Lisbon and Sintra, Portugal

After a short break in Riva I was headed out again for one of my most highly anticipated trips, Portugal and Spain. Portugal is a country that I never even though about going to when I initially found out I was going abroad. And Spain is just Spain....that is exciting enough as it is. We had a day and a half in Riva to get our stuff together before heading to the Airport. Our flight to Lisbon was run by Ryanair's British counterpart EasyJet. It was much of the same with all the theatrics and attempts to rip off the customers. I liked EasyJet a little bit better though because it felt a little bit more like a regular airline. After a fairly uneventful trip we arrived in Lisbon on Tuesday evening.

View from the hostel

Once again it was awesome to get our first views of Portugal walking through the town to our hostel at night time. There were street performers entertaining people at dinner, groups of people hanging out in plazas, and amazing buildings lit up in the night. The first thing I noticed about Lisbon was how hilly the roads were. Everywhere we walked the whole weekend was up and down and up and down with the sidewalks made of the famous Portuguese pavement. The pavement is made up of small laid tessera stones sometimes with an artistic design formed from different colors. It's unbelievable to think that each stone was individually laid like that in a city like Lisbon that has such a grand scale. After a couple metro rides and a short walk we arrived at by far the best hostel I have stayed at yet. We were greeted to a group of employees that immediately felt like best friends. The whole group had just sat down for dinner and after giving us welcome shots started to apologize that they didn't have enough food for us. The chef said he wanted to buy more to include us but he couldn't without knowing when we would arrive. After unpacking we went back downstairs to see people from all different parts of the world doing everything from hanging out around a campfire, to playing guitar inside on the couches, to discussing politics. Everyone was just enjoying each others company experiencing the world. Once again this is by far my favorite part of this study abroad experience. Especially with the election coming up and important policies to be decided, I love to hear perspective from different demographics and places in the world. I could have stayed at this hostel for a month just hanging out and meeting new people all the time.

Market

Unfortunately, there is no time for that when you are only in Europe for as short a time as we are. 2 days in Lisbon means the same as everywhere else, go non-stop to do everything you can with little time for sleep in between. After hanging out at the hostel for a while, the group took us out on a Pub Crawl to see the nightlife in Lisbon. After going to a couple bars in the city we made our way to the beach where we went to an awesome club that was literally on the water. It was a great way to finish the night and get introduced to Portugal. To cap off the night I got some free guitar lessons from a guy from France when I got back to the hostel. I had seen him playing earlier and he was working the front desk and started talking to him about it. We played until about 5 am and by the end I could hold my own on Horse With No Name by America.

The next morning was a little bit later than usual to compensate for the late night. We were still up in time for the free breakfast at the hostel though before heading off on walking tour. Our tour guide was one of the employees from the hostel who was originally from Edinburgh, Scotland named Louis. He had lived in Lisbon for a couple years and was very knowledgeable of the area. Our first stop was a huge market right near the hostel with all kinds of fresh fruit and produce. The rest of the day we walked around the city seeing all the main sites including The Vasco da Gama bridge, Praca de Comercio, and the famous Aqueducts. My favorite part was the main plaza in Downtown Lisbon. It is a huge open square with with all kinds of Restaurants and shops lining the edge and a monument of King Joseph in the middle. The square opens up to a huge ramp that goes down into the Tagus River. Throughout the day, our tour guide told various stories to explain the cultural significance of everything we were seeing. One of the bad things about this walk through Lisbon was the hills that we were constantly going up and down. Even this ended up being a plus though because the rest of the day we saw view after amazing view of the entire city, each one being better than before.

Start of the art exhibition in the village

One of the most unique things I have seen in Europe so far is a village that we walked through in one of the older parts of central Lisbon. It had a series of artistic pictures on some of the buildings that were portraits of the actual people that live there. The artist's intentions were to draw attention to the people that make the town great and he tried to capture them in their natural states of happiness in everyday work.

Walking back into the main part of town we came across a group of teenage protesters. They all had signs and would yell and run forward every couple of steps. They were protesting a potential raise in taxes to 65%!!! It is amazing when were complaining about taxes around 20 or 30 in America when the rest of the world is so different. Especially in Portugal where they are having trouble paying for government and have tons of corruption. The easy solution for them is to just astronomically raising taxes. With this quick solution I see the potential for more hard times in Portugal in the future.

Tax protestors

 Lisbon had everything going for it to be my favorite place yet, there was just one last thing I had to try before it clinched. A place cannot truly be my favorite until I try the food. I asked Louis to take us for some good Lisbon food and he did one better, CHEAP good Lisbon food. We went to a small cafe in one of the plazas and got Bifanas for 1.20 euro. A bifana is a simple pork sandwich but it was amazing and filling. Lisbon had officially clinched it as my favorite place, and it only took one day.

Most awkward meal of all time

The next day on the recommendations of many different people we took a day trip to Sintra, about 40 minutes outside of Lisbon on the metro. Sintra is an old town located at the foot of the Sintra mountains with multiple colorful palaces. After walking around the town for a while we took a bus up to the top of one of the mountains to see Pena National Palace. Pena was unique and unlike any other castle we had seen in Europe because of how colorful it was. It was built straight into the mountain with reds, yellows, and even some purple. It was cool that we were able to go into the Castle and walk around all the walls and towers. Once again being at the top gave us some amazing views of Portugal below. Even with cloudy weather it was still amazing. After coming down from the castle we stopped at a restaurant to get some seafood. This turned out to be one of the most awkward and uncomfortable meal experiences I have ever had on this trip and in my life. For the first time we ran into a serious language and culture barrier. For most places in Europe, Menu means 'combo' or a series of options on a fixed menu. This is always a problem but here it was even worse than usual. We asked to see a menu and for the rest of the time we were there the guy made it clear we had to choose between meat or fish, meat or fish, meat or fish. He then made it seem like we would get bread, meat or fish, soup, wine, coffee, and a pastry for 9 euros. This seemed like a great deal so I ordered the fish because I heard Lisbon had great seafood. After the soup my plate came out with an entire fish on it, which wasn't too bad except that every single bite I took had a bunch of small bones in the meat. On top of that that was the last thing he brought us and we just kind of awkwardly sat there trying to get his attention. After a while we decided to leave to get Bifanas at a place down the street and all was good again!!

Pena National Palace

After Sintra we headed back to Lisbon to get ready for our overnight train to Granada. On the way back we stopped at a grocery store and I further confirmed how awesome Portugal is. I got a 2 liter water bottle, 2 bananas, and a smoothie for 97 cents...97 CENTS. That would be like 8 bucks in a America. After saying goodbye to the best hostel and staff we have had yet we headed off for the train station.

Dublin, Ireland

After our final exam on Friday, we were done with International Operations and our 4th class of the year. Since we finished the class two days early, we were able to extend our 8 day break to 12. I had plans to go to Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. Our first stop was Dublin, Ireland for the weekend. After that I would come back to Riva for a few days then head off to Lisbon, Portugal and Granada and Barcelona, Spain.

The beginning of the trip started off with a trip to Orio al Sera Airport in Bergamo, Italy near the outside of Milan. To save money we took regional trains all the way and it took a couple hours to get there but it was definitely worth it in the end. One of the best parts of traveling through Europe is learning how to deal with public transportation in different countries. When I get home I imagine the 4 hour drive to Blacksburg will be nothing. When we got to the airport we were excited to have our first experience on Ryanair for the flight to Dublin. I had heard about Ryanair when I first decided to study abroad. The eurail trains are good enough to get you most places but sometimes a plane is necessary. Ryanair capitalizes on quick flights among countries in Europe by making their flights really cheap. We were able to get a flight to and from Dublin for 50 bucks. My only question was how they are able to operate flights at a profit when charging such low prices. My question was answered very quickly. They try and get you with all kinds of random charges on things that are very easy to overlook. For example, there is a 60 euro charge for not printing out your ticket ahead of time or getting your passport stamped before you go to security. Another thing I noticed was how many seats they fit on the plane compared to normal flights. It was your typical row with 3 seats on each side but it really seemed like there was much less leg room so they could fit a few more rows. Getting on the plane was the craziest spot. We were walking through to get our tickets scanned waiting to get seats signed when we noticed people would literally run to the plan after they were checked through. It was everyman for them self and first come first serve. What a weird experience to see people rushing to pick their seats on the plane. Other money making opportunities came throughout the flight as attendants were constantly walking up and down selling everything from the usual food and drinks to calendars, toiletries, and lottery tickets. Needless to say it was one of the most interesting flights I had ever been on, but it did the job and got us to Dublin on time.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We arrived in Dublin at night and it was really cool to walk through the streets of the bustling city as everyones Friday night was getting started. After checking in to our hostel we went out to one of the local Irish Pubs down the street and everyone got their first Guinness in Ireland. I'm not normally a big fan but something about being in Dublin made and ice cold Guinness taste amazing. Dublin nightlife was unlike anything else I had ever experienced. There were people from all ages at all the different pubs we went to partying all night. Another weird thing we noticed was that all the locals seemed to like to get in fights...with each other. I saw a man kicking another guy who was on the ground in the stomach over and over. It looked really painful and dangerous until the guy got up and they hugged and started laughing. This also happened a couple times in the pubs when friends would just started pushing and tackling each other until they were broken up, then they would just laugh it off like it was nothing.

Guinness Factory at St. James's Gate

After an interesting night out in Dublin we woke up early the next morning to check out the city. Dublin is famous for it's many historical sights so we had no problem just casually walking around with a few places in mind. Our first stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was enormous with a unique architecture style that fit perfectly in the Irish Capital. My favorite part of the Cathedral was the courtyard that surrounded it. There were people all around relaxing and playing sports in front of one of the most famous Cathedrals in the world. I'm sure it was even cooler inside but there was a Wedding going on and they normally have mass all day on the weekends so we had to settle for outside.

After pouring the 'Perfect Pint'

As we continued to walk around Dublin, I got the feeling of being in a college town. The city had an awesome feel that came from the big stone buildings and people walking everywhere. I also think it had to do with the fact that everyone spoke english. Dublin continued to grow on me as one of my favorite places yet. Our next stop was the #1 tourist attraction in Dublin. The Guinness Storehouse at St. James's Gate. This is the original brewery where Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease in 1759. The line was out the door but luckily we had already bought our tickets in advance online and were able to skip to the front. The Guinness Storehouse is still the main brewery for the company but it has also now been turned into a museum where people can tour 7 levels of history and techniques that have been used by the company. The atrium when you first walk in is designed to look like a glass pint that can hold 14.3 million liters of Guinness. As we went up the floors we learned everything from how to make the beer, to advertising, to actually serving it. One of the highlights was learning how to serve the 'Perfect Pint'. Because Guinness is a dry stout, it takes almost 2 minutes to pour it correctly without overflowing. We each got to pour our own pint and try it after. My favorite part of the tour was the very end. The last stop is on the 7th floor, the Gravity Bar. It is a bar with a complete 360 degree view of the city of Dublin. Once again, to fit with the previous night in Dublin, this bar had a party atmosphere with everyone hanging out and enjoying their complimentary pints of the best beer in Ireland. It was so cool to finish up the tour and be able to see for miles in the city.

Duck Pond in Blacksburg?? Or Dublin

After leaving the Guinness factory, we continued to walk through the main part of Dublin where we saw Trinity College and the Dublin School of Business. Trinity College is amazing because it is an unbelievable building that has housed the school since the 1500's. It is still right in the middle of all the 'action' of the Irish capital. On our walk we also saw Aviva Stadium where Notre Dame stomped Navy earlier in the season. It is usually home to the Irish National football and rugby teams. I really liked the area that Trinity College was in because it is reminded me of a main city drag, but with much more history. Kind of like Times Square in NewYork except with stone buildings and without all the bright lights. We continued to make our way through the city and ended up at Phoenix Park near the outskirts of Dublin. This further confirmed my feeling of being in a college town as it reminded me of being at the Duck Pond in Blacksburg. We ended up just hanging out there for a couple hours relaxing and taking in the scenery.

Irish Breakfast!!

Leaving the park we decided that we were hungry and walked along the River Liffey passing the famous bridges that span it. For my first truly Irish meal we went to Fitzsimons restaurant in Temple Bar, which is a district of Dublin with tons of restaurants, shopping, and bars. Even though they spelled Fitzsimmons wrong, the restaurant ended up being amazing. At my sister's request I got an Irish breakfast and it was AMAZING. It was the first time I had traditional breakfast food in 3 months and the twist of Irish culture made it that much better. Walking around Temple Bar after we ate, we decided that it would be a perfect place to come back for the night.

The next morning we walked around the city for a while with no agenda just taking it all in. We only had a few hours before our flight home so this was the perfect way to finish up in Dublin. Once again I found another amazing city that I can't wait to go back to.

Cinque Terre, Italy

View from our hotel balcony

After the 10 day break it was time to come back to the Villa and start the BIT section of the semester. This is exciting for me because now that we are done with finance I can start focusing on my double major classes in BIT and Management. BIT is also a lot less lecture intensive than Finance and more focused on interaction and group work. This is a relief from being in class 8 to 10 hours a day and it is nice to learn about something I might work with in the future. After what seemed like a quick week, we got on a train for Cinque Terre, Italy. Cinque Terre is Italian for the "Five Lands" and is made up of 5 villages on the coast of Northwestern Italy. We figured this would be one of the last weekends to get to the beach before it got too cold so we took advantage of being only a 4 hour train ride away. Matt's family had been to one of the villages, Monterosso al mare, before so we decided to stay there at the hotel where he knew the owner.

The group in the beach at Monterosso al mare

Monterosso was a perfect home base for the weekend because it is the only sand beach of the five and it has a strip of everything in the town right on the beach. It was easy to get around because everything was concentrated in a small area. It also has Old Town Monterosso if you walk a little ways back from the water. From the moment we got off the train we ended up having one of the best weekends yet. The weather was perfect and you got the feeling of being at beach town where everyone was just trying to relax. All this coupled with the fact that you are constantly looking out to the Mediterranean Sea with Mountain shooting straight up from the water makes it a pretty decent place to just hangout for a couple days. When we got to the hotel, Signore Poggi, the hotel owner was very helpful with telling us all we needed to know. He told us about a boat tour for only 8 euro that would take us all the way down to the 5th village with amazing views from the water. He also reserved a table for us at a famous Monterosso seafood restaurant called Belvedere for Saturday night. That ended up being one of the best seafood experiences I have ever had, but more on that later. After checking in and getting ourselves settled, we went down to hangout at the beach. We got a perfect spot close to the water with seemingly no one around and where just able to relax and take in the scenery. There was a couple from California sitting behind us and we talked to them for a while. They told us about how they always come to Monterosso and everyone is so friendly and it is a nice little known place to get to a beach. After a while we asked her to take a group picture of us and she ended up making a photo shoot out of it, with pyramids and all kinds of different group poses. After a couple minutes it seemed like all the local Italians were stopping on the boardwalk watching and laughing 'with' us. It was all in good fun and we ended up making another couple friends in the process.

View from the boat

After the beach we went back in to clean up and planned on going to a different restaurant recommended by Signore Poggi. Most of the group was just hungry and wanted something quick but Cody and I were determined to get some authentic Monterosso food so we went to find the restaurant. It ended up being a little out of our college student budget so we ended up having a very 'manly' dinner by sharing 3 courses right on the water in the moonlight. Regardless of what that sounds like it was one of the best dinners I have ever had. Cinque Terre is famous for it's pesto and our first course was hand-rolled noodles with pesto and it was some of the best pasta I ever had. After that we got a a steak that was so juicy with peppers and other vegetables on the side. And yes we even shared a dessert, tiramisu. At the end of dinner I had one of the few negative interactions with foreigners that I have had so far on this trip. There was a Canadian couple sitting next to us who came up out of no where and started saying how we were being loud and giving America a bad reputation, and that we should be ashamed. We looked around at this OUTDOOR restaurant and noticed no one else seemed bothered at all, our waiter even came up to us after to say he had no problems. I said some things that I will keep out of my blog to them and they ended up switching tables and looked very angry for the rest of our meal. After we finished our meal we went up to sort of 'apologize' but more let them know that we finished our meal in peace and had no problems with the restaurant or anyone else around us. All in all it was one of the best meals I had ever had.

Manarola

The next morning we woke up and walked around Monterosso for a little bit before taking another one of Signore Poggi's tips. We took a boat from Monterosso that goes along the coast past all 5 towns before dropping you off at the last one. This was a great way to do Cinque Terre because you are able to see the beautiful views from the water before walking through and seeing it up close. Each of the 5 towns has the same basic idea of cool looking houses concentrated around a port nestled in the mountains. Once you are able to walk around you can start to notice the differences between each town. My favorite one was the second one we stopped at, Manarola. The first thing you notice are a bunch of bright colored small houses built on the mountains over looking the water. It also had vineyards lining some of the hills that faced the water. We walked around here for almost 2 hours just seeing the sights and enjoying the atmosphere of this quiet town. After hitting all of the towns we made it back to Monterosso in time for our highly anticipated seafood dinner.

Octopus!!!

When we arrived at the restaurant there was a table reserved for us right on the edge of the patio with a perfect view of the water. Signore Poggi even ordered for us and there were 3 huge empty bowls sitting down the middle of the table. We ordered a few bottles of Cinque Terre white wine made in nearby Italy and waited to see what was in store for us. The waiter brought out a huge pot and said our main course was going to be soup. He dumped out what looked like a brownish broth with a few tomatoes in  it and said 'enjoy' before walking away. We all kind of looked at each other surprised, but were still optimistic considering what we had heard about this restaurant. Maybe it was a really really really good tasting broth?? After walking away for about two steps, the waiter stopped, turned around, and said oops, looks like theres still a little bit more in here. Then we were in heaven, piles of mussels, clams, huge shrimp they called prawns, and a lobster tail filled up the bowl. The last thing to come out of the pot was a full octopus, head, tentacles and all ready to eat on top of everything! Once you got past the texture, it kinda tasted like chicken. This served with amazing warm bread with pesto on it, made this the best seafood meal I have ever had.

After sunrise on the way to the train station

Cinque Terre is so great because there are 5 completely different towns so close by that are centered around the beach and amazing seafood. The only negative from the weekend is that the 5 towns are connected by awesome hiking trails that we were not able to do because of bad weather conditions. I guess that just means I am going to have to go back soon!

Dachau and Munich, Germany

Shopping trip in Dachau

The last leg of our trip was just a short train ride away in Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. This is something I have been talking about for almost a year and it was finally here. Since we had such a big group, we were able to get a house in Dachau about 30 minutes outside of the center of Munich. Kind of like when I stayed with my coach in Prague, this was cool to be somewhere away from the big city and experience some of the non-touristy culture. Our house ended up being kind of in the middle of no where and really tested our resourcefulness and everything we have learned as travelers through Europe. Our original plan was to walk to a local grocery store to get food for the weekend since we had a kitchen to cook in. Once we realized we were in the middle of nowhere we had to figure something else out. Luckily Alice speaks fluent German and was able to talk to our neighbor to find out where the nearest grocery store was. As we were getting ready to walk 4 km, he came out and offered to drive Alice, Cody, and I to the store for 5 euros. This was very nice and a great experience because we got to ride through the rolling hills of Dachau and the man was really helpful in helping us shop at a grocery store in Germany. We filled the entire cart with supplies for spaghetti, sandwiches, and breakfast foods for the entire weekend. Then he took us to a store nearby to get Augustiner Brau beer in spirit of Oktoberfest. After about an hour and over 200 euros we were stocked for the weekend. We ended up paying our neighbor 20 euros and a few beers for his troubles.

The shopping adventure was just the beginning of the excitement at our place in Dachau. The doorknob to the kitchen was broken and had fallen out a few times as we were unloading all the groceries. Every time we were able to just put it back in without any issue so we didn't think it would be a problem. When we had dinner that night, all 12 of us were in the kitchen having a family dinner in a kitchen that probably was not meant for 12 people at a time. Someone bumped the door stop and the door shut with the knob falling out to the outside of the door. There was no way to open the door from the inside with the knob and metal rod sitting just inches away on the other side. This wouldn't be too bad except that the kitchen was on the second floor and Matt informed us he was planning on taking a bath and the tub was running. After about 45 minutes of arguing and coming really close to us trying to kick the door down, Matt was able to climb down to the first floor and in to an open window to let us out. The floor of the kitchen and bathroom was made of stone tiles so there was ultimately no damage from the flood. It ended up being just another fun adventure to add to the trip!

Roll call square at the Dachau Concentration Camp

The next day we woke up early to go tour the Concentration camp at Dachau. This was the type of thing that is incredibly dreary and depressing, but very powerful. There were monuments and memorials that did an excellent job of honoring victims and giving you a good feel of what they went through. Some things that stuck out to me where the size and style of the barracks where people had to live, the size of the roll call square, the crematorium, and the surrounding fence and 'no man's land'. The barracks were built with bunk beds that were designed to fit 180 prisoners but ended up getting crammed to fit almost 400. The roll call square was a huge open area at the beginning of the prison that would hold 40-50,000 prisoners. They would be called to roll call to be counted every morning and night and would some times have to stand there for hours or be punished for no reason. The crematorium is such a horrible thing to even think about, and the more I read/heard about it while I was in Dachau made it even worse. Finally, the fence around the whole prison and the gate at the opening gives you the feeling of how the prisoners felt closed in during their time there. All these terrible facts put together make you wonder how people could ever let something terrible like this happen.

Munich City Center

On a lighter note, after leaving Dachau we went in to Munich for the rest of the day to get a feeling of the city before Oktoberfest. The city was incredibly crowded because opening day was the next day, but it was still cool to walk around for a couple hours and explore. The main square was my favorite part where there is a huge clock tower and all kinds of amazing buildings surrounding the plaza. The highlight of the day was meeting a few Bavarian locals who gave us the lowdown on Oktoberfest and plenty of tips on how to make the most of it. After walking around the city we called it a night fairly early after an event free spaghetti dinner where we kept the door open the whole time.

The morning of Oktoberfest was one of the most exciting of the trip so far. We woke up at 5 am to get ready for our 6am van ride. We cooked up all the leftover pasta and made bacon and egg sandwiches to bring with us. All the guys got dressed in our hats from Austria and German suspenders from Berlin. We definitely looked like tourists but it was all part of the experience to have fun with it. Martin the cab driver picked us up in his big van at 6am sharp and we were ready to roll. He knew we were headed to Oktoberfest and even though he did not speak english he tried to get us pumped up by blasting some interesting European pop music on the ride to the train station.

7 am outside of the Augustiner tent with our ponchos
and Oktoberfest gear

We got on our train and were planted in front of the Augustiner Brau tent at 7:00 am. Even though it was raining and we still had 2 hours to wait, it was a great experience and everyone had lots of fun just getting excited for the day. The guys we met the day before were exactly right and the line started to fill up soon after we arrived. They said go to Augustiner because it is the best beer and most authentic experience without as many tourists. As the 9 am open time got closer we started getting pushed closer and closer together until the mad rush that happened as they let people get tables. It is very important to get a table in the tents because that is the only way they will serve you. We met up with some other friends also so our group ended up being about 20. The doors opened at 9 and just like our local friends said it was packed at 9:03. Luckily we were able to snag two tables right in the middle of it all and next to the band. Now the real waiting started. Because it was opening day, they didn't serve the first beer until after the parade and the mayor tapped the first keg at 12 noon. We ate a lot of Bavarian pretzels and did a lot of sitting around. All the waiting was so worth it as 12 o clock got closer. There were all kinds of people from all over the world and everyone was there to have a good time and party with some of the best beer in the world. Another piece of advice that really helped us was to always tip the waiter. We had been tipping on our pretzels as we were waiting and we had our first round of beers sitting on the table at 12:03. We considered this quite the feet with all the tables around us that were still waiting.  That is when the real fun began.

Inside the Augustiner Tent

The waiters were very impressive with their ability to carry these huge liter mugs like it was nothing. Our guy brought all 10 at once with them stacked on top of each other in a huge circle. I am not exaggerating when I say Augustiner is the best beer I have ever had. It was so smooth and easy to drink and I found myself cruising through the liters without even realizing it. The tents at Oktoberfest are able to fit 5,000 people so there were so many opportunities to mingle with locals and other people from around the world. I had a few long conversations with some Bavarians that were about my age right at the table next to us and said our friend was exactly right about Augustiner being the best tent to go for the authentic experience. One of the highlights of Oktoberfest is when a guy stands on top of his table until everyone is watching and cheering and he chugs his beer in front of 5,000 people cheering him on. After about 5 hours of the Augustiner tent a few friends and I went out to check out the rest of the festival. We went on 3 roller coasters and the huge swings that rise up and give you a view of all of Munich, including all the tents of Oktoberfest. Thinking back on it, my favorite thing about Oktoberfest was the fact that people from all different cultures and places in the world all come together and get along for the cause of having a good time. Especially in contrast with what I thought about in Dachau, it makes you wonder why there is so much hate in the world when it is so easily possible to get along.

After 10 days, 5 cities, 3 countries and countless stories and experiences it was time to head back to the villa and everyone was more than ready. The longer we spend here the more and more Riva feels like home. It is always so great to get back to the slow moving friendly town where we feel comfortable to live. Daniella is always there to help us with anything and Luigi and Guytano always put amazing food on the table. The past 10 days gave me some of the best conversations, sites, and overall times that I have ever had in my life and Oktoberfest was a perfect conclusion to another chapter in my adventure through Europe.

Salzburg, Austria

After leaving Prague we headed south for Salzburg, Austria. I had been excited to get to Austria ever since I decided to study abroad because my Grandparents always told me that was their favorite place in the world to visit. Even though we were only there for a short visit, I was not disappointed.

Market section of the festival

Missing the train from Prague only set us back about an hour and we were in Salzburg by dinner time. We all ate at the hostel and being in Austria, I ordered my first Wiener Schnitzel. Not at all what I expected. I was expecting some kind of hot dog with sauerkraut or something like that. It ended up being really good and very similar to a thin shake and bake pork that my mom makes at home. When we were eating dinner we heard a guy playing guitar and singing right outside the hostel. He sounded pretty good so we went outside to check it out and it ended up being the same guy that was playing at our hostel in Nice, France! He had told us he was just going around Europe hanging out and playing music, but it was unbelievable to meet up at 2 different hostels in 2 completely different cities in Europe. Things like this are what continue to make talking to people from around the world my favorite part of this trip. Our hostel was decorated everywhere with Sound of Music posters and facts and is famous for playing the movie every single day at 10am since it came out. That's everyday for over 50 years!

View of the Salzach River

The next morning we woke up early to get a head start walking around the city. One of my first impressions of Salzburg was how nice and friendly the people are. We were at an intersection looking for an ATM and without even asking 2 different people came up and offered us help and directed us where we needed to go. Little things like that go a long way when you are in a foreign country that speaks a different language. We happened to be in Salzburg right in time for a festival that was set up all over the city. Because of this we decided to just walk around with no plans and see everything we could before our 4:30 train. There was all kinds of booth's set up with foods, drinks, and arts. As we walked through I tried the most amazing pesto and pepperoni spread on fresh bread. Once again everyone there was no nice and eager to talk to us about what they were selling. We also tried some Kombucha called Carpe Diem. They had cranberry, classic, and quitte. We got a really good deal and ended up buying a few bottles to have for the day. Quitte was my favorite partly because it was an interesting fruit I had never heard of. As we walked through the markets we made our way over to a bridge that crossed the Salzach River. We stopped there for a while to take pictures of the market and old town Salzburg that laid ahead.

Hohensalzburg Castle

On our way to Old Town Salzburg we passed all kinds of shops dedicated to Mozart, as Salzburg was his hometown. We wanted to see the Hohensalzburg Castle so we continued to head into Old Town and toward it. This must have been the central location for the festival because there were all kinds of carnival rides and booths set up for people to enjoy. Before we got to the castle we stopped to check out the Salzburg Cathedral. It was unbelievable to see the detail and sheer size of this building, considering how long ago it was built. Originally built in the first millennium, the Salzburg Cathedral has been damaged and rebuilt a few times over the year, which gives it unique history. We spent a lot of time in the Cathedral because it has so much to offer and is even nice to just sit there and reflect while you check out the detailed walls and high ceilings. After leaving the cathedral we made our way up to the top of the hill. We passed a local street vendor and all the guys bought hats that we decided would be perfect for our upcoming trip to Oktoberfest.

View from top of the Castle

The last stop in Salzburg was the top of the hill to see the Hohensalzburg Castle. This was amazing for two reasons. The castle itself was a major fortress that was cool to walk around in and see, but also being at the top gave us the best views in Salzburg. Being at the top of the castle made me realize why my grandparents love Salzburg so much. It was one of the most amazing views I have seen so far in Europe. I could see mountains, historical buildings, and the Salzach River running through.

All the guys with our Oktoberfest hats

On the way down through the festival we stopped for lunch and I had the best chocolate covered fruit I can remember. It had banana, strawberry, apple, grapes, and pineapple and I went back for seconds. It was a great way to top of the day in Salzburg while we headed for the train station.

Prague, Czech Republic - Coldplay and Czech Baseball!!

The original plan was to stay in Berlin for another day but we found out that Coldplay was going to be in Prague on Sunday. While I really enjoyed everything about Berlin, you can't NOT go to the COLDPLAY concert in PRAGUE. The walking tour in Berlin allowed us to cram a lot of things in to one day and made the decision to leave a day early an easy one. We left early Sunday morning for the train ride to Prague to get there in time for the concert.

One of my high school baseball coaches is currently living in Prague and coaching the Tempo Titans of the Ceskomoravska League. He was nice enough to let a few friends and me stay with him for the extra night that we didn't have a hostel reserved. This was a great experience because it was a way to see the outskirts of Prague that I wouldn't have seen other wise and it was so cool to see the baseball facility and how they operate in the Czech Republic. Joey also offered to take us around the city the day after the concert see the sights. After dropping our stuff off at the baseball facility and getting a quick tour of that, we hopped back on the bus to get to the concert. I was very impressed with the public transportation system in Prague, it was very easy to use and allowed us to get all around the city for the three days we were there.

The group at Coldplay

The Coldplay concert was at the local soccer stadium and it was beginning to fill up when we got there 2 hours before the concert. The whole place was buzzing with excitement and you could tell everyone was getting ready for a great show. Leading up to this trip I had always heard about how cheap eastern Europe was, especially Prague. That is actually an understatement, and I got to experience it first hand in my few days there. I spent 50 Czech koruna on dinner and got a sandwich, chips, and a drink. That's about $2.50!! Inside the concert was even more impressive, they were selling beer for 50 also. That is $2.50 for the same size beer that costs 9 bucks at a concert at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia. Once we got food and some drinks we took our spots at around the 50 yard line on the field. The first two bands were basically just background music as everyone was starting to pack tighter and tighter trying to get as close to the stage for Coldplay as possible. When the lights went out everyone went crazy. From then on it was a huge party with people from all around the world enjoying music. Coldplay jammed for over 2 hours and played 21 songs with 2 encores. We got the special treat of hearing both an acoustic version and regular Clocks. It was different from a typical concert I would go to in the states in that it felt more like a show than a concert. All kinds of lights and special effects that went right along with each song. Saying that the field was packed does not do it justice. I went out to the bathroom right before Coldplay came on and it was one of the biggest challenges of my life getting back to our spot. Everyone was so crammed together and no one wanted to move because they had to keep their spot for the show. It suffices to say that we made the right choice leaving Berlin a day early to come to the concert, I already see it as being a potential highlight.

The Astronomical Clock

After the concert we met up with Joey in downtown Prague to check out some of the Prague nightlife. He took us to Old Town Square to see some of the most famous buildings in Europe lit up at night. We saw the Tyn Church, St. Nicholas Church, and the Astronomical clock. It was cool to walk through a busy town like Prague at night to experience Czech nightlife. There are all kinds of people walking around trying to sell you stuff and handing out flyers. Its kind of funny to mess with them at first but after a while it gets annoying.

Czech Goulash

The next day we headed into the main city in the morning to walk around before meeting up with Joey later in the day to get a tour. I had Czech Goulash for lunch at a restaurant on one of the main streets. I can honestly say I wasn't impressed by the famous Czech dish. Players on the Titans told me they call the dumplings that come with it Big Mac's and I can see why. It was so heavy and I felt like I was eating 5,000 calories. It tasted ok but I don't think I would get it again. After lunch Joey and one of his players met up with us and they took us around the city. Our first stop was a street market that had everything from food, to pottery, to a blacksmith working with iron. European markets continue to grow on me every time I go to a new one. I really like to just walk through them and see all the different things that each part of the world has to offer. The chance of getting some free samples doesn't hurt either.

A store effected by Prague Prohibition

After that we went to the Absinth Museum. We happened to be in Prague during what locals were calling 'Prague Prohibition 2012'. In the past couple weeks 19 people had died from alcohol poisoning or other alcohol related causes and that forced the government to ban the sale of all liquor or spirits over 20% alcohol content. The Absinth Museum and other liquor stores were either boarded up or had tarps blocking off the shelves that sell the banned drinks. We continued for the rest of the day seeing all the amazing sites that Prague has to offer. We saw the Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock again, Prague Castle, the John Lennon wall, and the U.S. embassy. One of my favorite things about Prague was walking on the Charles Bridge. Not only did it have amazing views Vltava River, but there were all kinds of artists and street performers up and down the bridge. My favorite was this jazz band that was playing Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World, they were unbelievable!

View of the main strip in Prague from the market

Matt and I with Coach Kamide after the game

The next day the Tempo Titans had an inter squad scrimmage to get ready for their upcoming playoff run and Joey asked if Matt (another former player of his on the trip) and I wanted to play. We both jumped at the chance to play international baseball. I got to take batting practice on the field before and it was so much fun. All the players were very friendly and eager to make us feel like part of the team. I played all 6 innings in centerfield and Matt played a couple innings in right and got to pitch the last 2. This was a once in a lifetime experience for both of us and it was so great to be back out on the diamond. It was very interesting to see how baseball works in a country like Czech Republic. Once you get past the language barrier you can see it is no different than what I am used to from back home. Just a bunch of guys getting together playing a game they love. They had inside jokes and certain habits just like I did when I played with all my best friends in high school. It was easy for Matt and I to get along with the team because once you get on the field everyone speaks baseball. Our whole group came out to the facility to watch and all the guys said it was the biggest crowd they had ever had for a scrimmage.

After the game Matt and I hung out at the clubhouse for dinner and to hang out with the guys on the team. They continued to be very nice and accommodating and we had some great talks about the differences we noticed between our two cultures. That night we went out with Joey and some guys on the team and once again saw all kinds of cool stuff that you wouldn't find in America. One place we went to delivered drinks on a train that ran through your table. Another stop was the Prague Beer Museum, where they had over 30 different beers on tap.

After another great night in an amazing European city, we had a little bit of trouble waking up in time for our 8 am train. Once we eventually got everyone up and ready to roll, we caught a 10 am train for Salzburg, Austria. Prague was a beautiful city and a great time and I definitely think this was the most 'thorough' experience of any city that I have had so far.

View of Prague Castle from Charles Bridge

Berlin, Germany

After two semester's and 6 credit hours of Finance, Corporate and International, we got our first extended break of the trip. We were officially kicked out of the Villa for 10 days and I was ready to travel with a group of friends to Berlin (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Salzburg (Austria), and Daccau/Munich (Germany). The train to Berlin is 12 hours long so we made a deal with our finance teacher to let us take our final exam at 7am to make a 9:15 train. My favorite part of the long train was that it was to the north and we were able to completely avoid Italy. For some reason, I have had a lot of bad experiences with Italian trains so far. This train ride was uneventful with a lot of naps mixed with celebrating the end of finance while enjoying the views of Swiss mountains and German hillsides. At the end of our long train from Zurich to Berlin we met a German guy who was going back to Berlin to visit his family. It's always good to talk to a local before you go somewhere and Lars was no exception. He gave us advice on all the good spots to see, where to eat, and what touristy spots to avoid. He even helped show us how to get to the metro to our hostel.

New Synagogue

We arrived at the famous Circus Hostel at around 9:30. I could really get used to this routine of getting to new cities on Friday's at night. It's been so cool to walk into the all the busy streets and tall buildings when they are lit up with people all around. After we settled into the rooms, a couple of people and I went down to the hostel bar to hang out for a while. They offered a 2 liter boot shaped mug that I split with my friend Cody. In the spirit of Oktoberfest later in the week we had to try it. There was a guy next to us who I got to talking to that is originally from Canada but now lives in Australia. One of my goals on this trip is to talk to as many people from different countries as possible about their different political systems. I asked him straight up if he would explain the types of healthcare systems in his home countries. After we both agreed to 'not argue' we ended up talking for almost 2 hours. This was a great experience to hear what someone who has lived in those place had to say, especially with the election coming up. While we disagreed on a lot, he opened my eyes to some new ideas and I am proud to say he called me the most open-minded American he had ever met.

Some of the graffiti we walked through

The next morning we woke up bright and early to do a walking tour of Berlin. It was a perfect day for walking around the city. With a city like Berlin that is so rich in significant history, we decided that a guided tour was the best way to go. Our tour guide was another Australian (easily the most popular home country of people I've met so far) named Theo who has lived in Berlin the last few years. He took us all around Berlin and was very informative about not only all the buildings and sites, but interesting, in-depth stories. We started off at the New Synagogue which is a gigantic building that sits right on a normal street in between regular shops and buildings. It is significant because it was badly damaged during World War II bombings and was almost completely destroyed. Most of the framework of the building has been renovated over the years because of this. This was just the beginning of a strong Jewish culture in Berlin that I was unaware of. As we walked to our next location, we went through an artistic hub of Berlin. It was a series of allies and walls that get painted on by graffiti artists from all over the world. It was amazing to see how different artists choose to express themselves. After that we went to a courtyard where Theo drew a map of how Berlin was divided after the fall of Germany in World War II. This was a great foundation of knowledge for the rest of the trip as he showed us parts of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the site of the Berlin book burning, and other significant buildings that recall memories of World War II and the Cold War.

Checkpoint Charlie with a unique, authentic
German restaurant in the background

Theo called Checkpoint Charlie 'The Disney World of Berlin' and I can see why. There were no less than 10 tourist groups just like us lined up along the Wall there along with hundreds of other people there to see it. There was all kinds of typical touristy things complete with some guys dressed as American soldiers who couldn't speak a word of english except for "2 euros for a picture". This was one part of the tour that I didn't particularly enjoy. What made the tour so great was the things 'off the beaten path' that we saw, or little things that Theo added. One such thing was a local market that was going on in the city. We walked around trying local foods, looking at all kinds of art and street performers, and listening to good music. Coming into this trip through Europe I hated shopping more than anything in the world. So naturally, I thought markets would be one of my least favorite parts of Europe. It turns out they are one of my favorite. This one was no exception. It is always a great chance to walk around and see parts of the culture the best way possible -- interacting with people. We finished up with two very powerful locations in Berlin that were not crowded like Checkpoint Charlie, but had a much greater feeling to them.

The first of the spots was a parking lot. Not just any parking lot though, it was a parking lot on top of the bunker where Hitler killed himself as the War was coming to an end. Theo told us about how they made it into a parking lot for a reason. No one wanted to have any building over a place that represented so much negativity, so they just covered it up once and for all. The only thing left to mark its place is a map of the bunker to show what it was like. After that we walked over to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This was one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had. It is designed with a big open area that slopes down toward the middle with solid stone pillars that line up to give the feeling of a maze. As I was walking through I got the uncomfortable feeling of being lost or alone. By the time I made it out to the other side I was confused and not really sure how this structure could represent anything related to the Holocaust. Theo explained the architects intentions and it started to make perfect sense. The stone pillars are shaped so that they have the look and feel of a casket and to represent the many deaths. As for the downward slope and maze feel, the idea is that the farther you go into the monument, the more alone you feel. This is to portray the feelings of all the jews that were taken from their homes and away from their feelings. It was an excellent expression of so much sorrow and looking back on it after thinking about that was amazing.

Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe

After leaving the 7 hour tour much more educated and cultured than we started, we decided to check out some German night life for the first time. We went to dinner at a brewery called Brauhaus Lemke where I got a sampler of 4 different german beers. After that we went to a underground jazz bar called Zosch. Theo recommended this on our tour earlier because it used to be a homemade bomb shelter during World War II that was eventually changed into a bar. It was cool to be able think about how much could have happened in history at that place while we were just there to hangout with people.

I had no idea how much history the city of Berlin had and it was definitely the experience of a life time to be able to walk the streets and learn as much as I did.

Interlaken, Switzerland

View from the train

Before I decided to study abroad for the semester I got all kinds of advice from friends and family that had been to Europe. One of the most popular places that I heard about was Interlaken, Switzerland. It is a town in the shadow of the Bernese alps with amazing views and all kinds of extreme sports to do. My weekend to go experience Interlaken is finally here. We caught a train from Riva around 12 on Friday and went the farthest north I had been yet. It was such a relief to be off Italian trains for the weekend. The Swiss trains I have been on this trip are much cleaner and everyone is nicer than on Italian trains. It's just an overall better travel experience. The amazing views of the alps along the way doesn't hurt either.

People gathered at the finish line,
paraglider landing in the field

After about 5 hours we arrived in Interlaken to the best introduction to a city yet. There were tons of people crowded around this huge field where there was a finish line for the Jungfrau Marathon. The first thing you notice when you walk through Interlaken is that at  any given time there are paragliders flying through the air and landing in the big field. We stood there for a couple minutes just taking it all in and watching the paragliders land. We had been in Interlaken for less than 5 minutes and already experienced some of the extreme sports they offer. Checking into the hostel was another pleasant surprise. The world famous Balmer's was all booked up so we stayed in a hostel called Funny Farm. It ended up being a hostel connected to a 4 star hotel that was really nice. The room wasn't anything special but it was a place to stay and had an amazing view from the porch. After getting settled in, we walked out into the town to a place to get dinner. One of our friends had told us about a pizza place next to Balmer's that we ate at.

LA-Hollywood Pizza

I got a 'LA-Hollywood' Pizza that had bbq sauce, bacon, ham, french fries, and two hamburger patties on it. Believe it or not it was excellent. I still consider that taking in European culture because I had never seen a pizza like that in the U.S. before. After dinner we went into Metro Bar & Night Club underneath Balmer's. It seemed like Metro is the place to be in Interlaken because in no time it was packed with locals. After a while I went up to the lobby of Balmer's with a friend of mine to cool-off and ended up meeting a Chinese man who just finished his doctorate in London. He wrote his dissertation on the effect of exchange rates on the credit card industry. That might sound boring, but it is almost exactly related to what we are learning in International Finance these two weeks. We ended up talking to him for almost an hour, getting our friend Fan to translate anytime he couldn't explain in English. I also met a Engineering student from Bern, Switzerland who plans to study at Virginia Tech next year. What are the odds?? One of my favorite parts of this trip is being able to talk to people from all around the world, the fact that we have this much in common is just a plus.

View of Jungfrau from our Hostel

On Saturday we woke up with no plans since Canyoning wasn't until Sunday. Walking through the town of Interlaken was a great chance to see all kinds of shops and once again people flying through the air above us. We stopped for lunch to get Doner Kebab's, my new favorite food. It was a sandwich with chicken, lamb and an amazing mixture of vegetables and sauces. After lunch we took a train to the other side of town to go up on the Harder Kulm, which is a mountain peak that gives a view of the surrounding alps. We took a funicular train up the mountain, and after a ten minute ride and a bit of getting yelled at by locals for being too loud we were at the top. At the top of the mountain is a restaurant and a platform that goes off the edge of the mountain. Even though it was solidly built, I was still scared when I walked up to the edge. The Harder Kulm itself is 'only' 1,322 meters high, but has perfect views of the mountains on the other side of town. The tallest of which is Jungfrau at 4,158 meters high. The landscape of mountains was perfectly situated right across from the Harder Kulm, with Jungfrau flanked by other huge peaks. Another unreal coincidence was meeting a traveler from Roanoke, Virginia. On the top of a mountain in the middle of Switzerland and we run into a guy who is from 40 minutes away from Blacksburg. It turns out he had just quit is job from Facebook and was traveling the world for 5 months!! - talk about loaded. He may or may not have spent 50 bucks on flaming shots later that night for the group.

Chocolate show

After taking pictures and walking around the peak as much as we wanted we headed back down the train to make it back into town in time for a chocolate show at Grand Restaurant Schuh. A chef that worked for the chocolate company told us the most information about chocolate than I have heard since the Chocolate Ride in Hershey, PA. He then showed us how to make a hollow chocolate cow and caramel filled chocolate mountains. The ticket for the show also allowed an 8 franc credit in the store so I was able to sample a variety of what they make at Schuh. My favorite was still the caramel filled chocolate mountains that he made in the show though.

View of Jungfrau from the top of the
Harder Kulm

After another night at the club under Balmer's we woke up at 7:30 am for our Canyoning trip. We had to be at Outdoor-Interlaken to get all our gear and meet with the guides at 8:30. We each got a pair of water proof shoes, full wetsuit, life jacket, rappelling harness, and helmet. My helmet name for the day was 'Cartman'. They put funny names on them so they can give you important instructions without having to learn everyone's names. After getting geared up we took a 45 minute van ride into the mountains to our canyon Chli Schliere. After a 20 minute hike we were in the canyon and ready to go. The next 4 hours consisted of sliding, jumping, climbing, repelling, swimming and a whole lot of 'graceful falling' down the canyon. Being the over confident American tourists that we are, my group chose to do Chli Schliere even though it is considered the advanced of the three choices. While it was challenging, everyone made it through without injury. Some of the highlights included a 9 meter jump over rocks into a water fall. Another one was a rock slide that you have to jump into so your back hits it before you slide down. My personal favorite was a repel down THROUGH a waterfall. This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was definitely challenging but you can tell these guides are professional for a reason. They are in the canyons everyday and are very helpful with each jump or slide, always telling you exactly where to land or what to do with your arms, legs, and feet. It was my favorite part of the trip so far and I would recommend it to anyone. When we finally finished we hiked to a spot where they drove the vans and were served a traditional Swiss after canyoning meal of fresh bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh cheese, and beer. After the van ride back we had about an hour before our train so we stopped by the Doner Kebab place one last time and headed for the train station. To finish our weekend and continue the theme of Interlaken being over the top and awesome there was a parade going through the streets as we walked.

The group getting ready to jump down some mountains