for 15 euro a night.
It was chilly as we went out for a late evening stroll/ bite to eat. We hit a kebab place, where I grabbed a Czech beer and everyone else munched on some doner. We then strolled around in the cold up to some square that Dan wanted to go to. It was cold. Cold cold cold. That is my memory of that night: cold. We headed back to the hostel to rest up.
The next morning, we were up and out very early. Michelle and I split for the group, because we wanted to walk to the castle and everyone else thought the metro was a good idea. I actually lost Michelle along the way (she likes to wander), but we met back up later around the castle. It took us way longer to find the rest of the group, because they took a nice long meal and didn't bother to let me know. Michelle and I, however, got to see a sweet military demonstration/ changing of the guard type thing, and also got to hear some sweet Czech music from a four piece band outside the castle (accordion included! The Ryzners would have fit right in). After we finally met with the other 9 people (I haven't yet mentioned this, so I suppose I should: 9 girls, 2 guys. Good group, etc), we went up the basilica, which had a really bothersome winding staircase. It provided a nice view, so it was worth it.
After that we went to the Old Town quarter, and saw some cool sights. On the hour, every hour, the old clock in the square does this weird little thing where the 12 apostles pop out, and we got to see that. Also, we headed to the Jewish Quarter, which had lots of nice little things to buy. Holding true to the stereotype, however, they make you pay to go into the synagogues, so we didn't do that.
Our evening was fun, to say the least. We went to a Thai restaurant. The food was probably average Thai, but considering I haven't had any acceptable Asian food here yet, it tasted fantastic. Speaking of fantastic, I am not a big beer guy, but the Czech beers on tap were tasty tasty tasty. It went well with dinner. After that, Dan and I did a minor pub search, but we ended up at the bar across from the hostel. Excellent decision: it was really, really dirt cheap. I got some slivovitz, to make grandma proud. I built it up as the worst thing in the world, fire water to the nth degree (which it is up at the Lake), so Dan was somewhat surprised when it went down okay. The stuff we drank was weak sauce, because the stuff we have up north makes your throat want to die. Unweak sauce was the absinthe we may or may not have consumed (illegal in the States): 70% alcohol by volume.
After that, we went out to a dance club that Dan and Elise were talking about for a while before the trip. It is some huge, 5 story club that you can see from the Charles Bridge. It was fun. One story was like 60s and 70s dance music, another was bumping music. All in all, it was a very good time. It was funny, because if there was some sketchy European dude trying to get with one of the girls and they were uncomfortable, Dan or I would get grabbed and dragged right between them. Good times. At about 4:30, we dragged ourselves out of the club and back to the hostel.
Checkout was at 10, so we were up soon thereafter. The day began with an American-style bagel joint that was reccommended in some travel book. It even had American style coffee, which was so very welcome after all the espresso of the last 2+ months. We then split up to do our own things, with the understanding that we would meet back at the hostel at about 4, because our flight was at 7:15... or so we thought (attention: foreshadowing!). I ended up with a group of a few kids, and we headed to the Jewish area again for some browsing, and then we headed to the old square so Dan, Michelle, and I could go to a Dali exhibition. It was all right, I suppose. There was one really cool piece that was two things from different distances, and there is a picture in my facebook album. Anyway, we then went to a market, where I proceeded to blow all my remaining Czech krowns (or however that is spelled) on junk food. We got back to the hostel at around 4.
Being back early and all, I decided to hop online. A few seconds later, I hear a "ummm, Jamie, I think we're going to miss our flight". WHA' HAPPPENED? "It says 17:15 on the sheet here for our departure time". So, yeah, our flight was taking off two hours before we thought (actually, this is the one thing with getting somewhere that I had nothing to do with. I was pretty much the unofficial, self-appointed group leader of the trip the rest of the time, because I can do really impressive things like read a map and use a sense of direction as opposed to nearly everyone else in the group). So, yeah, we scrambled (and by we, I mean, well, me, pretty much. Emma helped, too, in calling the airlines, who proceeded to tell us "yeah, you're screwed") to find a solution, and we (royal we again) found that a train was taking off from one of the stations at 5:35, so Dan and I rounded up everyone, and we were off immediately (by that point everyone had arrived to hear the bad news). We did a death march to one of the metro lines, and then got off at the station the dude at the hostel said would be our train station. Dude at the hostel was dead wrong. We had some more metroing to go. Somehow, I was not frustrated. It was a total zen moment. Anyhoo, we got to the other station with plenty of time, luckily, and our tickets were only like 32 euro. We should have planned on that from the start, I believe.
Anyways, all is well that ends well, and we got into Vienna at about 10 that night.
Vienna post comes tomorrow, or Wednesday... or Thursday. I'm busy busy busy right now. I should have been asleep half an hour ago.
Anyway, I took off on Wednesday afternoon trying to get to the Trastevere train station via bus 492 and tram 8, but I never caught the bus, so I ended up hopping on the train to Termini and took the Leonardo Express (2x as expensive as going to Trastevere) to Fiumicino. From there, our flight to Bratislava was delayed a bit, but no serious trouble. Here is slightly more serious trouble: my permesso di soggiorno was mistakenly stamped by the dude going out of Rome, so I'm not altogether sure it is valid now. Also, we had some excitement, because Elise, the girl who more or less put the thing together in terms of planning, left her folder in the airplane. That folder had our train ticket back to Rome, and that would have been an utter disaster.
Anyhoo, our plane to Prague was even more delayed (European discount airlines: you get what you pay for), so we got into Prague at about 10. It was a good 11 hours of travel. We then quickly hopped on some public transpo, and had no serious trouble finding the hostel, Emma Hostel. Dan and I were in a double, and it had a sweet loft area where I slept. What a deal for 15 euro a night.
It was chilly as we went out for a late evening stroll/ bite to eat. We hit a kebab place, where I grabbed a Czech beer and everyone else munched on some doner. We then strolled around in the cold up to some square that Dan wanted to go to. It was cold. Cold cold cold. That is my memory of that night: cold. We headed back to the hostel to rest up.
The next morning, we were up and out very early. Michelle and I split for the group, because we wanted to walk to the castle and everyone else thought the metro was a good idea. I actually lost Michelle along the way (she likes to wander), but we met back up later around the castle. It took us way longer to find the rest of the group, because they took a nice long meal and didn't bother to let me know. Michelle and I, however, got to see a sweet military demonstration/ changing of the guard type thing, and also got to hear some sweet Czech music from a four piece band outside the castle (accordion included! The Ryzners would have fit right in). After we finally met with the other 9 people (I haven't yet mentioned this, so I suppose I should: 9 girls, 2 guys. Good group, etc), we went up the basilica, which had a really bothersome winding staircase. It provided a nice view, so it was worth it.
After that we went to the Old Town quarter, and saw some cool sights. On the hour, every hour, the old clock in the square does this weird little thing where the 12 apostles pop out, and we got to see that. Also, we headed to the Jewish Quarter, which had lots of nice little things to buy. Holding true to the stereotype, however, they make you pay to go into the synagogues, so we didn't do that.
Our evening was fun, to say the least. We went to a Thai restaurant. The food was probably average Thai, but considering I haven't had any acceptable Asian food here yet, it tasted fantastic. Speaking of fantastic, I am not a big beer guy, but the Czech beers on tap were tasty tasty tasty. It went well with dinner. After that, Dan and I did a minor pub search, but we ended up at the bar across from the hostel. Excellent decision: it was really, really dirt cheap. I got some slivovitz, to make grandma proud. I built it up as the worst thing in the world, fire water to the nth degree (which it is up at the Lake), so Dan was somewhat surprised when it went down okay. The stuff we drank was weak sauce, because the stuff we have up north makes your throat want to die. Unweak sauce was the absinthe we may or may not have consumed (illegal in the States): 70% alcohol by volume.
After that, we went out to a dance club that Dan and Elise were talking about for a while before the trip. It is some huge, 5 story club that you can see from the Charles Bridge. It was fun. One story was like 60s and 70s dance music, another was bumping music. All in all, it was a very good time. It was funny, because if there was some sketchy European dude trying to get with one of the girls and they were uncomfortable, Dan or I would get grabbed and dragged right between them. Good times. At about 4:30, we dragged ourselves out of the club and back to the hostel.
Checkout was at 10, so we were up soon thereafter. The day began with an American-style bagel joint that was reccommended in some travel book. It even had American style coffee, which was so very welcome after all the espresso of the last 2+ months. We then split up to do our own things, with the understanding that we would meet back at the hostel at about 4, because our flight was at 7:15... or so we thought (attention: foreshadowing!). I ended up with a group of a few kids, and we headed to the Jewish area again for some browsing, and then we headed to the old square so Dan, Michelle, and I could go to a Dali exhibition. It was all right, I suppose. There was one really cool piece that was two things from different distances, and there is a picture in my facebook album. Anyway, we then went to a market, where I proceeded to blow all my remaining Czech krowns (or however that is spelled) on junk food. We got back to the hostel at around 4.
Being back early and all, I decided to hop online. A few seconds later, I hear a "ummm, Jamie, I think we're going to miss our flight". WHA' HAPPPENED? "It says 17:15 on the sheet here for our departure time". So, yeah, our flight was taking off two hours before we thought (actually, this is the one thing with getting somewhere that I had nothing to do with. I was pretty much the unofficial, self-appointed group leader of the trip the rest of the time, because I can do really impressive things like read a map and use a sense of direction as opposed to nearly everyone else in the group). So, yeah, we scrambled (and by we, I mean, well, me, pretty much. Emma helped, too, in calling the airlines, who proceeded to tell us "yeah, you're screwed") to find a solution, and we (royal we again) found that a train was taking off from one of the stations at 5:35, so Dan and I rounded up everyone, and we were off immediately (by that point everyone had arrived to hear the bad news). We did a death march to one of the metro lines, and then got off at the station the dude at the hostel said would be our train station. Dude at the hostel was dead wrong. We had some more metroing to go. Somehow, I was not frustrated. It was a total zen moment. Anyhoo, we got to the other station with plenty of time, luckily, and our tickets were only like 32 euro. We should have planned on that from the start, I believe.
Anyways, all is well that ends well, and we got into Vienna at about 10 that night.
Vienna post comes tomorrow, or Wednesday... or Thursday. I'm busy busy busy right now. I should have been asleep half an hour ago.
Pictures
I will write a very long post about the fun times in Prague and Vienna later, but I figured I may as well get the pictures out.
Here is the first half of photos, from Prague (the album title is because we missed our flight between Prague and Vienna), and the second half is from Vienna.
Here is the first half of photos, from Prague (the album title is because we missed our flight between Prague and Vienna), and the second half is from Vienna.
Thursday, November 1
I sit in our hostel in Prague, waiting for the girls to get ready to head out for our first real day of the trip.
Point A to Point B, namely Medag to where I am now, took a long, long time yesterday. About 11 hours. We connected in Bratislava, and both flights were delayed a bit. Hooray cheap European airlines not running on time. So predictable. No real highlights of the travel other than that, which is probably a good thing. It did not take long to get from the Prague airport to the center city, which was great.
Last night we ended up eating in this kebab house, because it seemed that everything near us was closed. The food was good, but I need to get some goulash.
That is all for now. Hopefully we are about to go.
Point A to Point B, namely Medag to where I am now, took a long, long time yesterday. About 11 hours. We connected in Bratislava, and both flights were delayed a bit. Hooray cheap European airlines not running on time. So predictable. No real highlights of the travel other than that, which is probably a good thing. It did not take long to get from the Prague airport to the center city, which was great.
Last night we ended up eating in this kebab house, because it seemed that everything near us was closed. The food was good, but I need to get some goulash.
That is all for now. Hopefully we are about to go.
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