So this update goes out to all those faithful followers who have been checking to see if i have finally written something new. In my defense, ihave a couple of drafts over the last month or so, but clearly i have failed in updating regularly. still.
currently in montenegro, which is the very last new country of my trip (unless you count france, which i have already been to (twice on this trip..., and i'm flying out of charles de gaulle after all). i'm a little sad that it's all coming to an end but i am looking forward to being back on campus this winter. in the end, very satisfied.
i have definitely not been disappointed by any part of my travels so far (with the possible exception of florence, but michelangelo and Machiavelli et al made up for that). while in madrid, i got to make the most of spain (barcelona for a week total time, salamanca for a crazy 30 hours, bilbao for the museo, san sebastian, granada for an intense day trip, sevilla with the entire stanford crew, la rioja for wine tasting and Bing dinner, comillas, burgos and leon for orientation trip). i also got to make a few trips out of the country, to Lisbon, Morocco and Amsterdam.
and yes, i have been speaking spanish by accident (especially in berlin...it got embarrassing) though occasionally it works to get rid of annoying people, since almost no one speaks it in this area of europe (who knew that spanish would be the useless language of my vocabularly?).
since leaving madrid, i have been to paris (for a few hours, to drop off my luggage), berlin, prague, budapest, ljubljana, zagreb, dubrovnik, mostar and currently kotor. basically, a lot of countries, a lot of traveling and a lot of really awesome people along the way (and a few souvenirs too).
berlin had the best and cheapest food, really cool underground scenes, kebabs!, snow, east/west tensions/history, train stations, fragments of the walls, and one of my favorite people ever (lauren and i had a great time).
prague was the most beautiful (man-made beautiful). all the monuments were absolutely gorgeous, and the christmas market in the main square was so pretty. the famous bridge, the castle, the realllllly cool clock tower were all great. plus, found a very good vegetarian restaurant to try czech cuisine (and grog). was vaguely sickly so didn't go out much at night because got worn out from trudging around in the snowstorm, but it was nice to sit in the warmth and watch movies.
budapest was a lot of fun. the train ride in was rough (8.5 hours turned into 12.5 hours) but the hostel was great and i enjoyed the nightlife a lot. the art bars were incredible and found a really awesome club that played dubstep all night long. terror house was very moving to see. additionally, trip was made by the 3.5 hours i spent soaking in the thermal baths/saunas. mmmm soooo good.
ljubljana was quite an adventure! had such a great time. the city absolutely transformed at night and the hostel we were staying at was my favorite. it was a former prison so i got to stay in cell 101. and it was in the art commune area of the city. totally bought a ton of souvenirs to remember the hostel. also, did not sleep while i was there, at all...but when i did make it to my bunk bed, it was very comfy (or else i was too tired to notice). slovenia was surprisingly a highlight.
croatia!!! going back to it tomorrow actually. enjoyed zagreb and could not get over how incredibly beautiful dubrovnik is. wow. my memory card can't handle any more. and of course, we were told that we need to come back in the summer when its even more incredibly amazing.
had a christmas day trip to bosnia, where we visited the most heavily bombed city, mostar, which was moving to see. there are still many destroyed/battered buildings, though the ancient and famous bridge has been reconstructed. in general, it was very beautiful in its own way. we did get trapped in the city overnight but found sufficient housing and clearly survived.
currently in kotor, montenegro. eugene and i parted ways (he headed to sarajevo) but i am very glad that i made it to montenegro. cannot get over the natural beauty of this place (and neither can my camera...) Spent the afternoon climbing the fortress on the mountain top overlooking the Stari Grad (Old Town). Though tiny, kotor is quite magical.
so yeah, that's the quick run down of life so far. my passport has been busy. found a ride back from kotor to dubrovnik so heading there tomorrow around 10AM and then off to paris early morning thursday...
