Final week/Ultima Semana

The last week was very hectic because I had to pack, take four finals, re-visit all of my favorite places, and do last minute shopping, all in four days. My girlfriend returned back to the states on that monday, it was crunch time for me. Those days and nights were absolutely hell, just because I was out of 'school mode' for an entire 6 months, but I made it and finished strong. The final night, without finished packing, I went out with my close friends from my program for the entire night, trying to stay up till sunrise. We visited all of our favorite nightlife hotspots and said goodbye to familiar faces from bars and clubs we regularly visited. Attempting to leave our mark on the eternal city, some of us could not retain our alcohol, so I made sure some of my buddies made it back safely. Strolling into my apartment near sunrise, I finished up packing and saw the end of the sunrise from my window. Around 7 am, Dave and I rolled our giant suitcases down four floors and grabbed a cab to the airport. After we got through security and realized that our abroad experience was coming to an end, we spent an hour reflecting on what we learned the past four months.

What I can take away the most from this, amazing life-changing experience, is appreciation and opportunity. Looking at the dichotomy of the two cultures (American and Italian), I now appreciate the diversity that encircled Rome, the value of public transportation, the full use of a dryer for my clothes in the states, how economical the Italians are, and the notion of space. Being such a new country, we have so much more room here than over there, but that does not mean I did not enjoy the housing and lifestyle. I just now appreciate how much more space we have to work with here than there, which is an advantage to Americans because we desire to keep building and expanding. Also, every time I saw a gypsy or some poor person, I would think to myself of how much more opportunity us Americans have than any other country in the world. Yes, we may be in slump right now (economically), but that does not disprove our country's willingness to provide us enough to live freely. Italians cannot feel or say the same, because their government does not run same way. I do not regret this experience whatsoever, and strongly encourage anyone that has not taken up on such an opportunity, to do so. The best and moth memorable four months. Hands down.

Malta

The guys
Paradise Bay
The resort
Quickly, I would like to say that my blogging was put on hold for a few weeks because I was preparing for finals and I was entertaining a friend visiting for nearly two weeks. Two weekends after my eventful trip to Munich, my roommates and I went to Malta to kick it on the beach in the extremely hot weather. Following the first day, we all ended up getting toasted and looking like lobsters for the next week. Every hour, we were in dying need for aloe and some shade, but neither was really readily available, so we had to suck it up and stick it out for the next few days. Even though our bodies were telling us to avoid anything hot for a long time, we could not resist Paradise Bay, our resort pool, and the Blue Lagoon. Laying out with drinks, cliff jumping, diving into underwater caves, and eating often, pretty much sums out our three day trip to Malta. The water was the bluest I have ever seen before, and the island was very rocky and desert like. For the future traveler, Malta's terrain may seem unattractive, but isolating yourself in the north part of the island with a good supply of food and drink, will keep anyone happy.

Munich

Fruhlingfest (Spring Fest)
BMW museum
3 Series
Dachau Concentration Camp
Mike sleeping in the restaurant booth
It all started on thursday evening, when Mike, Gabe, and I were on our flight to Berlin. We were halfway there, when they alerted everyone we had to make an emergency landing because of the volcanic ash cloud. I was not really too worried, more pumped cause I am loving adventures these days. Easyjet said they would provide us all with hotels, but that ended up being false, so I had to sleep in the Munich airport. We found some benches in the corner of a restaurant and I ended up only getting like 2 hours of sleep because a German lady was hitting the three of us, yelling at us too, probably telling us to wake up and move somewhere else. So we got up and tried to figure out the schedule for trains going to Berlin, but when we found out that the berlin airport was closed, we just got a train to the center of Munich. We arrived at the main train station and just walked around for a bit. All of us were so tired and gross, we went to a McDonald's to wash our faces and I changed my shirt. Then we kept walking around and found a tour group leaving for a concentration camp, so we all looked at each other and said why not. We took two trains out to the concentration camp, called Dachau, which was the very first one. That was some quite intense and very deep stuff, and I was taken back by the entire place. After spending a few hours there, we headed back and went to find a hotel, a cheap one of course. So I got a two person place, then we snuck gabe in later in the day. We dropped off our backpacks, then headed over to Spring Fest (it's like a smaller version of Oktoberfest) which was sooo much fun. It was opening night and so much was goin on, so we just grabbed a liter of beer each, and just started drinking. After two beers, we walked around the place, which pretty much reminded me of a state fair. We found this giant tent with a bunch of tables and a big stage in the back part of it. Folk bands were jammin out on stage, while everyone was just throwing them back. So many american students there, pretty much all studied in Florence. They were definitely making huge fools out of each other. We had a great night there, and we all headed back to the hotel. We realized it was only 11 or so, we decided to take a short nap then go out, but all of us ignored our alarms and woke up in the morning. Next day consisted of us going to the BMW museum and Olympic park/campus. Both were really sweet and enjoyed them soo much. We got back to the main station in the late afternoon, cause we planned on buying an overnight train ticket from Munich to Rome, but we found out we could not get a train back till tuesday night. So we all were panicking because we would be missing classes and feared that we would not be excused for our absences. Then Gabe got a Facebook message from one of his friends saying that there was a bus that would be leaving for Rome on sunday afternoon. So we quickly signed up for that bus, which was a huge relief. Then we all were like, hmm we need to find place to stay tonight. I instantly thought of the site Couchsurfers.org, which Mike had an account on so we looked for places to crash. The site is made up of people that offer up their couch for the night, as a means to give the person a free place to stay. So we finally found some dude named Tom. I ended up called him because it was such late notice, and he said he'd love it if we all stayed over. So the three of us met him and his friend at a metro stop near by and followed them to their apartment. When we arrived at their place, we set our stuff down and they were right there waiting to hand us beers. We talked for awhile about life and politics, and Tom got carried away and just talked too much. He had so much to say to us about life and how he perceived humans as all the same; that every human was equal and all of the societies should combine to one. I thought he was crazy and had way to much to drink, but a Western European German from the outskirts of Dresden is cultured in such a different way, so I was not too surprised they were so open minded about life. After a few more beers and more philosophical talks, we passed out. We woke up in the early morning so we could head back to the main station. On our way out of the apartment complex, we ended up scaling a fence to leave his place because we were locked in. When we got back to the main station, we hung out in the Starbucks till it was time to catch the bus to take us back to Rome. The ride was about 12 hours, but was not too painful because we drove through the Austrian Alps then through Bologna to Florence. So that was my crazy weekend, all thanks to a volcano in Iceland. Looking forward to the next ridiculous trip.

Hungary

Last weekend, I went to Budapest with my cousin Mike and my roommate Mike. This trip was more meaningful than just some random person wanting to see the city. For me, I accomplished something that I have always wanted to do; I met the rest of my family, the side that was forced to stay behind during the '56 Hungarian Revolution. My father and his parents were the only ones to flee the country before the Revolution picked up and turned ugly. When I arrived, it was late wednesday night, so we all took a taxi to the hotel. The next day, we got a nice breakfast in and took a bus to the city centre, then we walked to the top of a hill where there was an amazing view over the entire city. Just standing there, looking over the Pest side and the boat-filled Danube river, was awesome. After walking around for awhile, I met up with my cousin Bondi, who I had not seen since '93. Now, he's 24 and studying business finance at the Budapest business and economic school. While he and I caught up, we walked around the same area more, just enjoying each other's company. Bondi is actually one of the few relatives that can speak english, which paid off because my cousin Mike is the only other one that can speak Hungarian fluently. Then we all piled in Bondi's car and drove down the hill to eat in a restaurant. I got goulash, which was a must, and a chicken dish with apples and a cheese sauce. We then went to a giant park to walk around a castle and explore Hero's square, which had all the statues of important Hungarian military figures. Later on, we walked around the shopping district so I could pick up a Puskas jersey, the biggest soccer legend in the country. Bondi then drove us back to the hotel and we got ready for dinner at my great aunt ZsuZsa's house (my grandmother's sister). I had met her before, but had not seen her since '93 as well. She could not have been happier when I walked through the door. She immediately said I had filled in, since the last time she saw me, and also looked like my dad. Talking to her and eating the food she made for us, made me feel like I was at home, well in Cleveland at my grandma's house. I ate so much that I felt as if it was Thanksgiving all over again. Just the most full I have been in the longest time, I almost passed out right there. Then Bondi came over and we all sipped on some palinka, a liquor made up out of fermented fruit. It had such a big burn going down, I could not understand how everyone else could drink it so easily. Soon after, Bondi took us guys out to experience the nightlife of Buda. The night was really fun, and I was able to meet Bondi's brother, Olic, who I was meeting for the first time. Those two also have another brother, named Nico, who is on the Hungarian National fencing team and was in Turkey fighting in a the junior world championships. He will most likely appear in the London Olympics in two years., which will be really cool to see. The next day consisted of just more sightseeing on our own, without any relatives, biking around a large park on an island in the middle of the Danube. We left the park in the middle of the afternoon to make an early dinner at my other great aunt's house, Kari, who I met around '93 like the other two. She was ecstatic to meet me, just jumping for joy because it had been the longest time since we last saw each other. She had made my favorite Hungarian dish, chicken paprikas, and it was even better than when I had it last. She showed me so many pictures of when she last saw me and shared stories about my dad. That night, we decided to not go out because we had a wicked late night and could not fathom drinking alcohol, especially palinka. The last day was very fun because I met my dad's second cousin and first cousin. They drove up from Kecskemet, about an 90 min drive from Budapest. That was the part of the family that came from where my dad was born, which meant more to me cause I wanted to get a close as possible to where my roots stemmed. Two hours after sharing pictures with each other, we headed into the centre to meet up with my dad's other second cousin (Laszlo) and his new wife for lunch. That was really fun, because I had seen him back in '98, and we had some fond memories from when he stayed at my house. Following the long lunch, Laszlo drove us back to hotel where we met the people I met in the morning for one big goodbye. After saying goodbye, I hung around the hotel till the taxi picked us up to take us to the airport. I really did not want to leave because this entire trip made me feel like I was home, and that the family around me was around me my entire life. I was so glad that I took the opportunity to meet the rest of my family because it was uncertain as to when I would have the chance again to meet/see them. Such a fun trip and great time. I will make sure to return within five years and come back knowing more Hungarian, so I can hold a decent conversation, rather than forcing my cousin to translate 24/7.

Spring Break pt. 3: Dublin

Dave in the wax museum
Me with Bob in the wax museum
Dublin was way too cold
My hostel

Spring Break pt. 2: Barcelona

Club Apollo

Club Opium
Bull fighting arena
Plaza outside hostel

Spring Break pt. 1: Amsterdam

First coffee shop in Amsterdam
House boats