Una Semana Sevillana

My blog posts have been almost exclusively travel based lately. I don’t want you to think that travelling is all that I do, I’m still a student who has to do student-y things! I thought it would be fun to show you what a typical week for me looks like. I will note, this is pretty different from last semester, mostly due to my class schedule.

Con Ester

All of my mornings pretty much start off the same. My alarm goes off a bunch of times between 7:30 and 8, when I actually get up varies (today I didn’t get out of bed until 8:15). I leave the house by 8:30 to walk to the university. If I’m feeling particularly motivated I’ll eat breakfast at home before I leave but the kitchen is small and everyone is trying to leave around the same time so it’s usually not worth the hassle. I have my Contemporary History (French Revolution to WWI) class from 9-10. It’s a regular class with normal Spanish university students so it’s a bit difficult to follow at times. The professor usually gets there around 9:08am. After that I have an hour break during which I either eat at the university cafeteria and journal (Monday, Wednesday) or go out for breakfast at 100 Montaditos with Alejandra (Tuesday, Thursday). My class at 11 is another “regular” class called Modern “American” History (16^th Century, give or take). My professor shows up between 10 and 15 minutes late and spends a solid 10 minutes getting ready before she actually starts lecturing. I’ve gotten to know another American student from Mount Holyoke very well thanks to all the waiting around we do. It’s actually pretty frustrating, waiting 20-30 minutes for only 30-40 minutes of lecturing.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I usually head to the gym when I get out of class at noon (unless I’m really tired like today, then I’ll go in the evening), go home and shower, grab my bocadillo, and head to the Parque de Maria Luisa to eat before I have class from 3 to 5. That class is a "curso concertado" which means it has a Spanish professor and all American students. It means an interesting topic but a boring class. My issue is that these classes are too easy but the regular ones are too hard! Well...harder than I want them to be. My Monday/Wednesday class and called "Anthropology of Latin America". Since I'm super interested in that part of the world it isn't as painful as some of my classes last semester which is good. On Monday “afternoons” I tutor from 6-8:30/9 and on Wednesdays from 6-7. Since I finish early on Wednesdays I either stop for a glass of wine on the way home or go to the gym if I didn’t earlier in the day.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I hang out at the university or the public library until my class at one, Slavery in Latin America which is also a curso concertado and when that ends at 3 I power walk home for lunch with the family. I love having lunch at home and miss eating it there every day, but I’m glad that I don’t have any afternoon classes this semester! I try and go to the gym after lunch, but I’ve been really tired lately so it hasn’t been happening. I’ll spend my afternoon lying in bed with Netflix, reading at the park, or paseando con amigos.

We eat dinner around 10, it’s much smaller than the other meals which works out because I don’t like going to bed too full. A lot of days I’ll just have a yogurt and fruit, Sundays and Wednesdays are usually an exceptions (we have tortilla española and croquetas). I’m pretty tired by this point so I go back to my room after we eat (unless the family is watching something interesting on TV) and play around on my computer/phone, skype, or read a bit before I go to bed.

In 1992

Weekends vary. If I’m traveling, I’m obviously traveling, but if I stay in Seville I usually spend the morning at a café and then make plans for after lunch with friends or occasionally plans to salir por la noche. On Fridays I also like to go to Zumba at the gym in the morning. This weekend I stayed in Sevilla. On Friday, I ate breakfast at home, went to the gym and spent the rest of the morning at a café with a strawberry milkshake. After lunch/siesta I went to walk around el centro with Caroline. I got home around 9 and then got ready and went out to my friend Ester’s flat for pizza and wine with her boyfriend and his friend. On Saturday, I spent the morning in a café working on a trabajo for one of my classes and got home just before lunch. Caroline and I met that night around 8 and stopped at a bar for some wine before heading out for dinner. The bar was having a special on a Sevillan made wine, it was fantastic. We ate at this cute burger place that I walk by all the time on my way home from tutoring. They had a huge selection of veggie burgers and I’ve been dying to try them. I got one made of seitan and it was pretty amazing. We hashed out a plan for all the things we wanted to do working in Admission next year when we get back to SBC and then stopped at McDonald’s for some McFlurries (they don’t seem to have shamrock hakes here L)

Now

I had been planning to go to the Sevillanas dance class that I go to on Sunday mornings when I’m in the city but it’s inconveniently at noon and I had a lot of work to do so I sat myself down at Café de Indias again and worked on my papers until lunch time. After lunch I decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and pasear por Triana and La Cartuja. Triana is my favorite neighborhood and is definitely where I would live if I lived on my own in Sevilla. It used to be its own city and was also a barrio de navegantes in the era of “discoveries” when all of the ships headed to the new world left from Sevilla. It’s also famous for its ceramics and I finally bought a coffee mug to bring back home. It was hand made in Triana! La Cartuja is past Triana and is home to an old monastery/contemporary art museum. It was closed because it was a Sunday but I walked through the park anyway. I’m not sure if I was supposed to because all the gates were locked but there was this one spot where one of the poles in the fence was missing so I could walk right through. There was a bunch of other people there sunbathing and picnicking. Past the monastery is the old site of the 1992 Expo. I had heard a lot about how amazing it was but was sad to find the area desolate and run-down. The city really prospered and gained recognition during the Expo but they don’t seem to utilize that area anymore. The gardens were fun to walk through though, lots of flowers.

That night I came home to our typical Sunday night dinner of tortilla española. Normally we have soup with it but this week we (well I, the kids were tired and went to be early) had tomatoes soaked in olive oil instead, which I much prefer. After dinner I went to bed and got ready to do it all over again!

I’ve come to love my schedule this semester though sometimes I feel like I have too much to do and sometimes I’m too tired to do anything. It’s also frustrating that I only have two months left to enjoy it. I was making my class schedule for fall semester at Sweet Briar and tried to make it so that I could conserve little bits of my schedule here. I think it will be interesting to see what things I hold onto and what things I’ll go back to doing the “American way”. 

Madrid and Segovia

Roman Aqueduct 

It’s about 5am and I can’t sleep, I don’t particularly feel like studying for the midterm I have today, and it’s too early to take a shower. So I’ll blog. I’m finally moving onto the start of the semester! As a general update I only have a little over two months left here in Seville and while it’ll be exciting to see everyone, I’m not ready to leave. I booked my flight the other day and it was kind of (really) sad. Last week when I was tutoring one of my adorable/well-behaved/hilarious students, it hit me how hard it is going to be to leave. She was showing me her yearbook from the previous year, as it was picture day, and I asked when she would get her new one. She was like “I’ll get it in the fall and then I can show you”. I was like “sweetheart, I have to go back to the United States in May”. “Wait you’re leaving, for how long?” “Well it will take at least a year to finish my degree…” “A WHOLE YEAR?” Of course I want to come back to Sevilla eventually but I do have other planes for after I graduate. Needless to say a stake was driven directly through my heart.

More on Sevilla mía later. The first weekend in February I went to Madrid with JYS. I went to the museums and stuff last semester so I was free to do whatever I wanted. It’s a pretty sweet deal because I got my AVE tickets, food, and the hotel for “free”. The trip was part of the program fee, but whatever. I decided that I would go and see Segovia while the others were in the museums. Segovia is a smaller city/town a bit to the north of Madrid and the alcázar there is the inspiration for Disney’s Cinderella Castle. As a Cinderella lover, this has been on my list for a while. Oh there’s also a Roman aqueduct. I ended up not getting to Segovia until pretty late in the day, almost 4pm. By the time we got to Madrid and I got out to the other train station I had missed the 1:30 departure by like 5 minutes. I spent some quality time in the station waiting. Luckily for me one of the cafes was having a Valentine’s Day coffee/doughnut special.

When I got there, after a 30 minute AVE ride, I had to take a bus into town. The first thing you see is the huge Roman aqueduct which, I’ll admit was pretty cool. Since I only had limited time, that and the Cinderella Castle were the only things on my to-do list. I di un paseo por la judería (strolled around the old Jewish neighborhood) and some gardens before I got to the castle. At first sight, I was not impressed. I remembered what had happened in Fussen and was determined to find a better view point. That’s exactly what I spent the rest of my afternoon trying to do. I went up and down a million staircases and hills but eventually I did find the perfect view, more than one actually. There was this mini-field almost directly under the fortress and at one end there were houses and at the other end was a line of trees and a river. If you stood on the edge of the river and looked straight up, you’d be staring right at the castle. Talk about growing up dreaming big. I know that I would have spent my childhood (and/or adulthood), had I lived back in the day, simultaneously splashing around in the river and pretending I’d be a princess who lived there one day. Casual castle in the back yard.

The sun was just starting to set when I made my way up some of the hills in the “back” of the castle. I had an amazing view and decided that I was going to wait there until dark so I could see it all lit up. It was really cool seeing all of the lights in the city slowly turn on. All the churches slowly lit up and the street lights looked like strings of lanterns and the car lights looked like hundreds of fireflies. Of course the castle was the last thing to be lit up and by the time it finally started, it was dark, cold, and I had missed the bus I wanted to take back to the train station. I waited anyway, and it was definitely worth it. The walk back into town was a bit of a struggle because it was so dark and my phone was dead so I didn’t have a flashlight. Also those stairs back up into the actual town were so rough, but I made it! I looked at the bus schedule and saw that if I got on the next bus I’d make it back to the train station just in time to catch my AVE. I had time to kill so I went and got a caramel McFlurry and people watched. It was prime people watching time because it was the weekend of Carnival so everyone was dressed up like they would be for Halloween in the US. According to my host sister Carnival is much more fun in the pueblos than in the big cities. I really felt that in Segovia, it’s not tiny by any means but it has a much more family-y atmosphere. Next time in in Spain, Carnival is on my to-do list!

I got back to the hotel in Madrid about halfway through dinner. I was glad I had the McFlurry because after my primer plato of green beans/sauce they brought out a fish dish since they didn’t get the memo that I was vegetarian. Normally when we stay in hotels it’s a buffet but this time it wasn’t. I just ate the fruit we had for dessert and that was that. I wasn’t planning on going out that night but with the promise of an apartment party I said yes. It ended up being pretty boring but Caroline and I went and got churros con chocolate at San Gínes which is a famous churro place in Madrid that I’ve been to almost every time I’ve been in the city…that would be three out of four times. It down poured all night, but who can complain when churros/chocolate are involved?

The next day was low-key. I walked a bit and then sat myself down in a café to catch up on journaling. The women who worked there were really sweet and took the time to figure out why the wifi wasn’t working for me. It was nice to talk in Spanish. Even though I feel, more often than not, that my Spanish is actually getting worse there are occasions like that were I can just have a nice conversation with no problems. I definitely love being back in a country where I speak the language especially after my trip in January!

January trip wrap up and budget

Now that I’ve finished all my storytelling (that’s actually a lie, as I type I’ve written approximately two paragraphs about Budapest. But whatever.) This post will serve as a reference with links to all my relevant posts and a budget breakdown. As much as I’ve loved blogging about this trip, I’m now super far behind with everything else I’ve done so I’m glad this is over!

Dublin, Ireland: I spent a night in the airport and a half a day here before boarding a ferry to Wales. You can find the link to my blog post here.

Budget:

Bus to Santa Justa: 1,4€

Ave (train) to/from Madrid: 123,6€*

Bus to Airport: 5€

Flight MAD to DUB: 50€

Food: 17€

Bus into Dublin: 6€

Ferry to Wales: 40€

Total: 243€

*While I do love the AVE, this was not ideal but it was necessary as the bus times would have resulted in me waiting at the airport for over 12 hours each way

Holyhead & Bangor, Wales: I stayed with my co-counselor from camp this summer! Link here.

Budget (in pounds):

Train ticket to Bangor: Free, since we were stuck at the station forever due to flooding

Accommodation: Free (thanks Laura!)

Wales sticker: £1,25

Toiletries: £2,78

Second hand book: £2

Food : £22

Total: £28.03 (~36€)

London, England: I spent NYE here with another camp friend and her friend. Blog link here.

Budget (in pounds):

Accommodation: Free (thanks Charlotte and Kasia)

Food (including coffee and drinks): £33,6*

24 hour Transport ticket (x2): £24

Other transport: £17,8

Gifts: £8

Total: £83,4 (~107€)

*I had some access to food thanks to the people I stayed with J

Munich, Germany: I flew from London to Munich and spent about 3 days here. Blog link here.

Budget:

Flight to Munich: 62€

Housing, 3 nights: 41€

Food (including groceries that lasted the rest of the trip and a fancy lunch): 50,3€

Transportation (including. to/from the airport): 11,9€

Other (tours, museums, etc): 23€

Total: 188.2€

Innsbruck, Austria: This was a day trip from Munich. Blog link here.

Budget:

Bus to/from: 27.5€

Food (including Christmas market mug): 12.9€

Post Cards: 3€

Total: 43.4€

Füssen, Germany: I spent two nights I this fairy tale Bavarian town! Blog link here.

Budget:

Train to/from Munich: 40€

Accommodation for two nights (in a real hotel): 116.5€

Food (including a very fancy dinner): 44.23€

Fun stuff (the movies, castle visit, etc) 27.8€

Total: 228,53€

Prague, Czech Republic: 4 Nights in the Czech capital and lots of vegetarian restaurants! Blog link here.

Budget (prices converted from the Czech currency):

Train to Prague from Munich: 20€

Hostel for 4 nights: 40€

Food: 60€

Fun stuff (yoga, museums, etc): 19€*

Total: 139€

*Considering how much I did this is amazing

Česky Krumlov, Czech Republic: Thanks to a booking error on my part I spent one night here. I’m glad I made that mistake. Blog link here.

Budget (prices converted from the Czech currency)

Bus to/from Prague: 15€

Hostel for one night: 15€

Food: 13€

Total: 43€

Vienna, Austria: I spent 3 nights in the Austrian capital. This was a very history-oriented visit. Blog link here.

Budget

Train ticket from Prague: 20€

Hostel for 3 nights: 51,5€

Food: 56€

Museums and other cultural things: 41.5€

Transport Pass: 16.6€

Stamps/stickers/a really nice pair of jeans: 83.3€

Total: 268.9€

Grünau im Almtal, Austria: I spent 3 nights here. Everything just got put on the tab so I don’t have a good of a breakdown. Blog link here.

Budget:

Blah Blah Car (x2): 20€

Groceries/alcohol: 10€

Weekend tab (breakfast and dinner, accommodation, horseback riding): 111€

Total: 141€

Budapest, Hungary: I spent five nights here and was really tired by the time I got here so my record keeping was subpar. Blog link here.

Budget (prices converted from Hungarian currency):

Bus ticket from Vienna 18€ (I actually have no idea how much this was, I actually think it was less)

Hostel for 5 nights: 65€

The entire week including food, activities, a ballet, my travel back through Madrid, and a copy of the Book Thief: ~150€

Flight to Madrid: 35€

Total: 286€

Approximate total for one month of travel: 1.700€

The budgets I gave my self ranged between 1.000€ and 2.000€. I hadn’t been planning on going to Innsbruck, Česky Krumlov, or Grünau im Almtal. Obviously spontaneity isn’t free, but it sure is fun!

Budgeting tips for longer term travel:

1    1.      Take advantage of grocery stores, but be aware of what type of kitchen appliances your accommodation has, if any. Also, you are not above electric kettle pasta (just make sure it doesn’t have an exposed burner).  

2    2.      Buying transportation ticket ahead of time can save you a lot, my 20€ train tickets would have been 60 if I bought them the day of

3    3.      Laundry is more expensive than you think, just wash your stuff in the sink

4    4.      It’s okay to splurge on a nice dinner or lunch!

5    5.      If traveling alone, try to befriend your server, you might get free food!

6    6.      Going out will kill your wallet, if you do want to go out take advantage of happy hour, especially at your hostel!

7    7.      If you travel in winter you’re going to spend more money on activities but less on travel/accommodation. I went into a ton of museums simply because it was too cold to walk around for hours at a time, but I got off season prices on almost everything.

8    8.      “Free Tours” are fun, but don’t expect them to show you the big tourist attractions. Use them to meet people.

9    9.      I loved Blah Blah Car and saved 80€ round trip using it. I recommend trying it out but definitely be careful with who you pick to drive you!

1    10.  When traveling to a country with another currency, always pay using that currency, check your change, and take it directly out of an ATM instead of trying to exchange it.

1    11.  Always ask about a student/young person/old person discount!

      12.  This shouldn’t have to be said, but watch what you’re carrying so you don’t have to pay extra fees on your luggage. Also if you travel light you won’t have room to bring home a bunch of souvenirs and such, which is ideal if you’re on a budget.

Fellow shoe-stringers: what am I missing?

Budapest: I can’t feel my face when I’m with you

My last stop was Budapest. It was cold. So cold. So cold and windy. Freezing. The Weeknd lyrics were going through my head the entire time I was there. 

My previous post does a pretty solid job explaining how I got lost and eventually got to my hostel to if you want to catch up I’ll leave the link (Here). When I finally did get to my hostel I was pleasantly surprised at how small and empty it was. After I checked in I found a few people hanging out in the kitchen eating dinner and after a quick run to the store for a TWO DOLLAR frozen pizza, I was glad to join them. I was tired but I had a hard time falling asleep. I’m not sure why but this has been pretty common for me in the last year or so. On top of that I was woken up by a super early morning “call to prayer” from the mosque that was supposedly down the street. I never did end up seeing it. I guess I can’t complain though because my room, the India Room, was pretty cool. I had the whole loft to myself so I got to spread out a bunch. I also never locked my stuff up. There were only a few of us in the room and they all seemed nice enough (this isn’t foreshadowing. Everyone was nice and no one stole anything).

I spent my first morning walking along the river and through the Castle District. The city looked nothing like I expected and it was almost completely empty. It actually had a pretty eerie feeling. I stopped in a few cute little shops and bought a Christmas ornament in one of them. It was kind of strange (also magical) to be in these cute, cozy, warm stores and then all of the sudden be back out on a street of communist era buildings that seemed to be falling apart. You lose yourself in all the crafts and beautiful things and then you forget about the outside. I walked by the coolest wedding dress store and also went into a music history museum and an art gallery that I was rushed out of after the woman on duty received a phone call and then said she needed to close up.

I thought a lot about how lucky (blessed, mostly blessed) I had been the night before. I got to thinking about what could have happened if that man hadn’t been there. Not pretty. I went back to the hostel around lunch time and I went with some of the people I met to a cat café (slightly disappointing, I mean not really because I don’t like cats) and the “cat-pucchino” that I had was pretty amazing, mostly because it had peanut butter in it. From there we went to this secret tea house called “Altair”. It was amazing. There are no signs for it so you only hear about it from other people; this is me telling you to go. You have to take your shoes off when you go inside and it’s hard to describe but it’s kind of like a jungle gym and you just relax on the various levels/lofts and drink tea. We stayed for a while but I could have sat there all day. It also seemed to be a popular date spot. That night I cooked myself a huge pot of pasta and tucked myself into bed with Netflix and watched “Suits” for hours. I ended up staying away until almost 4 because I just couldn’t sleep.

The next day I lay in bed until after lunch watching Netflix. The guy that I traveled to Vienna with got to the hostel that afternoon and we walked around the city taking pretty much the same route that I did the day before. Instead of seeing the sun burning through the fog we were treated to the sunset and Budapest all lit up. It’s not a super impressive city during the day but it’s absolutely breathtaking at night. One of my biggest regrets is not seeing historical Prague at night! We stopped back at the hostel and met up with another girl who was staying there and the three of us went out to dinner at a traditional Hungarian place. I had potatoes and fried cheese with blueberry sauce (great combo with the carbs right?). I also had two beautiful glasses of Rosé that were less than 50 cents each. What. And I thought Spain was cheap! Our waiter was clearly not as impressed by the wine prices as I was because he gave “the look” when I ordered a second glass to go with my ice cream.

The next day James (the guy I met in Austria), Pedro (a guy who works at the hostel) and I all went caving. IT WAS SO FUN! I was nervous at first but I’m so glad I did it. It was great to do something more adventurous and it makes me want to go caving when I get back to Sweet Briar! The caves were wicked cool, literally and figuratively. There’s a natural stage down there and once a year they have Christmas concerts in the cave. At one point near the end the instructor had us turn off our lights and work our way through a tunnel by using each other’s voices and bodies as a guide. My favorite part though was when we were sitting in a big “room” and she had us turn off our lights and sit silently. Because you’re underground absolutely no light gets in so it’s complete darkness. It was amazing. Same goes with sound, all I could hear was my blood in my ears. I lay down on the clay. That’s what I need for a good night’s sleep- absolute silence and darkness and a clay floor. I was sore for days afterward from all the climbing and squeezing through tiny spaces, but I think I have a new hobby!

After lunch and a nap James and I went up to the Citadella to see the city from a birds eye view (well…). It was quite the workout, but also worth it…just take a look at my pictures! We went to this really nice Italian place for dinner after stopping for a yummy street food dessert thing. I got a pesto pasta dish for dinner and some surprisingly good Hungarian red wine. It occurred to me that that was the first time that I had gone out to a nice Italian place and ate like an adult (aka had wine with Italian food that wasn’t pizza). It was really nice having someone to walk around with and talk to. Budapest was the city I felt the least safe in by myself, though my perspective may have been biased for a variety of reasons given my recent experiences. I realized that when I’m not walking alone (in whatever city, even Sevilla) I’m always smiling and laughing but when I am alone I have my game face on. It sucks that that’s the way it has to be but I guess that’s what you get for being a woman.  

On a lighter note, I found out exactly what happened my first night in the hostel in Grunau…apparently I had a bit more to drink than I remembered. It all made so much more sense! I’ll spare you the details.

My last day was pretty low-key. James left that morning so I walked around a bit by myself in the morning and ended up buying a ticket to see Romeo and Juliet at the opera house that night. I wanted to spend all the money I had withdrawn and I had a bunch left (aka 30  dollars) so I decided to spend it all in one place J That afternoon I went on a run down to an island that’s connected to the bridge by my hostel. The island had a 5(y pico)km track that was actually really nice.

The ballet was very…Eastern European. The dancers were great and I thought Romeo and Juliet did a great job showing just how young the couple is which I always think is important. There was a bit of a Hungarian flair to it and there were some surprisingly funny parts as well. My seat was in a box almost directly in the back of the theater and it was in the first row which meant my view was amazing. During intermission I was people watching and I saw several little girls dancing around pretending to be ballerinas. I want that to be my children and I want to dance around with them. It was actually heartbreaking seeing some of their parents on their phones! Oh, also, they do this really cool thing in Hungary where they all clap in unison at the end of a performance. It was so weird and unexpected and a bit creepy, but cool nevertheless. On the way home from the theater I walked by a bunch of cool cafes and bistros. I wish I took the time to eat out and explore Budapest a bit more. I’d love to see the city in the summer. I stopped at the metro station and spent the last of my money on a ticket to the airport for the morning and on a slice of pizza for dinner (my new post theater meal).

I left pretty early the next morning for my flight that was at nine. It took my about 12 hours to get home, there was a lot of waiting around for the train but I ended up buying “The Book Thief” so it wasn’t too bad. I was really glad to be back home. I was sad not to be traveling anymore but I was excited for my host mom’s food and my bed and being able to understand the language!

…that’s that! My first solo trip was a success! Lots of ups and downs but I learned plenty about myself, other people, everything. I also learned that being completely free to do whatever you want is the most exciting, though sometimes overwhelming, feeling in the entire world. This type of traveling is totally different than any traveling I’ve done before but I think it might be my favorite. You just can’t replicate how that freedom feels. Sorry to the folks at home but I think I’ve found my new drug! (Hi can we just appreciate how I just brought that right back to the title?)

**Stay tuned for my budget breakdown coming soon**

Don't Be Afraid. Go. (or sometimes scary things happen)

[Note: I wrote this soon after I returned home in January but wanted to wait a bit to share it. Also, I can never put into words what my trip to Burkina and Amy and Mike and Coral all mean to me so I'm not even going to try. I thank God everyday for the amazing experience that I had. You are all stronger and more wonderful than I could ever hope to be <3]

Before I start on the blogs for the rest of my adventure, I wanted to share this story with you. I’ve written it in my head a hundred times and thought I should get it down on paper:

I didn’t know how to tell anyone. I practiced the conversation in my head a million times, “So did you guys hear about the terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso? I was there last year and one of the people I worked with, my mentor while I was there, was killed.” I couldn’t do it. The weight was suffocating and though I had the support of my friends and family at home thanks to technology I just wanted a hug but I didn’t want to put my burden on a group of people I just met. We ate dinner, we played cards, we watched Australian movies. I made sure I was smiling and I distracted myself, it worked. When I got back to Vienna I got on the metro to the bus station. After one stop this strange looking man got on. I felt sick, my legs got weak, and I wanted to cry. The metro car was packed and I felt like I was suffocating. We got to the next stop and I almost got off, but he did instead. I felt embarrassed for being so judgmental, for assuming he was a bad person because he looked different. Who was I? The bus ride to Budapest was about three hours. I was on the verge of tears the entire time. I alternated between begging God for safe travels and thanking Him that I wasn’t in a city or a big hostel where I could have isolated myself that weekend. You do a lot of thinking when you travel alone and that’s not always a good thing. When I got to Budapest it was already dark. My hostel’s instructions were not very clear and I ended up at the wrong metro stop with no idea where I was going. I couldn’t find anyone who spoke English and the people, with their hungry eyes, in the metro station looked at me like the blonde, young, lost, tourist I was. I was terrified, I was tired, and I was ready to cry. I left the station and found an Information desk. “Do you speak English?” “No.” Fully defeated, I had no idea what to do. I literally had no idea where I was. About 2 seconds later, a man who had been on his phone came over to me and asked, in English, if he could help me. Without hesitating I said yes. He was a computer programmer whose wife taught English. With the help of his GPS he brought me to my hostel and even bought me another metro ticket on the way. It took us over a half hour to get there and it was very out of his way. I of course was skeptical and later I felt bad that I had pretty much invented my life story, because his intentions really were pure. The magnitude of his kindness didn’t occur to me until the next day. What would have happened if he hadn’t been there? If he didn’t speak English? If I didn’t ask the information man if he spoke English? He had been a gift, of that much I was sure. I had been afraid of people and needed to be reminded that not everyone was bad and scary. Call it what you will-but God put that man there at that moment to remind me not to be afraid, to trust.

I was reminded of this wonderful quote: Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness…broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime –Mark Twain

If I learned anything on this trip it’s that life isn’t the time to be afraid, traveling or otherwise. It's quite the opposite actually. It's our only shot at living, as simple as that sounds. Sure there are some ugly and scary moments, but think about what you’re missing when you’re hiding? This is something I have especially taken to heart this semester. Sometimes you need a little reminder to go out, live your life, and see the beauty in the world. This is my reminder to you, don’t be afraid. Go. 

Grünau im Almtal: Paradise Lost or Paradise Found?

I met my Blah Blah Car ride at the end of the U4 metro line. I was getting nervous because he was late but he did eventually get there. Two other girls came with us and everyone spoke German but me. The driver did speak a bit of English so we got to talk a little. He was a university student who studied in Vienna and is from a little town in the north. He said that if he has nothing to do he will post trips on the app and then drive people to make some extra money. I really need to look into doing that. It’s a great way to meet people and do I love driving.

I got dropped off in a little town called Sattledt where he told me that I could catch a train to Grünau. I’m glad he knew how to get me there because I would have had no idea! Since we dropped the other girls off earlier he stayed and waited to make sure I got on the train (and also to take a smoke break). The train was adorable! It was super tiny and I just sat in the entrance car by the ticket booth and bathroom. I ended up not being able to buy a ticket, the bills I had on me were too big and I didn’t want to have to try and explain that to the conductor if he came through the cars. The trip was only about a half hour. It was cool to see some of the small towns before it got dark. When I got off it was snowing, talk about a magical start to the trip. I looked for the payphone that the hostel owner said was in the waiting room but couldn’t find it. Luckily there was a man dropping off his wife who let me use his cell phone. I called the Tree House and the owner sent his son to pick me up.

I knew from the second I arrived at the Tree House I would love it. It’s very secluded and is your typical log cabin in the middle of nowhere. I was immediately introduced to the owner, Gerhard, and two Australians who were staying there. There ended up being only 6 or 7 of us the entire time I was there so it was pretty quiet. The hostel is on a Bus-A-Bout route in the summer and around Christmas so it can get pretty crazy. I didn’t mind the quiet at all, it was felt like I was renting a house with friends, we ate and drank together and I never thought about even closing my bedroom door, let alone locking it. That being said, I bet it would be really cool in the summer when you can go hiking (to a really cool sounding waterfall!) and when there’s a ton of people. Pretty soon after I got there we took a quick trip to the grocery store to get food for lunch. Breakfast was included and the family cooked dinner and everyone ate it even though it cost a little extra. Everyone who was staying at the hostel piled into the van and while we were shopping around (peanut butter, apples, bread, drinks) a girl from Germany that a few of the Australians had met in New Zealand (talk about an adventurous life) arrived at the train station. We got back in the van and headed home. Dinner was at the very not-Spanish time of 6:30pm. We had dumplings, egg rolls, and a creamy sauce, well that’s what the vegetarian option was; everyone else had meat in theirs. We also got dessert.

Isabelle and I were sharing a room and it was so nice to be able to spread out. The room was made for 12 people so we had lots of space. I showered and got into some nice cozy clothes before heading down to the basement. Our night was filled with pool, card games and lots of drinking, apparently. I honestly don’t know what happened except that during a round of “never have I ever” in King’s Cup I put up my three fingers to play and next thing I knew it was 8am, sunny, and snowing. All I have to say is shout-out to Isabelle for taking care of me.

Unfortunately this is where the fun and games ended, or were at least stunted. I was scrolling through Facebook before I got out of bed and saw that there had been a terrorist attack at a café in Burkina Faso that I had been to when I was there last January. Good thing nobody I knew there lived in the capital. I continued scrolling and saw a status posted by the woman who heads the organization that I worked with; her husband and the local pastor were missing and hadn’t been heard from since the night before. They were in Ouaga waiting for the arrival of a mission team. My heart sank. I won’t drag this out as most of you kept up with this in real time. Amy’s husband was killed in the attack but Pastor Valentine survived. I was glued to my phone most of the day and I finally got the news at dinner time. I was absolutely sick. I didn’t talk about it with the people I was staying with at the hostel because I don’t like “burdening” people with my problems but I was thankful for their distractions.

To prevent myself from staring at my phone all day, I spent a lot of time outside. Isabelle and I played around in the snow like children until she had to leave and then I went on a walk. It was very refreshing to be out in nature. It even started snowing and I shamelessly danced around in the street to my Carrie Underwood playlist. I walked on the road until I got to a “Magic Forest” type park. I was totally alone in the snow covered park which was fun, if not a bit creepy. I was having a blast until I (on my way back to the entrance) stepped in a river. I had crossed it on the way there but on my return trip I slipped on a rock and honestly didn’t have enough energy to get back on the rocks so I just walked across. My boots weren’t exactly made for walking in rivers so immediately after I got across I realized that I was an idiot and that my feet were going to freeze and that they were going to get frostbite and that they would have to be amputated. As a dancer, that’s unacceptable. I did think, for a brief second, that if my pinky toes were the only ones to be amputated that the line of my foot might be even better but that dream was short lived. I was at least two miles from the hostel so I decided to jog. After 5 or so minutes I realized that that wouldn’t do anything but make my feet sweat. I decided to break into one of the wooden cabins scattered across the property so I could at least sit down and take my soaking wet socks off. I managed to pry one of the doors open and when I got in I found heaps of dry newspaper. I decided that I would take off my socks and wrap my numb feet in the paper because at least that would absorb some of the water, right? I jogged back to the hostel and took a warm shower and then had a very peanut buttery sandwich. It was quite a day, but it did keep me distracted.

Since I found out about Mike a few minutes before dinner I wasn’t really in the mood to talk. All of the other people at the hostel had gone skiing that day (there’s a mountain five minutes away) so I was content to listen to their stories. Immediately after dinner we went downstairs to watch Crocodile Dundee 2. Everyone but me and the German girl, Clara, were from Australian so they had obviously seen it and said it was essential to our education. No, we hadn’t seen the first one but we couldn’t find a copy of it. I thought it was hilarious, and a great distraction. I was alone in my room after the movie (since Isabelle left that morning) when the reality of what happened hit me. It was not a fun night.

It was snowing the next morning and I ate breakfast looking out over the back yard. I was (and always am) struggling to understand how the world could/can be so beautiful and so ugly at the same time. I talked to some of the other guests as they came down for breakfast and decided to go for a run not caring that it was snowing pretty hard out. I ended up running for about an hour. I came back soaking wet with burning lungs but it felt great. After lunch I went out to a local farm to do the horseback riding that I booked through the hostel the day before. A girl about my age lead my around for an hour, it was a great way to see the town. The snow held off until we were done but my hands and feet were freezing after. She let me trot a couple times, which I’ve obviously never done. It was really cool, but kind of scary at first! That night I ate at the hostel again and then we watched Crocodile Dundee 1. A couple of the guys took the day off from skiing due to the heavy snow and fog and found it hidden in the stack of movies. It was better than the sequel and made me want to go to Australia even more…it’ll happen soon, it’s part of my elaborate pre-planned quarter life crisis but more on that another time. We stayed up late playing “Presidents and Assholes” which is my new favorite card game. They also had these nifty waterproof playing cards that had camping tips on them. I’ve said it before but I am so grateful for the distraction I had at the Tree House.

I got up pretty early the next day to catch the train to Wels. I was traveling with one of the guys I met, James. The two of us were getting a Blah Blah Car from Wels to Vienna where he was staying. I was off to Budapest. It took us a while to find her, but our driver was great. She is a vet student at the University of Vienna. I don’t know if I was just lucky but I loved my Blah Blah Car experiences. I’ve been skeptical to use it here in Spain but it’s been a great resource. Our driver was telling us how she’s had to be careful recently as she had been getting a bunch of requests from immigrants and refugees who just wanted to get into Germany (she lives just over the border). Anyway, she spoke great English and it was so cool listening to her talk about vet school and life in Austria and Germany. We got dropped off at the end of a metro line in Vienna. James and I said our goodbyes and I headed to the subway. I hadn’t thought about the terrorist attacks in several hours but I stated to feel claustrophobic/sick the second I got onto the metro. At our second stop a strangely dressed man got on. It looked like he was carrying a handmade bow and arrow. I immediately felt trapped. I felt more claustrophobic than I ever have in my life. I was nauseous and sure he was going to turn around and shoot me. In the less than one minute between him getting on and us getting to the next stop I think I saw my entire life flash before my eyes. When we finally stopped at the next station I was ready to get off. But then he did. He hadn’t even looked at me. I was embarrassed with myself for being so judgmental. At that moment I said a little prayer thanking God that I had been in the middle of nowhere when the attacks occurred. I honestly don’t think I would have been able to handle being alone in a city. After another 20 minutes on the subway, I got to the bus station and then was headed to my final stop-Budapest. 

**Note-if you’re heading to Austria I HIGHLY recommend the Tree House, even if it seems a bit out of the way. They just won an award for the best* hostel in the country. The man who runs it is so beyond helpful as is his whole family. Let me know if you want any more information. I can’t wait to get there in the summer! Staying here was probably the best decision I made during my whole trip!

Also, another post on the terrorist attacks and my thoughts will be posted soon. Thank you to everyone who checked up on me <3 

Also Also, thanks to everyone I met at the Tree House, y'all are the best.