Barca, Paris, Roma!

Hello Everone!

I am sorry that I have been a horribly unfaithful writer these three weeks. I have no real excuse other than I was doing things that were more fun than writing to all of you :P The past three weeks have been good. The first class we had was very good in that it challenged some of our beliefs and was a good way to learn the basics of philosophy. It was a lot of work however, and we were all glad to be done with it. During the two weeks itself I was able to join a gym with two other members of my group and get back into the routine of being healthy. We were also able to get a lot of sightseeing done including going to the town of Weimar in former East Germany. It was a great experience and we were able to see a lot of cool political Graffiti that can be found in the Graffiti album on my Facebook. It was very interesting to me to see the vast differences between the colorful towns of Bavaria and the drab architecture of the East German Apartments. We were also able to interview a lady that grew up under the DDR’s rule. It was very interesting to hear her views. One of the things that stood out the most to us was the fact that the system Worked. They were being lied to of course, but they had what they needed.

            The past week has been…..Crazy. We flew out of Memmigan, Germany to Girona, Spain. Girona is a town up the coast from Barcelona and we thought it would be a Podunk town with nothing to offer. Boy were we wrong! It turned out to be a town with a rich history, of which we still know little, including a huge cathedral. We ended up doing Barcelona in only 6 hours and then taking the train back to Girona so we could see more of it! Barca was cool in the sense that much of what we were seeing, such as the Sagrada Familia and the Gaudi houses, are world famous. But other than that, I was not that big a fan of the town.

            We awoke at four to catch our 6 o’clock flight to Paris Monday. Our flight was delayed for an hour on the tarmac and then we were winged off to Paris. We bought metro passes at the advisement of an Indian Student who was on the shuttle bus and were thankful for them. Paris is definitely a metro city, in both senses of the word! It is a large city with the sightseeing things spread out so that a metro pass speeds things up a great amount. Additionally the metros are convenient and prevalent. As to the other meaning of the word, Paris is a well dressed city. We felt woefully underdressed in our jeans and sweatshirts. So bring nice clothes if you ever plan to travel there and be taken seriously and not just as a tourist.  While there we saw all the typical things, my favorite being the Arc De Triomphe. We saw this monument no less than 6 times as it was next to a useful metro stop and in the middle of the shopping avenue of the Champs d’Elysees. Our hostel in Paris was a lot of fun and we met a guy named Diego from Brazil who tagged along with us for the last two days in Paris. This dose of testosterone was a nice change from the two girls I was with all week. We left Paris in the evening on Wednesday and arrived in Rome at about midnight.

            Checking into our hostel, The Yellow, was a pleasant experience. It was smooth and the staff was knowleadgeable. That night I was able to catch a cab to my friend Lyndsay Angell’s apartment at around 2am. This was an adventure as I first had to have the cab called, show the driver the address on my iPod, and then fork out 16 euros for the ten minute ride. I didn’t know her apt number and her phone number didn’t work on my phone so I found some English speaking girls and asked them where to go. They showed me the building, and, after talking with the security guard (through a student who could translate into Italian, for I speak no Italian whatsoever and still don’t) I found out that I couldn’t contact Lyndsay in any way and that I could not go into the building because visiting hours were over. So I had the security guard call me a cab to go home. Luckily, right as he was on the phone, Lynds came down to look for me! It was perfect timing and we were able to walk around for about two hours and catch up. I took another cab ride that ran me 15 euros (making rome the most expensive city by far) and hit the sack. Thursday we walked around Rome and saw the Coliseum at sunset, which was by far the most beautiful thing in Rome. That night we met some chill people in the Hostel and walked around to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps to see them at night. It was a beautiful sight and an awesome time to be with people from around the world, including a German! The next day we did the whole Vatican thing and were able to see a lot of famous architecture as well as the tombs of Pope John Paul II and Saint Peter…..yep….that’s right…THE Peter. Like the one from the Bible. Cool Stuff. We went out to Ciampino to our hotel for the night…snuck me in as we only booked for two people in order to save thirty euro, ate in the hotel restaurant, saw some crazy italians do karaoke in the restaurant. (as a sidenote, these italians were in their late teens or early twenties and could sing well). We caught our flight out this morning and were blessed with on time travels back to Regensburg. Tomorrow we plan to go to Oktoberfest for its closing day and experience that landmark event (it’s the bicentennial this year!). For now I wish you all a good night and happy travels!

Peace