New pictures!

Hi all!! Here are some pictures I took with my phone. I went to the Van Gogh museum and took a picture of one of his most famous paintings, being that this is believed to be one of his last paintings he did before he died a few weeks later. The others are of random pictures throughout town, with a horse-drawn carriage, an actual Hemp Marijuana Museum, and the last one is actually something the city authorities created to stop tourists from urinating in corners after visiting pubs!! All places charge to use the restroom, even in bars and cafes, so apparently the town got sick of tourists using corners of buildings and streets as their personal toilet... crazy, huh? It is SO SO SO SO SO SO cold today, I think the highest temperature today was 2 degrees Celsius! I went on the free walking tour today and FROZE, but I met a couple girls from Washington, DC and we are going out for sushi later, so I am excited about that. We saw some beautiful places, along with the red light district, which, needless to say, is one of the craziest things I have ever seen. Prostitution is completely legal in the Netherlands, so there are all these windows everywhere in the district where women advertise themselves in very interesting ways, mainly being mostly naked and using hand gestures and other ways to get your attention. Pretty interesting I must say... We learned a lot about the history of Amsterdam which I thought was really great. I leave tomorrow for Heidelberg, Germany which I am so excited to see my friend Lisa! I will stay there till about the 17th, then I will meet up with Juliane and we will visit her sister who lives on the border of Germany and Switzerland. Apparently there is this amazing lake to see there, plus DELICIOUS chocolates!! I just got back to the hostel from the Anne Frank house. That was emotionally intense. You feel the history there and how much the people in hiding suffered daily by being terrified they would be caught at any moment. I am happy I saw it though, it is something everyone should do. Well, I just wanted to post the pictures and give you all an update. I am going to thaw out and rest for awhile before going to dinner. Hope you all are having a wonderful Thursday!!!

In Amsterdam!

Hi guys! I arrived in Amsterdam yesterday in the afternoon, and this place is great! I am staying in a hostel that is close to the tram and its a decent hostel with an awesome breakfast. I walked for about 5 hours yesterday, and got pretty lost but the good thing is you can always find the tram to take you back to where you need to be, so that was definitely helpful. Amsterdam is so cute, with so many, SO many shops and cafes, and there is a canal running through the town so you cross so many awesome little bridges. The only problem is everything starts to look really similar as you are walking, so I got turned around quite a bit but the place I am staying is right next to the Van Gogh museum, so I am going to see that today I think. There is an awesome tour guide company that gives a free tour as well, but seeing as how I climbed 720 stairs up the Eiffel Tower the day before yesterday and walked 5 hours yesterday, I think I will do the tour tomorrow to give my legs a break. in my room there is people from Ukraine, Spain and Brazil. It is amazing how many people around my age are traveling all the time! This is really a cool town so I am happy to be here rather than Paris. Paris was okay, but just visiting for a couple days was fine with me. I dont know if I mentioned it in my last post, but I went to the Salvidor Dali museum when I was in Paris, and that was really cool as well. So, I am off to explore some more, but I will try to take pictures with my phone and post them tomorrow or soon!! Hope you guys are all doing great!! I leave to Heidelberg, Germany on the 28th to stay with a friend I haven't seen in a long time so I am so excited for that! Talk to you all soon!!

In Paris, France!

Hey all! I arrived in Paris on Friday night, and there is quite a story to tell you about my little adventure from London to Paris, then finding my couchsurfing host's house. So, to start off the story, I have never seen or heard of how they transport buses using the 'chunnel', but basically, the bus driver drove the bus into this very small, very tight container and parked it. It was actually pretty claustrophobic, because your inside a bus that is inside a container, and once the container started moving, it was such a weird feeling! So, apparently a train takes these containers from London to Paris underground, which was about 20 minutes or so. Then, the container stops, the huge door at the front opens, and the bus pulls out and there we were in France! It was beautiful scenery to drive through, rolling hills, green pastures, just awesome. Then we started getting towards the city, and everything changed into graffiti, homelessness and basically it seemed really dirty. We arrived at the bus station, and my couchsurf host, Ihsen, had emailed me a map of how to get to his house. Now, anyone that knows me well, knows that I am very bad with directions, and I am still a total beginner to this whole Metro subway stuff. I wasn't able to print the map at my last hostel, so I figured, oh well, I have the address on my phone and most of the directions (metro directions that is). Well, my phone had completely and totally died. I forgot to charge it the night before, and was in the middle of Paris with no phone. Completely my fault. I wasn't panicked yet, because I had my laptop which had the more detailed directions and his phone number in my email, so I went to a cafe to use their free WIFI and have something to drink. Nowhere in France does FREE WIFI exist. They charge anywhere from 3-10 euro per 5 minutes; it was crazy! I ordered a Coca-Cola, which was 4 euro (about $5.00) and figured, okay, I will see if there is a cell phone store where I can pay to charge my phone for just 5 minutes. So, I found one and the man, although extremely flirty, was nice enough to let me charge it for free for 5 minutes. At that point, it was about 7 pm and dark, and I thought, I will just take a taxi because its worth it for me just to get where I need to be. I found a taxi driver who spoke no English, but I had written the address down and gave it to him. He knew exactly where it was, so I was totally relieved. SOOO we drove for about twenty minutes, and after 24 euro, he dropped me off at the address I had given him. I felt relieved, but there were huge business like buildings, and I didn't know exactly where his place was. So, I was about to call him, but my phone had died, yet again! Okay, so I said, no problem, I will just start walking and find somewhere where I can charge my phone again. Keep in mind, I don't think I could have looked anymore like a completely lost tourist with my HUGE red backpack and a somewhat concerned look on my face. I tried a laundromat, a grocery store, a cheese factory, and finally a little Indian restaurant where they were SO nice and luckily spoke English! They sat me down, poured me tea, and plugged in my phone. There was probably 4 of them, all guys and the restaurant was completely dead. I gave my phone a few minutes, and tried calling Ihsen, my host. No answer. Tried again, no answer. Its about 7:30 now, and he ended up calling me back about 5 minutes later. Oh yes, one more thing to add to this story; all of the sudden, after being there for about 6 minutes, the Indian restaurants electricity goes out. I said to myself, seriously, the place you find where they speak English and you can charge your phone, and their ELECTRICITY GOES OUT?!! My phone was still without one bar of energy, but it was on at least for now. Ihsens accent is fairly strong, and we had a bad connection, so it was pretty tough talking to him, but I kept asking him, can you just meet me at either the Indian restaurant or the grocery store you have close to your apartment, because that would be Hey all! I arrived in Paris on Friday night, and there is quite a story to tell you about my little adventure from London to Paris, then finding my couchsurfing host's house. So, to start off the story, I have never seen or heard of how they transport buses using the 'chunnel', but basically, the bus driver drove the bus into this very small, very tight container and parked it. It was actually pretty claustrophobic, because your inside a bus that is inside a container, and once the container started moving, it was such a weird feeling! So, apparently a train takes these containers from London to Paris underground, which was about 20 minutes or so. Then, the container stops, the huge door at the front opens, and the bus pulls out and there we were in France! It was beautiful scenery to drive through, rolling hills, green pastures, just awesome. Then we started getting towards the city, and everything changed into graffiti, homelessness and basically it seemed really dirty. We arrived at the bus station, and my couchsurf host, Ihsen, had emailed me a map of how to get to his house. Now, anyone that knows me well, knows that I am very bad with directions, and I am still a total beginner to this whole Metro subway stuff. I wasn't able to print the map at my last hostel, so I figured, oh well, I have the address on my phone and most of the directions (metro directions that is). Well, my phone had completely and totally died. I forgot to charge it the night before, and was in the middle of Paris with no phone. Completely my fault. I wasn't panicked yet, because I had my laptop which had the more detailed directions and his phone number in my email, so I went to a cafe to use their free WIFI and have something to drink. Nowhere in France does FREE WIFI exist. They charge anywhere from 3-10 euro per 5 minutes; it was crazy! I ordered a Coca-Cola, which was 4 euro (about $5.00) and figured, okay, I will see if there is a cell phone store where I can pay to charge my phone for just 5 minutes. So, I found one and the man, although extremely flirty, was nice enough to let me charge it for free for 5 minutes. At that point, it was about 7 pm and dark, and I thought, I will just take a taxi because its worth it for me just to get where I need to be. I found a taxi driver who spoke no English, but I had written the address down and gave it to him. He knew exactly where it was, so I was totally relieved. SOOO we drove for about twenty minutes, and after 24 euro, he dropped me off at the address I had given him. I felt relieved, but there were huge business like buildings, and I didn't know exactly where his place was. So, I was about to call him, but my phone had died, yet again! Okay, so I said, no problem, I will just start walking and find somewhere where I can charge my phone again. Keep in mind, I don't think I could have looked anymore like a completely lost tourist with my HUGE red backpack and a somewhat concerned look on my face. I tried a laundromat, a grocery store, a cheese factory, and finally a little Indian restaurant where they were SO nice and luckily spoke English! They sat me down, poured me tea, and plugged in my phone. There was probably 4 of them, all guys and the restaurant was completely dead. I gave my phone a few minutes, and tried calling Ihsen, my host. No answer. Tried again, no answer. Its about 7:30 now, and he ended up calling me back about 5 minutes later. Oh yes, one more thing to add to this story; all of the sudden, after being there for about 6 minutes, the Indian restaurants electricity goes out. I said to myself, seriously, the place you find where they speak English and you can charge your phone, and their ELECTRICITY GOES OUT?!! My phone was still without one bar of energy, but it was on at least for now. Ihsens accent is fairly strong, and we had a bad connection, so it was pretty tough talking to him, but I kept asking him, can you just meet me at either the Indian restaurant or the grocery store you have close to your apartment, because that would be easier. After our connection was lost about 7 or 8 times, he finally asked to talk to one of the Indian guys in French to figure out where I was. Get ready... turns out, the address I gave the taxi driver was correct, but there are about 47 "Emile Zola" streets because he is some famous writer. The taxi driver, who had not looked at the zip code I had given him with the address, had taken me to just about the farthest one of the 47 Emile Zola streets he could have from where Ihsen lived. Now I was a little panicked. I had to find where the nearest metro was to the Indian restaurant, transfer 3 or 4 times and figure out how to pay for Metro tickets in French. Can you say, learning experience? : ) So, I bid my farewell to my Indian friends who were in the dark, paid them 4 euro for their help, and started out to find the metro. I did, but the maps were so confusing to me so I started asking random people if they spoke English. I found the sweetest, most helpful girl who honestly, without her, I think I would have been in trouble. After all was said and done, I found the correct stop, Ihsen was there to meet me, and we went to his apartment where his wife was waiting for me with pizza and wine. It was a good end to a hectic, confusing day! They are a nice couple, but I find that I don't really enjoy Paris. I think I would like Nice, and other places in France, but there is so much poverty and it really breaks my heart. I have never seen so much graffiti in my life! I am happy I was able to see the Eiffel Tower, and my phone took those pictures. The entire Eiffel Tower sparkles with thousands of lights at every hour for 10 minutes. It is so gorgeous! I am going on a walking tour tomorrow, and yesterday I went to one of the biggest shopping malls in France which was quite an experience. Today I went to the Salvidor Dali museum which I have always wanted to see (it was amazing), and also saw an unbelievable, huge church, which had such an amazing view. I can't think of the name, but I will blog it when I remember. The people that try to sell you all kinds of trinkets and stuff like that are very aggressive, and that made me uncomfortable. They literally grab you by the arm and hold on tight as you walk away, speaking right in your face to buy their stuff. I have talked to a couple nice ones; they are all from Africa and are just trying to make a living, but they can become very intense. Other than that everyone, I am doing fine, just can't wait to get to Amsterdam and from there, visit my friends in Germany! Hope you enjoyed my crazy, interesting story, and I will post some pictures hopefully tomorrow from my walking tour! Au revoir!! (goodbye in French) : )

In LONDON!!

Hi everyone! I just arrived in London about an hour ago, and so far, people don't seem to be the most helpful, but I am trying to be patient. I tried taking one of their many public transportation systems, but it was SO confusing and once anyone saw my huge red backpack and me looking utterly confused, they did not want to give much detail about where to go. It was pretty complicated, but I ended up just giving in and getting a taxi. The hostel is really great, and is actually a bar downstairs with pool and games so that is awesome! The guy that works here is really nice and helpful, so that is already making me happier! I had an amazing time in Wales; I stayed with a guy that I had met in Cancun, Mexico which is where Tricia and I went for a little over a week to celebrate graduating college a few years back. We managed to stay in touch since then, and it was really great to feel at home so far away! Him and his friends were all so nice, and Wales seems to be very welcoming. The weather was not the best, but we did end up with one day of semi-sunshine so we went to a few castles and drove to some cute little towns. Castles fascinate me, how are they still there after SOOOOO LONG?? : ) It was really nice to have some down time rather than being busy, busy so I didn't do to much sightseeing or tourist-type stuff in Wales. Although, I found out that Wales has 600 castles!! Anyway, there is my update for now! I am meeting up with a friend I met in the last hostel in Dublin tonight hopefully and he has some good London tips and tricks to getting around, because it honestly is really, really confusing! How are all of you? I cannot believe it is already getting to the end of January. Wow. I really hope you all are doing wonderful and I will write again soon!

What a week!

How is everyone?! I have had quite a week, from staying on a farm in Ireland for 2 days, then going back to Dublin, now I am in Galway! I have had such a change in plans, I am actually not going to do workaway because I feel like I need freedom to travel where ever, whenever. SOOOO here is my plan!! 1- Leave Galway tomorrow and spend one night in Dublin, then off to take a ferry to Holyhead, then train to Cardiff and I will spend 4 nights with a friend, then off to London for 3 days, then take an underground bus (weird, right?) to PARIS!! Then spend 5 days there, then off to Amsterdam for 3 days, then rail it to Frankfurt to spend time with my friend Lisa in Germany. Then, spend some more time with Juliane, my roomie from Mallorca, then possibly home but we shall see what my bank account looks like. I have no pictures to show you guys because when I went home for a few days, I accidentally left my camera!! Dublin is amazing, so many nice people and a wonderful park to walk around in, as well as beautiful cathedrals and schools. Galway is really nice as well, and what a nightlife!! Myself and a few other people at the hostel I am in went out last night to a bar, and for a Wednesday night, I have never seen so many people out in my life! Tonight I think we are going out again to the same place, but I am not staying out as late as I did last night, that's for sure. The hostels have been so great, and I think I am really lucky to have been in nice ones that are clean and have wonderful staff! I will definitely write reviews online for them because that is the way I chose to stay in the ones I have, and believe me, there are some really bad ones out there from what people have written! I hope you all are doing great, and I think I will try to buy disposable cameras, then just develop them when I get home. Ireland is really expensive, so I might try to price some cheap digital cameras in Wales or England, so I am really sorry I don't have any pictures : ( I will write soon again!!!

Sorry it has been so long...

Hey everyone, I am so sorry it has been awhile since a new post. Sadly, my love of my life, Cheyenne, had to be put down on December 28th due to mainly old age problems. I flew home for 5 days to help my mom with all the details but everything had been taken care of. Unbelievable thanks and appreciation to Celena, who is such an amazing, wonderful sister-like friend, and Gale and Dennis, who helped arrange burying Cheyenne and I am forever in their debt. I miss him terribly but know he is pain free and happy where he is. I posted some Christmas pictures of my last days at the finca in Spain, and tried to have the best time I could which I absolutely did with Julianna and Steph helping me along the way (as well as quite a few bottles of wine). We spent Christmas eve on the beach and watched the sunset, then had dinner that night. As for right now, I arrived in Dublin, Ireland 5 hours ago. It is such a amazing, busy little town! Not little actually, pretty good size. So, so many people walking around town, it almost feels like New York! My battery i running low and I still want to walk quite a bit around town so I just wanted everyone to know I am still alive, it has just been somewhat of a rough last couple weeks. Ireland will definitely help me through and I look forward to blogging more soon!