Open Ended Ending

Well I think this is going to be my last post for a long time. Unless I have some sort of revelation and feel the need to share. Or, who knows I may get bored and feel the need to express myself in an even more narcisstic and gratifying way than a facebook status update or tweet can satisfy. Anyway, this will hopefully be a sort of "wrap up" to my blog.

I guess I was really hoping to have an epiphany during my time abroad and come away with an understanding of the world and how it works and where I fit in. I wanted to discover the meaning of life. I wanted to know why the British are known for sub par food and dental hygiene, why the Italians are so passionate, the French snobs, the Germans serious, the Dutch stoned, the Irish alcoholic, the Polish hard workers and why the Belgians are only know for chocolate and waffles. But honestly, I didn't find answers to any of these questions, it seemed like cultural stereotypes were often reinforced as much as they were exposed. I think I expected too much. Four months isn't enough time to understand England, and a month is certainly not enough to grasp Europe. One thing I have learned from being abroad is that America is bigger than I thought, I can't even pretend to perfectly understand my own country.

I guess the one thing that I have come away with from the whole experience is that America and Americans are really blessed. I just feel blessed to live in America. I'm sitting here writing and re-writing thoughts but none of it makes sense, I don't know what to say about America except that I love it and I hate it. To my fellow Americans I can just say count your blessings, to my international friends all I can say is I'm sorry we haven't used our blessings perfectly but give us time,we're still young.

I can't really decipher my time abroad yet. Maybe I never will. Maybe it will just be like one big experience capped and pickled in a jar and I'll just have to sit and wait till spring. I don't know, if I ever get a good idea, I'll let ya know. So if ya don't know, now ya know (sort of)...

Better Late Than Never

First of all I apologise profusely for my lateness. I am a poor photo uploader and I have been very busy this last week studying for my exams which determine at least half of my overall grade in each class. Anyway I wish I had been able to update this a bit sooner but as the English say, "I couldn't be bothered..."

I have finally uploaded some pictures from my time in Europe over Christmas break. There are some from Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam and Krakow. I'll try to throw in a few more at the bottom of this post as well just for kicks. (note how healthily I ate in Europe...)

As far as things stand right now, I have taken three of my four exams and my last one is on Friday. After that I am taking the train down to London and then Saturday morning I hop on the big plane back stateside! I have to say that while I know I will miss England I am pretty pretty pretty excited to return home. There's a lot to be said for 220 volts of electricity, the BBC, milky tea, baked beans, the queen, steering on the right, shifting with your left, Cadbury chocolate, disregard of oral hygiene, double deck buses, kebabs and curry, Andy Murray, Colin Firth, Plimsoles, Nottinghamshire, the two pound coin, That Mitchell and Webb Look, Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Worthington Creamflow, The Streets, Chavs, black leggings, a massive Cafe Nero, duvets, Fifa, Newkie Browns (not to be confused with Gordon Brown), custard, the tube, steak and ale pie, and Marmite (not really though, that s*** is nasty, it tastes like fermented gerbil excrement). With all that England has going for it, nevertheless...

I'm looking forward to a nice big American sized hamburger or steak and some free refills, watching basketball (disregarding the WNBA of course), calling the toilet the bathroom, ESPN, the conversion rate of one dollar to one dollar, watching Rick Steves, driving my car(assuming my brother hasn't Tiger Woodsed it into a fire hydrant), holding my fork in my right hand, lifting weights in lbs not kgs, not weighing myself in stone, saying "what's up", a 7-11 slurpee, Fahrenheit, Seinfeld, Larry David, following the greatness that is the career of Tim Duncan, watching Charles Barkley on TNT, Budweiser (just kidding, the English have the edge in alcohol), oh...and my family (as long as they're buying dinner).

Well, that's all I've got for now, I still have some studying to do so if ya don't know, now ya know...

Europe Pictures

Krakow's about done now

Last full day in Krakow today. It was fun. Did a walking tour that lasted almost five hours. Our guide was funny and his English was decent but his pronunciation was hilarious. He kept saying foreigners as "fore-egg-ners" and he described a statue as looking like a "vug-eye-na". I chuckled inside. It was fun, but it was freezing out there so now I'm sitting inside defrosting.

Yesterday Jordan, Kate and I went to Auschwitz. It was a very moving experience. I'm not going to try and say more about it. The premiditation and planning required to murder over a million people was very evident and scary. People that deny the holocaust happened are unbelievable scrubs. I can't describe it in words so I'll just say that I think it would be good for everyone to see it in order to be reminded of the horrible atrocities humanity is capable of. Forgive but never forget.

I am very happy to have been to Poland and seen Krakow. I have enjoyed my time here very much. However I am anxious to return to England and full English breakfasts, orderly qeues, ales, pound sterling, the English language, and trains that run on time. I can't be bothered with Continental breakfasts anymore! So it's back to Londontown and then the horror of final examinations. So if ya don't know, now ya know...

Man, I can't believe I'm in Poland.

Good Morning Krakow! I have been in Krakow, Poland since Saturday with Jordan and Katie. I'm kind of surprised that we all actually made it. We had been talking about it for so long and now we are actually here!

I have already decided that I really like Krakow. I would probably go so far as to say that I love it, but that would not be something that a tough, wisened, eastern European would say. So I won't say it. Krakow has lots to see; such as Wawel Castle which is one of the major Chakra sites in the world so I will be going there to practice some yoga. There is a huge square, a museum with a Da Vinci painting, which incidentally, is why Katie originally wanted to come to Poland and which ironically, is on exhibition in Budapest right now! Also there are lots of WWII sites and Oskar Schindler's factory, and the major site of Auschwitz-Birkeneau. We are going there tomorrow so that will be a very moving experience.

We fly from Krakow to London on Thursday and then go back to Notts on Sunday so my thirty days of travel are almost up unfortunately. But I'm really glad I made it to Poland because it's a really nice city and really cheap. The Polish zloty is worth about 35 American cents which works out well. Anyway, I'll try to get another post up as soon as I can. So if ya don't know, now ya know...

We Want to go to AmsterDAM!

So Jordan and I have arrived in Amsterdam from Brussels. We got here on Sunday the 27th in the evening. The reason I titled this post "We Want to go to AmsterDAM!"is that Jordan and I have been repeating this phrase ever since catching our night train to Paris in Stuttgart, Germany about a week ago, and now we are finally here. It was about 2 a.m. and our train was already late but we had to sit and wait while the German train conductor attempted to explain to this Asian lady why half of her group had to be split up and sit in the Paris half of the train for the first part of the journey. The group was simply to big and they were going to add a car for them at the next stop which was Mannheim. Well this lady would not believe him and she kept saying "this say Paris, we want to go to AmsterDAM." She always heavily emphasised the DAM part. We felt bad for both parties because the German guy started getting really angry and yelling and even got a large paper to sketch out the switch, "You switch at Mannheim! It's no problem" he kept saying. And she would just say "We have to go to AmsterDAM!" This ended up going on for some time before it finally got settled and the Asian lady relented. We were already plenty late by that time so it didn't really matter. It was pretty funny and Jordan and I can't get AmsterDAM out of our heads. So that's a really long explanation of the name of this post.

Anyway, we finished up Brussels which I think is a very underrated city. We had a great time there and it was a lot cheaper than Paris. As for Amsterdam, in many ways it has exceeded my expectations. It really is a city that strives for tolerance of everything. Walking down the streets is an adventure of sights and smells. I'm not sure yet how I feel about the city's tolerant culture. In some ways I think I like it, in others I don't. A lot remains to be seen. Since we are here until Friday I still have time to come to some conclusions. So we'll see if I can come up with any definitive conclusions on AmsterDAM.

I hope this little update is decent. Anyway if ya don't know, now ya know...

Pardon my French

Whenever I think of France and the French I'm reminded of the SNL sketch of Celebrity Jeopardy when Turd Ferguson tells Alex Trebek that he speaks French to which Alex replies, "oh yeah" and Turd says, "you're an assbite, pardon my French!" So that's what I think of when I think of France. That and berets and pencil mustaches. Oh and baguettes. I found out the baguette part is true, they do carry those around all the time!

Here's a quick update on my travels in French speaking countries so far: After Nurnberg we took a night train to Paris and saw the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Shakespeare and Co. book company, Eiffel Tower and lots of French stuff over two and a half days. Paris was fun but it was so big that we ended up spending a lot of time and money just riding the metro around. The language barrier was pretty difficult. It seems as though you speak French best when you are trying to be as mocking and patronizing as possible. Only then does it sound correct the real secret is to sound pompously arrogant. Paris is an impressive city though and we had fun there and I'll have to come back someday to see everything.

Now I'm in Brussels through the 27th when I'll be leaving to go to Bruges and then Amsterdam. Brussels is a really interesting mix of old and new, French and Flemish and English. It's nice that so many people here speak English and the weather has been pretty good. Today we went to an old brewery that brews Lambic beer in the traditional method with "spontaneous fermentation". The beer was good, quite sour and fruity. It's very different than anything I've had before. Tomorrow is Christmas so we are just going to have a walk around and look at stuff and then hang out at the hostel. It will definitely be the weirdest Christmas I've ever celebrated.

Sorry for no pictures, the computers here at the hostel won't let us upload any (I think they are Commies) so I'll try to get some up next time. Anyway that's pretty much all I've got for now. Merry Christmas everybody (and Happy Hanukkah). So if ya don't know, now ya know...