Frühlingsfest: Disneyland for Adults

After my 10-day spring break, I actually needed a break! I spent the following weekend in Barcelona. I used my time to explore the wonderful city I’ve been so lucky to live in these past four months. As hard as it is for me to admit this, my semester in Barcelona is basically over. Because my program is coming to an immediate hault, I wanted my last weekend abroad (with all my friends) to be the best yet. Unlike most of my trips this semester, where I toured cities to see historic sites and soak up different cultures, this past weekend was solely devoted to drinking and enjoying time with all my friends before we leave Europe and disperse amongst various states all over the country. With that in mind, this past weekend I celebrated FRÜHLINGSFEST -- referred to as Springfest by most Americans -- in Munich, Germany.

1 Litre of Beer, Please.

For those who have never heard of Frühlingsfest (it’s okay – most haven’t): imagine OKTOBERFEST, then shrink it. Like its fall counterpart, Frühlingsfest is a weekend devoted to endless beer drinking and having a good time. And that we did! I traveled to Munich with my usual traveling buddy, Shannon, and then we met up with friends from other cities in Europe. We arrived Thursday night...starving. We planned to grab dinner at AUGISTINER KELLER, but because it was later than we expected, we instead ate a pretzel (or two) and drank a few beers.



Friday, Shannon and I met up with friends who were also in Munich for the festival. We started our day at AUGUSTINER-BRÄUSTUBEN, a well-known beer hall. Once here the beer drinking began. I usually stuck to wheat beer the whole weekend, but because Munich is known for the RADLER, a beer-based drink mixed with lemonade, I had to try it. Not my favorite, a little too sweet, but something I’m glad I can say I tried. After this beer hall, we made our way on over to THERESIENWEISE , the official, open grounds where both, Oktoberfest and Frühlingfest, take place. As we arrived, I began looking around; it reminded me so much of a county fair. Hotdog vendors were scattered around, thee was cotton candy, a ferris wheel, and tons of more rides! The major difference between most county fairs and this festival though was the two massive beer tents situated on the grounds. We finally made it over to the first tent, HIPPODROM; it’s not one of the bigger beer halls, but it’s a popular one among the international crowd who invade the festival. The day flew by! When it was over, we we’re ready to do it all over again on Saturday. 

Enjoying ourselves at Frühlingsfest

On Saturday, we tried to explore Munich a little bit. We decided to grab lunch at the infamous HOFBRÄUHAUS, one of Munich’s oldest beer halls. We ate more pretzels and I even ate a Brautworst! This is huge – because I don’t eat meat! I thought, “When in Munich,” and knew I had to try one. It wasn’t bad, but I still prefer not to eat meat. After lunch and a few beers, we headed over to the festival, this time hitting up the Augustiner Brau München tent. This tent was filled to the brim with people and beer! When we were done with the tent, we decided to check out some of the rides in the festival. Saturday went by so fast, but was such a fun day! Needless to say, it was an amazing last weekend abroad!

Shannon, Me, and Alex in Munich

If I didn't have a few (read: 3) finals, tomorrow, I'd post much more! I'll be posting in the next day or two because my program is ending this Thursday and will finally be returning to the good ole' US of A!




Prost (means cheers!)

Spring Break Part 2: Croatia

For the second part of my spring break, my friends and I headed down to the beautiful country of Croatia. We left Prague Thursday night and traveled all night and even into late Friday morning. After an uncomfortable 13 hour bus ride, we finally made it to our destination: the beautiful coast of SPLIT, Croatia. Even though we were all exhausted from the long bus ride, we knew we couldn’t sleep because we were only in this city for 4 days. We began our adventure by walking around the quaint town. We stumbled upon a few open markets, where we all were able to find some souvenirs and gifts for friends and family. After we wandered for a few hours, we had to take a quick nap if we were going to make it out that night. That night there the program we were with offered us a pub-crawl. We thought it would be fun, so we decided to do it. To start the crawl off, the first bar offered an open-bar for the first hour and a half! My friends and I used this to our advantage…maybe a little too much? We then checked out 3 more bars after that one. After a lot of dancing and drinking, we called it a night.

Island hopping through Croatia

On Saturday, Jamie, Shannon, and I went island hopping. When we signed up for this we thought it was a great idea. We imagined a booze-cruise with nice, warm weather. What we got was cold and dark weather, on the verge of a storm. The boat ride was still fun though. We stopped at two incredibly small islands, one being the island of Brac; both looked as if they were ghost towns. There wasn’t much to do, so instead we used our free time to take pictures of each other. After we returned from island hopping, we were absolutely starving so we headed over to FIFE, a local favorite. This restaurant focuses on fresh ingredients prepared simply and traditionally and for a good price! We shared many different plates, including a calamari, gnocchi, & risotto (which tasted more like paella). In the middle of our meal the weather took a turn for the worst – it began storming! Most of the time weather is never an issue for me; but as we ate dinner outside only protected by a thin tarp, the rain began to cause a lot of frustration. Not only were we getting wet, our food was too. It was not the best meal, but it was for sure one of the funniest. After dinner, at what we referred to as the RAINFOREST CAFÉ, we ran home and cuddled in our beds.

Beautiful coast of Makarska

Shannon and I in Makarska

In a religious country, such as Croatia, there is nothing to do on Easter Sunday because everything is closed. Knowing this, Shannon and I booked a day trip to MOSTAR, Bosnia and Herzevgovina. Though not one of the more visited cities in Eastern Europe, we liked the idea of adding another country to our expanding lists. Because Mostar is about 3-4 hours away from Split, we made a quick stop in MAKARSKA, Croatia. As we arrived to this little beach city, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun shined bright. Like Split, the town was pretty dead because of Easter, but it was still a beautiful place to make a pit stop.

We left Makarska and headed towards Mostar, a city filled to the brim with historic importance. In 1991, Bosnia and Herzevgovina declared independence from Yugoslavia, resulting in the CROAT-BOSNIAK WAR that lasted from 1992-1994. Today the town is divided between Croats, who dominate the western bank, and Bosnian Muslims, concentrated on the eastern side. As we drove into Mostar, the most noticeable monument in the town was clearly the OLD BRIDGE, also known as Stari Most from which Mostar got its name. This bridge is one of the most famous victims of the war and claimed 100,000 lives. The bridge was built in the 16th-century by the Ottoman Empire. The 100-ft bridge arced between the two halves of Mostar for 427 years, became a symbol of the town and represented centuries of mostly peaceful co-existence between the Croats, Muslims, Serbs and other communities that lived there. The bridge survived wars, earthquakes and floods and outlived the Ottoman and Austro- Hungarian empires and communist Yugoslavia. However it could not withstand the attacks by ethnic-Croat forces who wanted to dominate parts of Bosnia and were willing to ethnically cleanse the region of Muslims and Serbs to achieve their goals. At first when we arrived to Mostar it was pouring rain. No one in the group was prepared, so the first thing we did once in this city was run to find a restaurant. About an hour into our lunch the sun decided to come out. Though it was still windy, the fact that we were dry was a huge deal. As I walked through the streets, buying souvenirs and gifts, part of the town began to remind me more and more of Marrakesh. This is probably because of the large Muslim population that still occupies part of Mostar.

Annie and I at Krka Falls

Shannon and I were exhausted from such a long day and fell asleep the second our heads hit the pillow. On Monday we left Split early to spend a few hours at the KRKA NATIONAL PARK, a park created to protect the Krka River. One of the main attractions at this park is SKRADINSKI BUK, the most widely visited series of waterfalls in Croatia. This massive, natural waterfall flows through the park and is unbelievable. We left Krka in the mid-afternoon and headed back to Prague on another 14-hour bus ride. We arrived in Prague around 3 in the morning, giving us enough time to sleep for a few hours before our flight at 11 am.

Overall (other than the weather) I had an amazing spring break, but I was so ready to get back to Barcelona. I missed having my own space and I missed the weather. I didn’t realize how tired I would be from the endless traveling, but once I returned on Tuesday I slept the entire day, through the night. That following weekend is one of the only weekends I decided not to travel and I’m so happy I didn’t! I explored Barcelona and enjoyed a quiet weekend. This past weekend was my last weekend abroad, so I decided to end it with one last hoorah. Look out for my next post and see where I traveled!

Ciao.

Spring Break Part 1: Prague

I spent the first half of my spring break visiting the capital of the Czech Republic: PRAGUE. I spent a total of five nights and five days there. At first when I told people how long I would be spending there, most made faces and said, more or less the same thing: "What the heck are you going to do in Prague for that long?" I never knew how to answer, because in all honesty, I really didn't know much about Prague. Previous study abroad students told me that if I visit one city this semester I must make that city Prague. Other than hearing how amazing this city actually was, Shannon and I arrived not knowing what to expect. Fortunately, Shannon has a good friend (Adam) studying in Prague, who not only let us stay with him until Tuesday, but also was our very own personal tour guide. He took us all over; showed us yummy places to eat, how to use the metro and tram system, and tons of important monuments we probably would have never seen on our own.

Shannon and I in Prague

We arrived in Prague on Saturday afternoon and shortly after met up with Adam. He lives in a really central location, very close to most things. He took us over to Old Town Square, where we planned to take a few pictures, until it started pouring rain. As the rain quickly turned to hail, the three of us took refuge in James Dean, a cute little diner that certainly seemed out-of-place in Prague. Once the rain died down a little, we headed over to U MEDVIDKU, a 550-year-old beer hall and restaurant, that serves it's infamous X Beer 33. A darker, yet sweet brew that has an alcohol content of 12.6%, making it the strongest brew in the Czech Republic! It was way to sweet for me, but there were plenty of other beers for me to enjoy. After dinner and a few beers, we prepared for our first night out in Prague. Adam took us to the club, CHAPEAU ROUGE, where we danced and drank all night. Later in the night, Shannon and I took our very first ABSINTHE shot, which may or may not have been one of our better ideas.

at the Lennon Wall

Sunday we woke up early (read:10 am) to prepare for a day filled with lots of walking and tourist attractions. We grabbed breakfast at Prague's well-known bagel shop, BOHEMIA BAGEL. Bagels are my ultimate hangover food, not to mention I hadn't had one since being abroad. Needless to say, this was the perfect breakfast. We left breakfast and walked over CHARLES BRIDGE, a historic bridge in Prague, that lead us to the LENNON WALL. Since the 80’s, this wall has become a tribute to John Lennon, filled with Lennon-inspired graffiti and lyrics from Beatles songs. Right around the corner is a gate that overlooks the canal; the gate is filled with 100’s of locks. Couples leave these "love locks" as a way to symbolize their everlasting love (a little cheesy if you ask me). As we walked back to take a nap, we tried some traditional hot wine. It tastes more like apple cider, than actual wine, but it was a yummy treat that kept us warm until we made it back to the apartment. We took a much-needed nap and then headed out for the night. Sunday nights aren’t big in Prague, so we kept it more casual and just went to a few bars. We started at SHADOW BAR and then made our way to U SUDU. U Sudu was one of my favorite bars – it seemed like a more local hangout and just had a really cool atmosphere.

Babies at Zizkov Tower

We started Monday off with lunch at this really yummy thai restaurant called YAM YAM . It’s located literally right off the metro stop, VYSEHRAD. After some amazing pad thai, we explored Vysehrad, a castle that is said to be the original settlement of Prauge. In this area, the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul is situated, as well as the Vysehrad Cemetery, which contains the remains of many famous people from Czech history. Later this day, we went and saw the ZIZKOV TV TOWER, made famous by the crawling baby sculptures created by artist David Cerny. We intended to go up to the top of this tower, but it was actually closed so instead we stared at the babies crawling up the tower. Monday night my roommates were finally in Prague so we all got together, grabbed dinner, then headed out for another crazy night in Prague. We started of at the Roxy then made our way to another bar. It was yet, another, very successful night out in Prague.

Enjoying a night out in Prague!

Adam left for his spring break Tuesday, leaving Shannon and I alone to explore the rest of Prague. We used a lot of Tuesday to plan out our Wednesday and Thursday adventures. We also walked around Old Town Square, where we tasted some traditional Czech pastries. While walking around we happened to stumble upon WOW, a little Boba stand, situated in an underground tunnel. Shannon and I both love Boba, so this find literally made our day! For dinner, we went back to the thai restaurant, but this time we brought our friends to it. They loved it, just like we had!

Wednesday my roommates, Shannon, and I took a day trip with Sandeman’s New Europe tour company to the small city of Terezin, about 45 minutes outside of Prague. This city is home to a concentration camp, where Hitler and the Nazi’s occupied during World War II. We spent the entire day here. It was incredibly interesting, especially because I had never heard or known anything about Terezin until this tour. (See the next post to learn more about my day at Terezin).

View from Petrin Hill

Thursday was our last and final day in Prague. We started our day with a trip on the funicular that took us to the top of PETRIN HILL. This hill is in the center of Prague and home to the lookout tower (something that resembles the Eiffel Tower). Shannon and I climbed to the top of this tower and were able to see all off Prague. The view was beautiful! After Petrin hill, we intended to tour Prague castle with the same tour company that took us to Terezin, but once we met up with the group it was pouring rain. Now usually I’d be able to suck it up when it comes to rain, but unfortunately we were traveling on a 13-hour bus ride to Croatia in about 5 hours, with no change of clothes. Neither Shannon nor I could fathom sitting on a bus for that long and that wet. Instead we grabbed lunch and did a little souvenir shopping. That night we boarded a bus to take us to Croatia! 

Spring Break 2012

I've been back from spring break for a week! I had a blast exploring different parts of Europe, but I'm so happy and glad to be back "home." I had been traveling nonstop since I left the previous Saturday. Traveling as much as I did truly took a toll on my body. I was extremely exhausted and literally slept for 48 hours.

To begin, let me tell you where I actually was! My adventures began in the Czech Republic. I spent Saturday to Thursday exploring the city of Prague. Thursday night my friends and I boarded a 14 hour bus that lead us to the coast of Croatia. We spent Friday to Monday in Split, Croatia, with a minor detour to Mostar, Bosnia. For my blog, I'm going to split my spring break into two posts. One talking about Prague and the other talking about Croatia.


Enjoy!

This is a map of where I traveled during Spring Break. The pink stars show the cities I traveled too! The arrows represent travel by airplane, while a pair of paw prints denote 2.3 hours of travel -- by bus! 

Dublin for St. Patrick's Day

Since the beginning of my study abroad experience, I knew I had to take advantage of traveling around Europe. Everything is (relatively) close and much cheaper than if I were coming from the states. Because of this, I instantly knew I had to travel to Dublin, Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s day!

My friends and I arrived in Dublin, Ireland late Thursday night. We stayed at the Generator Hostel, directly next store to the Jameson Distillery. Exhausted from traveling, we grabbed a bite to eat and called it a night. Friday we began our day on a walking tour around the city, but then it began to rain. In Dublin, they refer to this as “Irish mist.” To my roommate and I, it was just an excuse to go inside and drink a beer. We spent about an hour or two drinking at the the infamous Temple Bar Pub. A few friends and I then went to grab lunch. We had walked by a restaurant earlier that looked good so we decided to check that out. It was called CrackBirdand served all types of chicken (perfect for me–a vegetarian). I managed though. I ate a wrap with hummus and couscous…it was so good! After lunch, the group headed over to tour the Guinness Brewery. The tour of Guinness was different than the one through Heineken. I’ve never been a big Guinness beer drinker, but for the short amount of time I was in Dublin, I was quickly converted. That night, my friends and I stumbled upon Gourmet Burger Kitchen, a restaurant specializing in, what else, burgers! Fortunately, they offered many options for non-burger eaters like myself. After an amazing dinner, we bar hopped through the Temple Bar District. We wanted to have a relatively mellow night so we could prepare for the next day.

Saturday we woke up extremely early to quickly prepare for the upcoming day. We were out the door around 9 am and ready to start the day. At around noon, we crowded around the main street of town to watch the St. Patrick’s Day parade. After our cameras were filled with parade pictures, we were ready to celebrate. Our day was filled with green Guinness, jäger shots, and so many laughs! It was such a fun day. Long, but extremely fun and well worth the trip. Since we had been up all day drinking, we were tired to say the least. We were back at the hostel around 11 pm and called it a night. Sunday morning we headed back to Barcelona!

I loved visiting Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day, but I really hope I can go back — there’s still so much I want to see there.  A few weekends ago I visited Valencia and last week I was on spring break. My friends and I started our week in Prague and then we made our way down to Croatia. I'll post these trips soon. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter/Passover.

Ciao.