Milano: Not a drop of wine

The portion of my trip with my brother came to an abrupt end, and I was suddenly on my own. As I sat at the train station waiting for my train to arrive I wondered excessively why I ever thought I'd be able to travel by myself. I just wanted to be home. And for the first time ever Tirana felt like home.

But I got on my train and successfully found my seat, next to a little girl that constantly asked her mother for money to purchase things from the trolley. It made me remember my little cute students, and I actually missed them. Luckily a few things happened on the train that made me very happy I was travelling on to Milan. The first was that it was the most gorgeous mountain view ever. The snow capped alps were insanely gorgeous and I recommend that you put a train trip through the Alps on your bucket list.  I was so tired and all I wanted to do was sleep, but I just couldn't allow myself to close my eyes with that gorgeous view in front of me. I also got to see the most beautiful sunset I have seen in my entire life. It looked as though the sky was on fire with shades of lavender intertwined within the flames. I tried to get a picture, but the train was moving too fast and so I will take it as a sign that I was meant to share that moment with my music only. I will never forget it for as long as I live.

I arrived in Milan and took out my directions to my host's house. Thankfully, he had given me some very detailed directions using the metro station. I was still completely lost. I took 2 semesters of Italian in college and so I expected to be able to adjust fairly easily, but it was harder than French. The thing about travelling is that there are always super nice people willing to help you. And so a very nice American woman who was living in Milan helped me purchase my metro ticket. As it turns out I wasn't as stupid as I originally looked. The machine I was trying to purchase my ticket from was actually broken. I transfered from the green line to the red line easily enough, but upon emerging from the underground system I was lost. There was construction everywhere and I think the language barrier set in in my paragraph of directions. "Go over the oil" actually could translate to "Go past the Petrol/Gas station." Usually I'm good with directions, but Europe has messed me up, so I was smart enough to just show someone the address and they pointed me in the right direction. After this I made it with little trouble.

My host was a very nice older man, who had 217 references. He happens to be a lawyer and his girlfriend was visiting him from Poland. He was kind enough to immediately ask me about my flight the next morning, to show me where the bus to the airport picked up (5 mins from his house) and to tell me what time I needed to leave. Then he showed me a map of Milan and pointed out a few key things to see, taking into account my interest, and keeping me far away from the fashion district. We planned a short, quick morning trip to the city and he said I could leave my pack behind because he would be there the following day to let me in, as he was planning on sleeping until the time I left (11am.) Once his girlfriend arrived home we all 3 went to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant where I indulged in some shrimp pasta dish, and the best tiramisu I have ever had. I spent the majority of dinner trying to keep up with the conversation. After only getting about 3 hours of sleep the previous night I was one very exhausted girl. When I tried to pay my portion of the bill he wouldn't allow me to and said he always treated his guest to dinner. No wonder he had 217 references!

Hello random castle

After arriving home I was required by his girlfriend to sip on some Polish vodka while we had a chat about something I don't recall because my exhaustion had set in. After one drink she tried to pour another, but I refused reminding her I had a flight at 1:30 and I needed to go see the city in the morning. I passed out quite quickly, but managed to wake up before my 6:30 alarm. I packed all of my things and headed to the city, which was easy to get to now that I understood the metro system. I had some fun wandering around, and attempting to read the map before I finally got where I wanted to get. Truth be told I didn't know it was where I wanted to be, but I knew the park looked nice in comparison to all the buildings. It led me to a castle, the "Arc of Peace" and then to more buildings, including the famous Duomo Cathedral, which was quite breathtaking. After seeing all the sights (in 2 hours mind you) I headed back to the area of his apartment. I really couldn't risk being late to the airport. I grabbed a croissant and coffee and headed out. Funny....I had not a drop of wine while in Italy.

Up and in the city early enough for the sunrise

I had surprisingly no issue getting on the bus, to the airport, or through the check in. I was a bit nervous about this after my experience in Albania, but I had zero issues. Then I indulged myself in a hot fudge sundae from McDonalds, and missed all my ice cream dates with Candice, Becky, and most of all my niece. It was so delicious. I went and sat at my gate for about 45 minutes reading some Ismail Kadare and trying to prepare myself for real life. As soon as they started boarding I knew I was at the right gate. I walked briskly to what I assumed would be a que. Unfortunately what I found was not a nice line, but I giant blob of people pushing and shoving to get to the front. My mind started chaotically wondering what would happen if I didn't make it on the plane and for a bit I was pushing. Then I realized this was a crazy thought. We were all going to get on the plane just fine. Getting on the plane was even worse. They boarded from front and back, but no one had the logical sense to check where their seats were, they all just went to the shortest line. So while I was in row 27 (near the back) the man in front of me was in row 3. What a smartie. He honestly thought it would be faster to go to the back boarding area and work his way to the front? For real?

Duomo Cathedral

I spent the whole time on the plane listening to music, because I needed it. When we landed I again got nervous about getting in line, getting through customs, and retrieving my baggage. Again, no difficulties whatsoever. I handed the driver of the Rinas Express my bag and was quite confused when he asked me a question in Albanian (I have lost everything I learned.) Luckily a very nice guy translated for me and we had a nice conversation about Albania. As it turned out he was working in the Peace Corp and knew one of the teachers at my school. He told me I was welcomed to visit him in the city he lived in anytime I needed to get out of Tirana. How nice of him :)

I found a piece of Albania in the center of Milan, and it made me want to come back. 

Overall I'd say I was a bit relieved to be back in Tirana. It felt incredible to walk down streets and know where I was going. Well, at least for the time being....

Switzerland: we danced, and we cried, and we laughed and had a really good time

Coffee along with some much needed wi-fi to check into our lives in the morning, followed by attempting to exchange some money and retrieve my card. This was a failure because the line was far too long and we didn't want to miss our train. We took 3 trains to get to Switzerland, since our pass didn't cover the one through Austria. None of them we're bad trains and we made all the ones we wanted. Daryn's friend Jenna and her husband we waiting for us when we arrived. I immediately felt welcomed to their home. Florim (Jenna's husband's family is originally from what is now Kosovo, and it was interesting to talk to him about his family.) Jenna was also very interested in my experience abroad, and it talking with me about my culture shock, since she also has experienced this living abroad.

For dinner we had some delicious fondue, which is a very common meal in Switzerland. We went for a short after dinner walk around their town, and I was in love with how much character it had. Each village has a castle, and the city of Yverdon Les-Bains (where we stayed) was right on the largest lake in Switzerland. The lake was covered in swans and located near some small cabins. None of the cabins are allowed to be on the lake because then less people would be able to enjoy it. How smart is that!?!? Also there are only a few streets you are allowed to drive on, making for a very relaxing small city life, and leading people to enjoy walking everywhere. These little things made me hate the chaos and mindless ways of Albania. We stopped for one beer at a cute little bar/cafe and headed home to get some sleep because tomorrow we were headed to the alps!

First views after arriving

A quick breakfast was followed by putting on winter gear, and heading into the car to drive on the dark highway to the alps. The sun began to come out as we drove and I felt again as though I'd never seen mountains before in my entire life. The sun was beginning to radiate off the snow as Jenna explained to us the history of cities, and pointed out beautiful and interesting sights along the way. Switzerland is a very interesting country and a lot of their politics make a ton of sense. For example trash bags cost a lot of money causing people to be more conciencous of how much waste they are producing. You also have to pay every time you need a bag at a store, which causes people to always carry reusable bags with them. Get on board America! Once we arrived at Les Diablerets (the village we would be in for the day) we stopped to get some cheese and fruit for our picnic later in the afternoon. Florim (Jenna's husband) then rented our sleds and warned us that conditions on the trail weren't great, because it had just snowed, so we wouldn't be going very fast. We were fine with this as we were quite nervous. We all hopped onto the ski lifts to make it to the top, and I was already in awe of the breathtaking views.

At the top of the mountain.

The first time down the hill was in fact slow, but the last portion was fast and extremely fun. Lunch was a typical Swiss picnic, consisting of bread, cheese, and wine. Apparently Swiss people never eat crackers with their cheese! This is crazy! Anyway after finishing our 2 bottles of wine we were feeling quite good and ready for our 2nd trip down.

Lunch :)

Of course me and Jenna both needed to use the bathroom and had quite a difficult time finding one, so we ended up going in the front of the car. Don't worry, we covered it up with snow. The second time down was much quicker, because the sun had melted some of the snow. It was way more fun that the first time was, and by the time we reached the bottom we were ready for our 3rd time. The 3rd time was cold, and by the end of it I was ready to get into the heated car and home for a hot shower.

Midway down break

We headed into the city of Lausanne to meet a few of Florim's friends (it was one of their birthdays.) It was also a gorgeous city. Lausanne is built on many different levels, and apparently directions come not only in the form of left and right, but also up and down. There was a beautiful Cathedral (after the Munich night pictures I didn't even attempt to take any pictures to capture the beauty) and at every hour a man comes out to call our the time. It was very interesting to see, and he even asked us how we were! After meeting Florims friends we headed to a nearby bar (where Florim used to work) and had one beer. During this time we talked a lot about Albanian men. One of Florim's cousins was once pressured to marry an Albanian man, but is now dating a guy from Italy. They decided to invite her to dinner the following night so that I would be able to talk to her. They opted not to invite her parents, assuming they would try to set me up with a man. I was so exhausted I fell asleep on the car ride home, and was able to easily sleep until the next morning.

Since we didn't have to drive so far away we decided to allow ourselves a little extra sleep time. After a quick breakfast and coffee, we packed a tea and chocolate picnic and headed to a smaller mountain range called La Chaux-de-Fonds for a bit of winter hiking. We parked the car about a 30 minute walk from the cliff overlooking the Alps and hiked our way through the snow into a quite windy area with a beautiful view. Unfortunately for us it was quite cloudy that day, so we could not see the Alps, but the picnic in the snow was still a wonderful experience. Hiking back to the car was quite easy, because it was downhill. On the drive back we stopped to take some picture where we were able to see the alps, and I think they are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

part of what looks like clouds in this picture is actually the Swiss Alps. And this picture does it no justice whatsoever.

We also stopped at a market to get items for our dinner that night. Daryn related the market to a small grocery store in America and I was overwhelmed to the core. At one point I thought I might pass out. This "small grocery store" was about the size of the biggest store I've been in since I got to Albania. It was not a pleasant experience. Luckily we were able to get in and out quickly. Once back at the house we continued our cheese and wine experience. I just can't get over how much we had, and how much I loved it all!

Then we headed to the train station to double check/ purchase our tickets for the following day. It was hard just knowing that the following day we would have to say goodbye. Daryn had been dying to play music since about 4 days into our journey, and Jenna and Florim's friend owns a beautiful electric grand piano. He was kind enough to have us over an hour so that him and Daryn could serenade us with some impromptu jazz music and a few other fabulous songs.

Raclette. mmmmm.....

Next on the list was a dinner of Raclette, which is a traditional Swiss meal of potatoes with melted cheese and seasonings on top. It is, of course cooked in a very special appliance and was delicious! I ate way too much just because it tasted so good. During this time we were joined by Florim's cousin and I got to talk to her a bit about Albanian and Kosovo. Eventually we made the decision that she would be staying the night and from that point on things spiralled downhill. It started with Daryn teaching her how to shotgun a beer and was followed by multiple drinking games, including musical chairs, many beers, and at one point champagne. Who knew 5 people could wreak such havoc. The night ended with us watching and laughing at some pretty ridiculous youtube videos and then passing out at about 2:30am.

The start to a wonderful night.

I slept terribly knowing that it was the final day of our journey together and that tomorrow I'd be on my own in Milan. I wondered to myself why I was so stupid in choosing to fly out of Milan. Why hadn't I just left from an airport in Switzerland? With the trip being over I was back to being confused about my life, and in need of being responsible for it again. It felt like leaving home all over again, except without all of the excitement about heading to unexplored territory. I tossed and turned for the majority of the night, and eventually forced myself to get out of the bed to shower. We ate breakfast slowly since we were a bit hungover, and after a few tears and hugs at the house we headed to the train station so Daryn could catch his train. More hugs, and uncontrollable tears. After we watched the train leave Florim and Jenna drove me to my train station about 45 minutes away. On the way there Florim said something that changed the way I will feel about saying goodbye for the rest of my life.

Goodbyes suck. They are terrible and horrible, but they are also incredible and beautiful. They are one of the greatest things in the world. The emotions brought to the surface of a goodbye are some of the truest emotions a person can produce. In that moment you aren't holding anything back. You are completely genuine to who you are and what you are feeling, and that is amazing. It reminded me of a quote I read when I was extremely homesick about 6 weeks into this experience. "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." -Winnie the Pooh. I'm the luckiest person in the whole wide world. And thus ends the portion of the journey with my best friend. I already miss him like crazy, but I'll hold on until the next time I get to say hello.

20 thousand roads....

Munich: celebrating 5 new years

On the 31st we woke up early to head to the central train station. Sadly the first train to Munich was cancelled. We grabbed some lunch for on the train and headed were able to catch the next train. As it turned out we had 1st class tickets (not sure that happened) but it made for a seamless ride without interruption other than people coming to offer us free candy. 

We spent the majority of our time playing cards, and I have to say I have missed playing cards with my brother. It felt like a typical Friday night or Saturday afternoon. I also fell even more in love with Germany. I kept commenting to Daryn that "I could live here" every time we passed a small village or an area that would be perfect for camping. I couldn't believe how gorgeous the countryside was, especially considering it was grey and winter-like. It makes me desperate to go back in the summer to see the green grass and trees. I can honestly say that I left my heart in Germany, so I'm going to have to go back to retrieve it at some point.

When we arrived in Munich I called the man we were surfing with (on a pay phone) and got train directions to the stop byt his house. I figured from there I'd be able to use the map on my iPod from their. We needed to exchange some money, but unfortunately the banks were already closed given it was new years eve. I figured I could just take some Euro out of my account in Albania. So I put in my card and upon trying my pin 3 times I found out that my card wasn't excepted there. Unfortunately the machine took my card, so I guess along with my heart I left my bank card. We figured we'd just have to live off of the 20 Euros we had, as I was unwilling to sacrifice my other credit card. 

Couch surfers from Russia and Taiwan: celebrating Russian New Year

Eventually we got on the correct train (we were originally going the wrong way) and got off at the appropriate stop. But then when I tried to turn on my ipod it was dead. We had no idea where we were going, other than the address of the man. So we walked around looking for the right street. Eventually we decided we were lost enough to ask a guy. He took us back to his house and looked up the address on his GPS. After looking at it he thought it was impossible to walk, so he offered us a ride. People are so nice in Europe. As it turn out it was about a 5 minute drive, but we were still quite grateful. Our host opened the door and immediately offered us a coffee from his espresso machine. Oliver was down to earth and had very good taste in music. I enjoyed being offered a bit of sarcasm (no one in Albania understands, so I've quit using mine.) He informed us that he had 9 other people staying there that evening, 4 from Brazil, 3 from Taiwan, and 2 from Russian. It was going to be a full house. We were lucky to be offered dinner cooked by the girls from Brazil and Taiwan. It was delicious, and soon afterwards we celebrated the Russian new year with some Champagne (their time zone was different.) All in all we decided we would be able to celebrate a total of 5 new years, however 1 had already happened and 2 would happen in the early hours of the morning. 

We found a dessert open mall.

We opted to head into the city to wander around with the russian friends. The others were heading to a party with a cover and we didn't really feel like being trapped in one building with a large crowd, when there were things to see. The Russians met some of their other friends in the center and we quickly downed a bit of vodka and were happy that though their friends wanted to go into the Hard Rock cafe, they didn't. I was able to find a place that wasn't out of beer, so we purchased 4 and walked around with them discovering the constant drone of fireworks as we went. After we counted down the new year me and Daryn found a corner to pee in again. One of the Russians desired some hot wine, so we went back to the location where we had originally seen it, but they were all out. The man working at the counter was nice enough to offer us, instead, some free Champagne, which we drank quite quickly before heading home. 

I tried to take a picture of the fireworks, but it didn't work :(

I found a spot on the floor and rolled out my sleeping bag. Everyone arrived home pretty quickly, and we shared our adventures of the night while drifting off to sleep. I was not ready to leave Munich the next morning. 

Berlin: Instant love

We spent our morning riding the train to Berlin. It was a bit too soon to leave Amsterdam, but next time we will plan for more time everywhere we go. There we no issues getting on the train, but a bunch of the seats were reserved. Luckily, we found two with a table so we could play some cards, however when the train switched over to Germany a ton of people got on, including a large family that had reserved the seats we were in and a bunch around us. What followed was a countless number of times switching seats, eventually standing for about an hour and then finally getting to sit again. We arrived in Berlin and followed my directions to our next couch surfing hosts' place. Unfortunately I had forgot to write down the last name we needed to buzz at his apartment complex.

Cheddar Cheese on the train!

We quickly found a cafe with Internet and looked it up while enjoying a coffee. We went and rang and were let into a super nice apartment. Our host was great and joined us for dinner at a vegan restaurant. I felt right at home with a veggie burger, fries dipped in REAL catsup and a delicious German beer. Me and daryn decided to walk around for a bit while Fabian(our host) went home to do some work. Our luck continued as we found a small brewery a few block away, called Hops and Barley. Here we not only sampled delicious beer, but also met a very nice couple from Israel. We talked to them about their travels and discussed the joys of couch surfing with them.

Beer at Hops &Barley

At this point we headed back to Fabian's apartment to map out a plan for the following day. So much to see in so little time, and I never wanted to leave. You know how they say you know love when you have found it? Well I was in love. With Germany.

Me and Daryn both took showers and shortly after finishing we headed to Fabian's friend's house. As it turned it he had studied in Milwaukee  Together we ahared 6 beers and then headed to a nearby bar for a few more. We met so many interesting people who were all interested in Albania, and wanted to share their culture with me. The more I talked to them the more I longed to stay. We attempted to head to some clubs after this, but no where would let us in, because we had too large of a group. Daryn and I left the group behind and ended up finding a semi secretive place to pee on our way home. We stopped for a beer and discussed the possibility and desire to stay another night. It would mean missing out on some Munich beer, but it was worth it.

Favorite art at East Side Gallery

The next morning Fabian offered us a breakfast of delicious bread, coffee and fruit. He approved of our idea to stay another night, so we headed out to see the sights.

We saw a lot of very cool buildings and places related to world war 2. I won't bore you with information(mostly because I don't remember any of it) but I will tell you my favorite part was the East Side Gallery. This sight consist of part of the Berlin wall, that is now covered with gorgeous artwork, and a lot of graffiti.

Our biggest(and only) complaints about te city are as follows: too many tourists, having to pay to pee, and that fact that some restaurants don't serve tap water. I was so dehydrated at one point that I ended up paying 3 euro for a very small bottle.

Famous Building, TV Tower

It was funny because Fabian had told us how to get from place to place using the train system. We found however that by the time we had reached the first place walking we could see the next place in the distance and it would be easier just to walk there. Then we ended up deciding to walk home. All in all, I believe we walked a minimum of 10 miles during the day. And by the end of it I was sick of seeing sights.

Check-point Charlie, where the Berlin was was first torn down.

It was beer time again, and after walking for a bit we decided we had like Hops &Barley so much we may as well go back and get more beer. These beers led to our inevitable great and deep talk about life, where we are going, and our feelings. We talked mostly about our family and the things we inherited. It was decided that we get our way of showing our feelings from our father, holding everything inside until we just can't anymore. And as I talked about my future plans and we discussed the possibility of not seeing each other for a year or two, we almost began crying, but opted to hold it in until we had to say goodbye for real.

Then we headed out for some dinner, because after walking 10 miles, without water, and drinking 2 beers food becomes necessary. I had some falafel and Daryn had some vegetarian lasagna. The previous night when we were lost we had seen a sign saying Porter, and after drinking nothing but wheats Daryn was in the mood for some dark, so we went back in search of it and eventually found it.

This bar was quite strange for us. It felt a lot like a bar from our hometown. I couldn't decide if I liked it or hated it. It was filled with smoke, loud music, and people who were crazy drunk on a Sunday night. We quickly finished our porters (which were extremely sweet) we given some plum liquor shots and head out with everyone kindly shaking our hands and saying goodbye to us with huge smiles on their faces.

Even Berlin loves the Packers!

When we arrived back at out lodging Fabian asked us if we had any other plans. The plan was to go to bed, but when we told him their was a packer game on he was kind enough to find a way for us to watch it on the big screen in his room. Daryn ran down to the market to pick up a few beers for us all to split. I only made it through the first half, and sadly we lost to the Vikings, which sucks!

The next morning I was not ready to leave to Berlin

Amsterdam: the 6th food group

Agh! What a day it was. We headed out of ghent plenty early, planning to catch the 11:18 direct bus from Brussels to Amsterdam. With our early arrival we walked around, and got some lunch for on the train. However when we headed up to the platform we noticed it said you needed a reservation. As it turns out our train book (which said we didn't need one) was out of date, as was the information Daryn had looked up online only a few days before our trip.

We asked at an information desk and they informed us we should go to Antwerp, then to Rotterdam, and them to Amsterdam. We would arrive only an hour later than originally planned. However, when we got to Antwerp they told us the trains to Rotterdam were cancelled forever. We discovered we could go to Roosdale and then to Rotterdam and then to Amsterdam. The train system was exhausting. It was really a crappy way for us to begin our train portion of the trip. Lucky for us on the train to Roosdale we met a nice couple also going to Amsterdam. We ended up following them directly on a train to Amsterdam. We had learned out lesson. Once arriving at the train station we went immediately to the information desk to check the information for our next train trip. As it turned out this time the information in the book was almost exactly correct, only off by about 4 minutes. I loved the train station in Amsterdam the last time I had seen it and it was cool to get inside for a bit.

I took charge of our directions in Amsterdam, for many reasons. We stopped at a coffeeshop quickly and then headed to wander around and look at the dam system/find the Brady bar, which had been suggested by someone on couchsurfing. However when we got there we discovered it wasn't open and that you had to be 23 to get in. Therefore I wouldn't be allowed to go, so we found a different bar nearby and enjoyed 2 beers each, which was just what we needed after our stressful journey. From here we headed to find the apartment of our couchsurfing host. We found it with little trouble but had to pee pretty bad when we were almost there, so we stopped and found a nice corner to use.

Eventually we made it to our host's apartment, and he was able to point us in the direction of some delicious indian food for dinner. It was just what I wanted! We headed back and Daryn and our host headed out for a few beers. I was pretty exhausted, so I just hung on the couch, did a bit of reading, and fell asleep. I was awaken a few hours later by their return. After 30 minutes of being home it was clear me and Daryn needed to add a 6th food group to our list. We had forgotten to drink water. Daryn got extremely hot and dizzy and upon trying to drink water he lost control and broke a glass. I asked our host for a broom, but as it turned out he didn't have one. So, I cleaned up the water and glass carefully using paper towels. After Daryn had a few sips of water he was ready to help us clean up and we finished with ease. Back to bed to prepare for our time in Germany.

Belgium: Singing in the streets of Ghent

Wow! I thought for awhile that I hated western Europe, but all I actually hate is the cost. We got on our airport super early and they kept trying to sell us shit. All I wanted to do was sleep, and I would have understood if they had asked us once, but it was every 15 minutes.

After arriving at the Brussels airport we purchased our bus tickets to the central train station. Unfortunately once again these cost us even more money at 18 euro a piece. After a nice 45 minute ride, we arrived at the Brussels central train station, activated our eupasses and hopped on a train to Ghent. We made it only 10 minutes later than I told my couch surfing hose we would.

Didiers was a very cool guy to stay with, and he was also hosting a girl from the states who was studying abroad in London. We dropped our packs off, planned on meeting up around 7 and headed out to explore the city.

Typical street. Charming even in the rain :)

We spent several hours just walking around and seeing some very cool architecture in the form of castles and churches. There were several christmas villages along the way. Eventually we found a beer house and headed in to select several beers to enjoy. I had a triple and daryn had a hoppy beer. I made him agree in the beginning that we wouldn't ever order the same beer, due to the vast options. Starting off the afternoon with an 11% was probably a great idea. We then split a hopped duval triple, which was the best beer I've had since I left home. We headed out of the bar feeling much better about life, unfortunately we must have wandered a bit far, because we got insanely lost. Luckily, we had plenty of time to wander around, eventually ask for help, and to find ourselves again.

Gavensteen Castle

It was noted that we still had an hour and a half before we needed to meet up with people, so we stopped for another beer. The regular duval sucked, which is surprising, because I was told it was the best beer in Belgium. Maybe it was good, but I was just comparing it to the previously incredible beer.

hopped duvel tripple: reaction after first taste

Dinner was soup and bread, eaten over a discussion of what we all did during the day, and shortly after we headed out for some more beers, because we were in Belgium and what else did we want to do? We got a bit lost on the way, taking directions as best as we could from our host, but the lights on the buildings were beautiful, and eventually we found our way. Me and Daryn were lost as to what to try next, so we asked the bartender for suggestions and he was very helpful. I had a wonderful hoppy ipa and an 8% something else (which he recommended when he found out I liked stouts and was in charge of getting everyone home.) Daryn noticed some men drinking quite large glasses of beer (de dulle griet) and was intrigued enough to turn in his shoe to get one. We thought this may be similar to "das boot" in Wisconsin.

Daryn and our host with their de dulle griet

We ended the night by catching the last tram home and singing Gram Parsons in the streets of Ghent. Who knew that after walking about 8 miles in one day the next day on the train would be even more exhausting (see next post.)

Beautiful night time view

Madrid: Our love affair with wine

We arrived in Madrid on Christmas eve. I was a bit nervous about everything being closed down. One of the couch surfers told me it is a family holiday and there aren't many places open. Far from the truth. After paying our 60 dollar taxi fare, we were able to find our hostel after a very kind English-speaking woman drew us a map. We got in, paid and settled down(aka peed and were ready to go out.)

We wandered around and spotted some awesome lights, and some lit up Christmas trees. We stopped for some beer and tapas at a bar that looked decent. It was clear from the beginning that Spain was known for it's wine, but we are beer fanatics. The beer sucked so we moved onto some wine and just continued to walk around before eventually deciding it was food/bed time. Luckily, we were able to find a mexican place with delicious burritos. It took a little effort to find our hostal, but eventually we did.

The Green Tree that always helped us find our way.

Sound sleeping for me until about 8:00 am the next morning. I was anxious to see what would be open on Christmas day. Eventually, we found what we assumed was a chain restaurant "cafe e te". We saw several of them throughout the day. Breakfast consisted of some delicious coffee and a croissant, before heading out to see what we could see and find what we could find. We kept getting lost, but eventually we figured out where our hiatal was in the map, and which way was north and south. This came in super handy as time went on. We also happened to stop by another expensive bar to try some more beer.

Loved these roads that we kept walking on and getting lost on.

Things to see in Madrid: churches and museums. Successfully, we didn't go into a single one, but we did get a whole lot of pictures. The best part about Spain is that everything you get a drink you get served a food. Most commonly it is bread or olives, and we were lucky that most of the time it was vegetarian. We also found out we are multilingual  While speaking, we would combine french, and sometimes even hebrew and albanian with our spanish. At one point I said "yo parle espanol" for "no speak spanish." I had combined albanian, french, and spanish. Crazy!

This area reminded me of fall at the U of M.

The majority of the day was spent walking around finding cheap places to drinks. We stopped at "Broken Hearts "low cat bar and the ham museum (Museo del Jamon.) In between places we would have a coffee or a water. I kept being amused by all the American restaurants, such as taco bell, KFC, and burger king. It has just been so long since I have seen any of these pales. Eventually we got hungry for real food and ate some simple but incredibly delicious sandwiches and had the best vino we had ever drank. Each glass only cost us a whopping 2 Euros! We ended the night at our favorite bar called "Remember." Daryn kept commenting that no one wants to remember a bar, but upon entering it became clear we would. Of all the spanish beer we drank they had the best, and they combined it with some rocking tunes including Primus, the Talking Heads, and many others. Daryn was, of course, jet lagged, and was ready to stay up for another beer, but I wanted to sleep. So, we split a beer as a compromise and headed to bed.

Daryn taking a picture of yet another cool looking building

The second day started with croissant and coffee again. We knew that the following morning we had to get up quite early, so we wanted to head to bed early. Therefore we allowed ourselves a beer and a wine when we made our noon stop. We headed, again, to get a baguette con queso at the ham museum, which we found out was famous. We loved their 1 euro food and drinks.

A beautiful church filled with tourists.

The day before we had found a sherry bar that a friend recommended to us, but it had been closed. We successfully found it again and went in to share 6 sherrys and of course, tapas. This place had the best olives I have ever had. I believe they were soaked in balsamic and oregano. So, and the man who ran the place was very kind to us, except that he yelled at me for taking pictures.

I want to go back just for these olives: round one of Sherry

After the sherry bar we were in need of some serious water, so we headed back to our hostal for a siesta, some water and some luggage organization. Daryn also took some time to talk to the guy at the front desk about getting to the airport the following morning (our flight was at 6:15am.) The man assured us he would have a taxi outside the hostal for us at 4am. We just couldn't get over how cheap and delicious the wine was at the place we ate dinner at the previous night. So we headed back to the same place to try different and even better kinds of wine. This was followed by a Guinness  because we decided we needed to try one on tap in Europe to compare. More beer and an early bedtime. Overall this portion of the trip taught us the 5 food groups necessary for survival: wine/fruit, beer/bread, cheese, veggies, and coffee. The following morning we had a taxi driver waiting outside the hostal for us at 4am. We were ready to head to Belgium.

Super cool!

The trip of a lifetime

So I’m gearing up for my Western European trip with my brother. I’m so insanely excited and also really nervous. The traveling I’ve done has been fairly easy because we’ve been renting cars and finding hostels to stay at. We can travel on our own accords. However, during this trip we travel by plane, train, and foot, and will be staying with couch surfers along the way. I’m pretty excited to surf, after hosting a few surfers myself. However, the winter weather is making me a bit nervous about our plans, and making it far more difficult to fit everything I need into a hiking pack.

I’m trying to go into the trip with my friend Cortney’s mindset about traveling: Have no expectations. If I have no expectations then I can’t be disappointed. However I think I was doing a bit too good at this. So good, that I was actually starting to get extremely stressed about it, and for a bit, not even wanting to go at all.

What caused me to get to this point? Mostly thinking about returning to Albania. My time here has gone so quickly already and I can’t believe that when I get back I’ll only have 6 months left. And chances are that is going to go even faster with starting school again, and searching for jobs. Here’s the thing: I just got over my culture shock, and quit being so desperate for a piece of home, 3 weeks ago. I’m worried that when I get back to Tirana I’m going to have to go through all that stress and craziness again. And what makes it even scarier is that this time I have no idea when the next time I’ll see any part of my family will be. Sure it could be in 6 months, but it could also be in 2 years.

So to try and make myself okay with this I went on my Pinterest sight and looked at all the items on my bucketlist. This made me more depressed. I have no money to travel this world! So I got to my really desperate point, and got out the American phone. I have no charger and it only has half a battery left, so I don’t turn it on often. Only when I’m really doubting myself and my decision. Then I re-read the last texts I got from my brothers. Both of them are so encouraging to me. And quite honestly if it wasn’t for their support I wouldn’t be where I am. And then I got excited. I get to have a real face-to-face conversation with my brother and best friend. I get to talk to him about all our worries, all our dreams, and all the adventures we have had while we’ve been apart. And we get to have one together.  :)

Christmas in 2010

New Years party 2011: gangster style

New Years eve 2012: let's skip the gingerbread latte this year please.

I’ll blog about it all when I get back, but I’m sure it is going to take a while to get caught up. Here is the itinerary as of right now.

December 24^th: Daryn will be arriving in Madrid on the morning of the 24^th and will go an meet our couchsurfing host as she has Christmas Eve plans. I will arrive in the afternoon (if all goes well in Turkey) and will meet him. I’m kind of hoping we can find a late night church service, but am also expecting Daryn to be exhausted from his journey. Wine and sleep will be just find with me.

December 25^th-26th: Explore Madrid. Eat Tapas, drink beer and wine, possibly meet up with some other couch surfers.

December 27^th: Get on plane to Brussels in the very early am. Spend a few hours explore Brussels and take a train to Gent. Spend the Evening in Gent.

December 28^th: Hope on train to Amsterdam. Spend the day exploring Amsterdam.

December 29^th: Take train to Berlin. Explore Berlin

December 30^th: Explore Berlin, take evening train to Munich

December 31^st: hang out in Munich

January 1^st-4^th- Hang out in Switzerland with Daryn’s friend from High School. Daryn and I will take trains to Amsterdam(him) and Milan (me) on the afternoon of the 4^th, and we both fly home on the 5^th.

It’s going to be packed and crazy, and I have a feeling nothing will go as planned, but the more I think about it the more excited I get!