$BlogRSDUrl$>
9.24.2003and i'm proud to be an american, where at least i know i'm fr-- er, sorry...
some reflective thoughts from my trip so far.
apparently, a lot of nations in the EU are really starting to crack down on americans (and other foreigners as well, but americans are the largest group) who are working illegally in europe. many people find jobs that pay under the table and sleep on a friend's floor until either they get caught and sent back home, or their application for a visa goes through. being an american, i have found that the only people who really give me any problems about being american are other americans or canadians. many american backpackers sew the canadian flag on their backpack or will lie and tell someone they meet that they are from Vancouver, for example. i don't understand why. canadians i've met tell me that i'm brave for admitting to being american. um, i guess... i may not be proud of certain stereotypes about america (some of them rightfully deserved), but i'm not going to go so far as to lie to people about where i'm from. i love the US (but not in that blind "i love my country for no discernable reason, now pass me another beer and my gun" kind of way). so far i've found that most locals and other travelers are more interested in who i am as a person as opposed to what nationality i am. i think most of them know that the young people who are traveling around europe for such a lengthy period of time are probably different than many other americans. which i do think is true. for whatever reason, a majority of the people who i've met in my travels (from all countries, not just the US) have at least some interest and knowledge in liberal politics and geography. which, unfortunately, is more than i can say for a significant number of my fellow countrymen. now, i'm sure that if i was like some loud mouthed american travelers, i would get dirty looks and nasty reactions. but i would think i would get the same if i was a loud spaniard, or german, etc. actually, most people i've met seem to hate the british just as much, if not more, than americans. they may not appreciate the attitude and arrogance that the USA exhudes, but, like it or not, at least they understand where it comes from since we are probably the most influential nation on the planet, for better or for worse. but britian's arrogance is seen as an unwillingness to accept the fact that they are not what they once were, and are desperately trying to cling to their past greatness while refusing to reconsider their position in the world, and more specifically, europe. as far as bush goes, they all hate him from what i can tell. i haven't heard one positive thing about bush from anyone. if anyone has anything negative to say about the usa it always is something like "here's what i hate about bush..." another interesting thing is that many europeans see traveling to the US in the same way that americans view traveling to europe. that is to say, they feel that it is almost beyond their reach, that it's so far away. well, it took me 6:30 to fly from new york to london. it took me almost 4 hours to fly to denver. that doesn't seem like such a huge difference to me. the bigger difference is the money thing. we make more of it, even if it's worth a little less right now. so i can understand the apprehension of a european (especially an eastern european) to consider travel abroad. plus, the US also makes it difficult for people to get visas here, and i believe they require them for some european visitors (i know they do for people from the czech republic, even though we don't need one to go there). traveling here has also given me an appreciation for what is at home that i haven't seen. the grand canyon, yellowstone, california, las vegas, and countless other places. there is so much to see in the world, and the more i see, do, and learn, the more i become addicted. i am hoping that when i get home i can seriously learn to speak another language. first spanish, because i should be able to pick it up fairly easily after having stuidied it for so many years. but i would also like to ultimately learn 3 or 4 other languages (a lofty goal, i know), because i feel that it would give me a definite edge in the job market, especially one where travel may be an integral part. as far as the rest of my trip goes, i had a bit of trouble getting to berlin. i met these two girls at the train station in amsterdam, so we hung out on the train. actually, one was from west chester, pa. go figure. anyway, the train was having technical problems, so we stopped a couple of times. the girls and i napped, and when we woke up, we were only a few minutes from our stop. or so we thought. we got off the train and realized that we had gotten off a stop too early. so i suggested we hop on a train to düsseldorf to catch a train to berlin. it saved us about 2 hours of having to wait at the wrong station, so i was a hero. woo hoo! but berlin was very cool, and i was a sightseeing freak. it's a much more modern city than any of the others, so it kind of reminded me of home in a good way. there is just so much stuff to see, i couldn't possibly do it justice by describing it here. next i went to prague. of course, this was an adventure. i got to the train station in berlin to get my czech eurail pass validated. i thought the train was leaving ast 5:47. unfortunately, when i got to the counter, i found out that i was at the wrong train station, and that the train for prague had left the station at 5:31 (it was 5:35). oops. well, not knowing what to do, and having no way of making it to the other station by 5:47, i decided to try and catch a train to dresden, so at least i would be close to prague. i asked at the information desk when the next train to dresden was, and the woman said, "right now, if you can catch it!" shit! i ran up the steps and found, to my surprise, that not only was the train to dresden pulling into the station, but it also happened to be the same train to prague, 15 minutes late! once i arrived in prague i had the most kick ass of kick ass times. the people were cool as hell, the beer and food was cheaper than you could possibly imagine, and the city was a great mix of big city buzz and beautiful surroundings. again, i can't do it justice, so you'll have to wait for the pictures. but i will say that i have never seen so many beautiful women in my entire life. seriously, the ones that are like a "6" in prague are a "9" in the states. there are ugly girls in prague... they're called "tourists." now i'm in münchen (munich, but i like using the "ü" key because it's on the keyboard). i got a sore throat on the train here, so i haven't been able to do oktoberfest yet. but you best believe that when i wake up tomorrow i'm drinking. why? well, it's my FUCKING BIRTHDAY, THAT'S WHY!! shit. i'm going to drink so much beer that you could probably drink my piss and get drunk. i know that wasn't a pleasant image, but i can edit the blog, so if it really bothers you i'll take it out :p anyway, it's bedtime for bonzo. hopefully i'll update the blog again sooner ratehr than later. ciao! beer eye for the sated guy
the blog returns! i have been wanting to post, but i cant justify spending a lot of time sitting in front of a computer when there is so much to do here. so, basically, i'll try to sum up things as best as i can up to this point.
belgium was pretty kick ass. i drank tons of cheap beer, ate lots of frites and waffles, and saw some cool stuff. brussels and bruges were my definite favs. ghent didn't really do much for me, but it was nice because i had a little more time to relax. antwerp, unfortunately, had a lot of construction going on there. honestly, i was starting to get anxious to move on at that point, so i headed off to amsterdam. i do, however, have a pretty extensive knowledge of how laundromats run in antwerp, so if anoyone ever needs that information i'm the guy to ask. getting to amsterdam was pretty uneventful. it was finding my hostel that proved to be tricky. i walked around for a while, but eventually bumped into a kid from califronia who helped me out. amsterdam is actually a really beatiful city. unfortunately, i don't think that most of the people who stop for a visit really take the time to find out. i did check out a couple "coffeeshops," but i spent more time wandering around the city. the red light district is definitely shady, though. overall, amsterdam was pretty cool, but i was happy to be moving on to berlin. oh, and matt viglione, if you are reading this, i have now heard both "stand" and "shiny happy people" being played in public places in the past 2 days. i'm sure you can appreciate that. anyway, i have some more stories to tell after amsterdam about my adventures getting to berlin, and, even better, prague, as well as my OH SO FUN banking adventures in vienna. unfortunately, some fat, ugly, smelly german has decided to sit next to me at the internet cafe and light up a cigarette, and i have a sore throat and don't feel like inhaling it, especially since i am in munich and i REALLY want to be able to enjoy oktoberfest tomorrow. but i will say that regardless of what kind of adversity i have facedd, and will continue to face, i'm still having an awesome time and i can't wait to move on to the next place. ok, the stench of this guy is too much to take. i'm out like a fat bitch in dodge ball. 9.07.2003mistakes, i've made a few
HE LIVES!! yes, boys and girls, i have successfully made it to europe... this is the first real chance that i've gotten to sit down and do some serious computer stuff since i've gotten here. the internet is cheap in the cafe but very expensive in the hostel. one thing that is very interesting is that the keyboard layout is different. not very different, but enough so that it's led me to change the layout of the keyboard to the english version. so i'm basically discovering how well i actually know the layout of the computer keyboards back home, and i am actually pretty good at it.
i flew into london on the 4th, and had quite an adventure trying to find the hotel, because the Let's Go guide i am using put the hotel in the wrong spot on the map. nice. so i got off at the wrong tube stop and had to walk around for an hour before i basically stumbled onto the right street. the next day i rode 2 trains for 6 hours to make it to luxembourg. i got there, but it was another adventure. i bought a ticket for the eurostar train the night i got into london. i bought a ticket for the 8:27 train. problem is, i couldn't sleep, so i didn't go to bed until about 4:15. i set the alarm on my little travel alarm clock, but a lot of good that did. basically, i overslept and woke up at 8:44. i thought i was fucked, because the guy told me that the ticket was only transferrable if i did it before the scheduled time of the train. so, i thought i'd have to pay ANOTHER $100 for a ticket!! well, i told the guy at the counter that i had told the ticket agent that i wanted the train for 10:27, but that he must have heard me wrong, and i was so tired that i didn't notice it until that morning. the guy gave me the "i'm not supposed to do this" speech, and then, of course, he changed my ticket for free :) anyway, luxembourg was absolutely beautiful. i enjoyed just about everything about it. it's very small, and the people that live there hate it for that reason, but that's what makes it so great for tourists. there was a big carnival there called schueberfouer, which was a lot of fun. the rest of the time i walked around the city and took a tour of the valley. it rocked. now i'm in brussels. let me tell you, there hasn't been one uneventful day yet. last night i arrived here around 8:30. after getting myself together, i got off the metro stop at about 9:30. i got to the hostel i was going to stay at, and, sure enough, it was full. so, 1 hour later, and 3 hotels later, i finally got a room for €60 a night. but, at least its a nice place and i get a private bathroom, so i'm happy. anyway, i'm about to go check out the city. i leave tomorrow for bruges. i'm just happy because today is the first day where i don't have to carry my backpack anywhere! anyway, time for me to go see the peeing boy statue... later! |
talk to me, dance with meblah, blah, blah...
hartford whalers links
sure sign that i'm maturing
blogworthyfacebook shmacebookarchives
tv is more of a parent to me than you'll ever be
video games being played by me
get off your ass and go somewhere
site feed |