The USA!!

Well, I'm finally home and I'm loving it. Again, I'd like to thank everyone who read this blog and made writing it worthwhile. I hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully, I will start a Med-Student blog soon. We'll see if I can find the time! To all of the readers who are thinking of travelling in Europe and want some advice, please give me a call. I'd love to help, and I might be able to help you avoid the Turkish Ravioli's and Bulgarian Border Officials! Best wishes everyone!

...And in the End...

Well, here we are. Your Humble Narrator, O my Brothers, is travelling back to the United States. It is 5.53 AM and I am just about to leave on a jet plane. I have really enjoyed writing on this blog, mostly for a laugh and a good time, and hopefully I'll continue keeping one as a sort of online journal during medical school. I think it would be cool to have a medical student humor blog. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I had experiencing it and writing about it. I had a blast. So without further ado! Off I go!

P.S: At least one more wrap up post! Don't leave yet!

Towards the Finish Line

Forgive me Father, it has been six days since my last blog attempt. Actually that's not quite true, I typed up a good and long one for ya'll and accidentally deleted the whole thing before I posted it! Out of frustration I took a day or two off.
Right now I'm in Station Hostel in Cologne, and I'm preparing for the upcoming flight in a day and a half. I have to say, I'm looking forward to being home! Having run out of money and a pack that weighs twice as much as it did when I left, I feel rather unmotivated to go anywhere other than home.
The last couple of days have been pretty fun though! Since leaving Berlin, I went to Nürnberg and Erlangen. In Erlangen, I stayed at a hostel with about 50 Italian tourists. Unfortunately for me, I was put on the hall with the teens who, in their infinite wisdom believed my room was inhabited by another Italian teen. For the whole night and most of the morning, they would knock on my door , to which I would reply, "It's 5AM, this is the fourth time, I'm not F***ing Italian leave me alone!!!" I don't think they understood me. In any case ,Erlangen itself was quite nice. It's just a cute small German town with a couple of Churches, a University, and a Schloss. I had some lunch there and walked all around the town just to remember it from the last time I was there.
Later in the day, I headed to Nürnberg where I promptly got lost. Only later did I realize that I had been standing under a building that was painted yellow with blue letters about the size of Volkswagens saying, "HOSTEL", right in front of the train station. Germany 1: Byron 0. I rested for a little while in the hostel and went out to dinner at a nearby Biergarten. The specialty right now in Germany is Pfifferlingen, a mushroom that only grows in the wild. I had an awesome pork steak with mushroom cream sauce and potato latkes. It definitely ranked up there with my top meals in Europe. I went back again the next day! I met two girls from North Carolina who were going North to Amsterdam and I tagged along to get to Cologne. Now, we arrived in Cologne at around midnight, assuming that accomidations would be easily found. Sadly, we were terribly mistaken. Upon arrival, we appeared at the hostel already disheveled and tired to find there were no beds free. No problem we'll just find a hotel! And thus began our Journey! Two hours later, we had scoured an entire city of fully-booked hotels, having checked over 30 hotels on foot and about 10 more by phone. We had walked through the same parts of the city so many times that we started doing the Sesame Stree Count skit. "Three! Three times we've passed by this statue without finding a hotel HA HA!" We seriiously contemplated sleeping in the train station, but apparently there was some kind of Punk convention there and it seemed likely that 3 sleeping American tourists were a prime canditates for a little bit of the good ole' revenge against the establishment crowd. So, after walking a bit more, a friendly hotel attendant offered to call his other buddy who had a free room to let. He invited me and the girls inside because it was raining and waited while he called. So there we were, wet, tired, disheveled, and likely two inches shorter from the weight of our packs in the reception room of some trashy hotel with porn on the flatscreen TV at 3 in the morning. I have the address if you wanna stay there it was a really classy place! When the attendant finally hung up the phone, there was good news and bad news: Good- There was a room free. Bad - It's on the other side of town. So off we went, across town and to the promise of clean sheets and a shower! We arrived, we paid, and we slept. The next day, we all woke up so sore that we just stayed in and watched movies most of the day. We didn't miss much though, it was really rainy outside and with the cold, none of us had clothes that fit the change in weather.
So, now I'm in the hostel down the road in Cologne on the second to last day of my trip, and I gotta say, the whole thing was awesome! I'm certaintly ready to come home, but wow what a great time that was! There's so much I haven't been able to write and probably even more that I've forgotten about! I really will miss Europe and the fun little cultural quirks that I've come to expect at every turn. That being said, there are a few things I really miss about home. I no particular order they are.

1. Ketchup - there's something nigh blasphemous about the sweetened ketchup they sell here.
2. Sushi - WAAY too expensive here. As with all things European, the less of something you get and the less the work that is put into preparation usually translates into great expense.
3. A real Pillow - Most hostels have these square pillow-like things that typically must be folded over many times to provide any sort of cushioning.
4. My car. - Thank god for personal transportation!
5. Clean clothes. - One pair of jeans, week and a half of trains, no washing facilities. I really do smell like train station now.
6. Real soap - I have one type of soap... Universal soap. It is used to clean my hands, my hair, face, body, dishes, cars, animals, whatever I need to clean! Universal soap does it all... poorly. Instead of coming out of the shower smelling clean, I smell like a really sweaty new car or a dishwasher filled with jockstraps.
7. Real anti-perspirant! - Seriously, I'm gonna have to throw away some shirts just because their decency has been compromized by the expansive sweat stains induced by the heat wave and inadequate deoderant.
8. Trustworthy Food - Every time I eat, I wonder, " Is this the one that's gonna get me?" Usually the answer is NO, but you sure as hell know when the answer is YES. This one leads directly into the next topic, which is...
9. A standard type of toilet. - I never know what to do about the toilets here. It seems as though there must have been some European conference that decided to create a variety of toilets that could not be operated properly by foreigners. I have a number of favorites. First there is the aforementioned Turkish toilet; a simple hole in the ground, I would have better luck in the sink which, at points, I seriously considered. This is likely the most dangerous toilet. Those untrained in proper usage may end up having to change pants or socks afterwards, an awkward situation to say the least. Two, The High Tank. The tank is placed high above the ground as to increase the water pressure in the bowl when flushed. Obviously, the designer was familiar with the concept of projectile motion, because it seems that the bowl was actually designed to deposit its contents wall behind the toilet. Avoid these, many function within the parameters of the, "Normal Toilet", but the one that screws up really messes with your whole day. Three, the Infinitoilet. This toilet has two settings, flush, and not-flush. While there is nothing inherently dangerous about this variety, once flushed, the water will continue to flow with incredible force until the stop button is pressed. Although, it is a waste to keep the water running, it does instill the user with a distinct feeling of power at having done something that requires the dedication of such vast resources to move. Bucho and other similar minded men, you may need to avoid the temptation to press the button, leave a note, and leave. Four, the Poop Deck/Observation Lounge. This toilet has very little danger associated with it, but is a bit odd none-the-less. To save water, a very small volume of water lies at the very front of the bowl. The back of the bowl is simply a large horizontal porcelain shelf meant to put what you have produced on display instead of dropping into the water. Five, and last of the varieties that I will detail is the Ice Trough. This is a trough built into the wall that is filled with ice. Now, at a stadium I could see why this is needed, but at fancy restaurants? I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to pee into it or use it to chill my drink while I found the real toilet. Be aware, this is should NOT be used to chill your drink.
Well that's all for now, perhaps one more post before I jump on the plane home! Tschüss!

The Finishing Touch

Berlin! (New Phone - 0175-332-2171)

So, a few days ago I took the train from Vienna to Berlin via Nürnberg. My only comment is that it is a pleasure to be back on German trains. Seriously, the difference is quality is vast. If cooking was like train travel, Germany would be one of those really cool magnetic ranges that somehow knows how to heat only the pot you're cooking with, while the East is like trying to use your last match to light some wet logs in the woods.
Vienna was quite nice, but due to the heat and some mystery illness I spent most of the time curled up on some pillows in the hostel. However, one interesting consequence of not being able to leave the nearest bathroom is the increase in available reading time. As a result, I finished the new Harry Potter in about 10 hours (not in one sitting!). Mostly I read on the train though. Luckily the bug quickly receded and my guts returned to normal fairly quickly, although I am now 2 belt loops down from when I started the trip.
In Vienna, on my last night, I stayed up rather late talking with some other travellers in the lounge and ended up in my room at around 02:30. Searching in the dark by the light from under that crack in the door, I went from bed to bed trying to ascertain whether it was occupied or available. After checking all 6 beds I realized that there were at least feet every bed, leaving little room for my feet. So, thoroughly perturbed I began looking around the room to see if I had perhaps missed some vital clue as to why mx bed was occupied. I had. The theif had actually left me a floor mattress and fresh sheets on the area next to my bed. So, after noisily setting up the mattress and pointing the only fan at myself (in revenge), I went to sleep. The theif woke up at 5 am and had a little pow-wow with some friends for about 3 hours instead of eating breakfast in the cafeteria like everyone else. Significantly more peeved, I went down to complain at the front desk. After a breif and friendly conversation, we traced down the guilty party(s). Apparently, the day before a group of three Japanese girls who spoke verly little English attempted to rent a bed. So for all three of them they rented one bed. One slept in the lounge (the floor is made of pillows and there's some awesome hammocks). One slept in her bed. The final girl, out of curtousy was given a floor mattress and not charged for the sleeping arrangements. Figuring that no one would kick a girl out of bed (rightly so) she simply decided to leave me the floor mattress and take my 21 € a night bed. In any case, the girl who worked the front desk laughted at me a bit and refunded my money for the night. It was actually pretty damn funny at the time and I would've slept on the hood of a car if they told me it was free and given me a pillow. So, it all worked out for the best!
Berlin is awesome so far, but I've got a lot more to see! So, I'm off to the Medical History Museum for the "Pain" exhibit. It's supposed to be really cool. There's also a Dali' exhibit as well as the Jewish Museum that I would really like to see. Simply put, Berlin has not just something for everybody, but too much for one person to actually do. I could've spent 2 months here and not run out of things to do and see. Well, I'm off! Tschüss!

Traffic

I thought this was pretty cool. I've put a tracker on my blog to see how many people are viewing the page and where they are from. (I didn't want to write if no one was reading!) In any case there have been over 400 visits to my site including visitors from Florida, New Jersey, California, Michigan, India, Zambia, the UK, Argenitina and a number of other places internationally! Thanks for reading!

Vienna

Ok so, not much to post here, but Vienna is a really nice city. I went to the art-history museum and walked around all day inside... The primary purpose of this visit was the air conditioning. Seriously, it is WAY too hot to be Vienna. There is no breeze and the temperature is about 43 Celcius... this roughly translates to "way to freaking hot to be a tourist". No matter what you do it involves sweating. Right now I'm in a bar with internet and it's a good 10 degrees hotter inside due to the lack of AC and the close proximity of other persons. Despite the temperature though, Vienna is truly a great place. The food is great and the people speak German! I can actually carry on a conversation again! Well, I'm gonna head out and have another beer. I hope this entry finds you all well, and I'll message again soon!

Bosnia and Back to the West

So, for the last week, I have been in Croatia and Bosnia. I have to say that Bosnia is quite possibly the most surprising and best destination of the trip. Croatia was nice, but the tourist industry there is a little too well developed, and the prices are fairly high. Bosnia on the other hand was extremely affordable. Even with the crappy state of the dollar to foreign currency, we could live very cheaply. So, for all of you at home, you are getting gifts from Bosnia.
Mostar is an extremely cool little town between Dubrovnik and Sarajevo. The most famous thing about the town is the Mostar Bridge which has been destroyed in pretty much every war ever. It is about 21 meters above the water at its highest point and has been a popular diving spot for tourists and locals since it was first constructed. I recommend anyone to go to Mostar for vacation, you will not be dissapointed, particularly with the food. The best local restaurant is "Hindin Han" and they serve a large variety of meat dishes. If you are vegetarian, you can go ahead and skip this country. The first night, I ordered meat filled with cheese wrapped in meat. The second night, we went to a restaurant called "Taurus". They were not as good as Hindin Han, but a little cheaper. I had another dish wrapped in meat, a half kilo of mussels in white wine sauce, and split a bottle of wine for about 10 Euros ($13). Upon finishing dinner, we usually went to a local club called "Ali Baba". Basically, it is a bar built inside a cave that runs under the city. There's no door, just a big cave! Out hostel, Majda's Roooms, was also really cool. For 12 Euros they took us on an 8-hour tour to a historical town, a vinyard, and a lake\waterfall area. The waterfall was definitely the highlight although a bit dangerous! We climbed everywhere! You'll have to see the pictures to understand.
After Mostar, we took a bus to Sarajevo. Sarajevo is a really cool town and has tons to see, mostly partaining to wars at one point or another. You really get the feel, though, that some really bad things happened in this town. There are still mortar marks in the pavement that are kept as historical markers, each with a label of when it dropped and the number of people it killed. There are entire cemeteries that consist only of headstones from 1992-1995. Despite the reminders of war, Sarajevo is an incredible city and everyone should visit! The people there, particularly the Bosnian side, are very friendly and hospitable. Everyone seems to want to either try their English, tell you stories about the war, explain why they love the town so much, etc...
Ok, so after Sarajevo, it was back to travelling. After waking up at 5am and missing our 6am bus, we left Sarajevo at 8am by bus to Belgrade. When we arrived about 8 hour later, the temperature was around 43 degrees Celsius. I'm not sure what this means in fahrenheit, but to me this means that the breeze is hotter than standing still. I mean seriously face-melting, soul-crushing hot. So we waited around Belgrade in a hostel for a few hours and grabbed a night train. I have gone to Vienna and TJ has gone to Budapest! Since we built in a few extra days into our trip, we are spending the lat little bit travelling alone to wherever we really want to go. Two very funny things happened on this train. Upon boarding the train I got into my room, a 6 bed cabin. Much to my surprise, I was all alone!!! For the whole trip no one stayed in my cabin. I slept like a baby! Funnier still, the train actually left without me. Somehow, someone forgot to hook in the last 2 cars of the train. So, when the train left, I stayed along with about 6 Brits and 4 Norwegians. In any case, I'll put up better stories in a little while. I'm running out of time, and I'm pretty tired. So, Bis Spaeter!!!

Pictures!!!!

Ok, so after about 5 billion attempts at uploading pictures it worked, kinda... I have tons of pictures, but due to limited bandwidth I could only upload a couple of them before the computer decided to quit on me. Also, you will notice that there are no captions. Unfortunately, I pay for the internet by the minute. Entering in captions would be time consuming and expensive, so you'll just have to wait a bit longer for them. Without further ado, here's the address.

http://picasaweb.google.com/nbpitts

Enjoy!

Travels from Romania to Bosnia

Well, it has been about a week since my last confession and I figured it was about time for another. Alot has transpired since the Ravioli incident and although the recovery often seems complete, TJ and I remain mere shadows of our former selves when it comes to culinary exploration.
So, upon leaving Romania, we took a night train from Bucharest to Belgrade uneventful except for the battle of intestinal fortitude that was occuring within TJ's already-strained bowels. I on the other hand was having a great time eating whatever I could get my hands on regardless of source or composition. For instance, the mystery meat burger in the Bucharest train station or, perhaps the second mystery meat burger at the Bucharest train station. I may also point out that the bathroom at the Bucharest Train station was so horrible that I actually laughed out loud when I walked into the sub-basement to find it. Imagine the batcave but only stuffed with semi-permanent turkish toilet portajohns. There was utter silence within the walls, except my laughter and the swarms of gadflies. Our train from Bucharest to Belgrade was uneventful, but once we arrived in Serbia, TJ and I found the American embassy and procured a list of english-speaking doctors to treat TJ's stomach. Luckily a hefty dose of Cipro cured him and he's back on the I-choose-to-eat-really-stu

pid-things bandwagon. I have also taken it upon myself to pet all of the sick or dying animals I have seen during my travels. This morning was a blind kitten, poor little thing had awful conjunctivitis and, due to his lack of sight, loved headbutting my leg. Deserved a good petting in my book. Serbia was great, and both TJ and I had a great time. Clubbing is absolutely nuts there. We left Serbia for Montenegro via the night train, (again) but this time we were unable to reserve a proper sleeping car. So for 12 hours, we sat bolt upright in a seating cabin with a pair of very friendly Serbian twins. We couldn't understand why our cabin was so full of luggage as there were only six of us there and there were well over 8 suitcases in the car, but we accepted this as the discomfort of not having made the correct reservation. That is until the people from the hallway decided to leave the train an hour before our departure and took their enourmous luggage out of our car. TJ and I remained speechless for minutes, we considered starting a fight with said hallway travelers just to stretch the legs that had been so uncomfortably crushed under the weight of their luggage for the last 11 hours. However, better judgement prevailed and the Serbian twins offered us some cookies that promptly took the sting out of our ordeal. Once we were in Montenegro, we took a bus to Dubrovnik, where we stayed 2 days. In Dubrovnik we learned an important concept of advertisement: exaggeration. Pensions are the only readily available method of cheap lodging and the pension owners bum rush the newly arrived busses hunting for the highly prized "american backpacker". Highly recognizable from their bleary eyes and hunched backs, the American backpacker often responds favorably to the phrases, "cheap", "near town", "free breakfast" and "5 minutes from the beach". This is, in fact, what our landlord promised us, but was also, in fact, totally false. The accomodations were cheap, but the free breakfast was instant coffee packets, the beach was half an hour away, and town was about 3 miles away uphill. In any case, that's it for now! I'll leave you with some more of Byron's helpful travel tips.

1. There is no such thing as a free breakfast.
2. "Plazma" brand cookies can be used to avoid international conflicts.
3. "Stool Sample", is a difficult concept to convey to non-english speakers through sign language.
4. If you like to pay for your Dysentery, feel free to tip the attendant at the Bucharest Train Station bathroom (or no TP for you).
5. While everyone knows it's not a good idea to eat things that are of unknown origin, it sure is fun.
6. Handwashing is pivotal if one desires to pet the local wildlife/strays. Particularly when disease in involved.
7. When a large German Shepherd starts humping your friend on the way back home, it is OK to point and laugh at the situation. Particularly when your friend doesn't notice, just thinks the dog wants to get inside the house, and waits until he thinks the dog has backed away from the door.
8. Beware the Gypsies walking newspaper-reading monkeys.

Ok. Belgrade is probably one of my favorite destinations so far. It is as if someone took an old European city, put all of the good nightlife there, made all of the prices cheap, and put something in the water that makes all of the girls pretty. Seriously, it took me a full day to figure out what was different about this city. There aren't any ugly people. They are all tall, thin and good looking. And they all speak English! Apparently, Serbia never got any of their English movies dubbed so a lot of kids here learned English from movies and media as well as in school. The end result is that they all speak semi-colloquial American English. I seriously can't say enough about this place. Since Romania, TJ and I have been travelling with a Norwegian friend that we met in Brasov. Since TJ wasn't feeling well, we went out to the clubs last night. Little did I know, the clubs here don't really have closing times like in the states, so we stayed out until sunrise! The really good clubs float out on the river like big rafts, so you can see the city really well from them. Either way it was a really awesome time!

Goodbye Romania!

Well, we've finally left Romania after spending a couple of days in Brasov. Our primary reason to stay there was to see the Transylvania region and the Carpathian mountains. While we did see both, poor TJ has been truly ill since we've left Turkey. So, our stay was pretty much governed by our proximity to adequate bathroom facilities, which means either the hostel or an american chain restaurant like McDonald's or KFC. Suprisingly, there are a great number of these chains around Europe. For those planning to travel, McDonald's is a somewhat pricey way of avoiding the local quisine if your stomach can no longer take the punishment of daily Doner Kebabs. A doner kebab is basically the Turkish version of a gyro (Doner also means "spin"), and are universally available for very little money, around 2 dollars per meal. However, not all purchases can be measured in dollars and cents, so one's choice in doners can be pivotal to planning activities later on in the day.
The scenery in Romania is absolutely astounding. The geography and flora really lend themselves to pictures. While is Brasov, is really pretty there's not much to do after you've seen the town. The biggest draw for the area is Bran Castle, dracula's house, or so the street vendors tell me as the try to sell me Dracula coffee mugs, t-shirts, and other vampire themed items. The castle itself is a bit of a dissapointment though. It is organized in a linear way so you can't wander about and it seems you invariably get stuck behind a group of middle aged german tourists with a videocamera. I would also issue a travel warning for Bran; for those that stand taller than 5'8", Bran is a minefield of low passes. I was well suited for the architecture, TJ however was lucky to leave without a concussion. At least 4 times during our 20 minute visit, I would hear some explitive from behind me and turn to find TJ clutching his head or on the ground. Apparently, Dracula hates tall people. If I were to do it again, I would visit Sanaia instead. It is the Romanian equivalent to Versaille and is supposed to be the best site to see. I will explain why we did not visit in the next paragraph.
While Romania is a wonderful country, the biggest problem with it is the amount of skeezy individuals that prey on tourists. Immediately upon leaving the train anyone with a hiking pack is singled out and pressured to say at some "recommended" hotel by a taxi driver. The taxi driver will then inform you that the rate to the hotel is 100 Lei and the equivalent is about 3 Euros. This however is completely untrue. 1. 100 lei is about 33 euros. 2. The hotel is not affiliated with the cab and are often full from all the cabbies using the same hotel as their bait. Luckily, we knew the real exchange rate and never got into a cab until we negotiated a fair price. One guy tried to charge me 100 Lei for a 5 kilometer ride. Our common language was German so I had to remember some choice words to adequately express myself before I felt I could leave! These guys truly ruin the travel experience so if you choose to travel toEastern Europe, be ready to be rude. They are extremely pushy and can sometimes be violent; one punched a girl in the face and stole her purse after he charged her 200 euros for a short ride. So, if you take a cab, make them use the meter and refuse to load your things into the car until the negotiating is done and the meter is on. We also had some kid extort money from us on the train. He "helped" us into the train by opening the door into my face and getting in the way of my backpack. When we got into the cabin he refused to leave and was extremely pushy about demanding a tip. He started to reach at TJ's pockets when I intervened. Since it was really dark, I handed him a fistful of change and bills. Little did he know that I had given him about $1.50 worth of Turkish Lira, which are completely unexchangeable in Romania and utterly worthless. He left without looking at it, so we were in the clear. Both TJ and I agree that Romania is better left off the agenda until they have some better social organization and protection for tourists. Beautiful, but not relaxing.
Serbia on the other hand is both beautiful and relaxing. Food and drinks are inexpensive, Belgrade is a western city, many people speak English, and accommodations are cheap ($12/night). The difference is night and day, and the atmosphere here is friendly toward Americans and tourists. More to come when I've spent more time here!

-B

Facebook

This note was posted a few days ago on facebook. I figured I owuld put it here too.

This marks the almost-1-month abroad point of my voyage. So far, I have had an amazing time and have some pretty cool new stories. I figured I would tell a couple on this note. In no particular order, here go I. A rabbit told my fortune in Istanbul, it reads, "You or one of your family will get a big opportunity and if you use it wisely, you will live happily in wealth ever after." I freaking love this rabbit. If only the guy with said rabbit hadn't told me that my fortune teller made a particularly tasty snack. There was one less rabbit when I saw him the next day. In Istanbul there are Turkish bath houses called Hamams. The typical hamam (for tourists) cost about 40 lira (25 bucks), we on the other hand wanted to save money and go to an off-the-beaten-path hamam. So in short, we spent 35 lira (22 bucks) to be manhandled by some turkish guy for about 5 minutes and be put in a sauna that was actually colder that the scorching temperatures outside. The girl that went with us however, spent over an hour getting a massage. We got to pick slugs off the soap. On our last day in Turkey we began to feel bold enough to experiment with some of the finer local quisine, the specialty being Turkish Ravioli. Perhaps the densest substance not created within the stars themselves, this ravioli wreaks havok on the human digestive tract, leaving the victim mere seconds to determine where the nearest bathroom is and remove any clothing that might hinder any biological processes that must, and I MEAN must, occur. That being said, my fellow traveller and I boarded a 27 hour train to Bucharest the next day. The results while entirely predictable were, to say the least, horrendous. Firstly, the train contained no means of purchasing or finding drinkable water, a fact of which we were dreadfully unaware. Second, the bathrooms were Turkish toilets; a variety of toilet that consists of two foot-pads and a hole in the floor. This bathroom however, hadn't been cleaned since the late seventies and the tracks were clearly visible through the hole, speeding by. Furthermore, with the train as bumpy as it was, you could not hit the correct spot with a rifle and a tripod, and I possessed neither. I forgot to mention, given the length of the trip, we purchased a "sleeper" car. This is blatant misadvertisement. As American citizens, we were given the priveledge of being the only nationality taken from the train at every border stop, which corresponds to about every hour and a half. Bulgaria was a particularly fun stop. When the ticket validator came to our cabin, he grabbed our tickets (previously validated in Turkey) and looked at them in disgust. We attempted to explain to him that they were already valid and that, by stamping them again, he would be charging us twice for the ride. He smiled at us with an evil grin and said, "This is Bulgaria." He stamped both of our train passes with gusto and left without a word. Luckily for me, the turkish ravioli hit about 5 minutes later, so I got to leave a little thankyou while the train was still stopped at the border crossing. America 1: Bulgaria 0. These were some of the few stories that are in recent memory, and include only the last 3 days or so. I'll try to remember more and keep a running log of them.As a final point, I will deliniate some of the lessons I have learned on this trip.1. Never tell anyone who haggles that you are an American.2. All cab drivers are evil, regardless of nationality, race or creed.3. Melon and doughnuts can be a wonderful combination.4. Never take tequila shots to sleep on an overnight bus. It only changes your status from uncomfortable, to drunk and uncomforable.5. Europeans go on strike whenever they don't want to go to work.6. Turkish ravioli may be the most powerful laxative ever created. It works for days on end, ruthlessly.7. Never opt for that second gyro, it is not worth the price you pay later.8. When pointing at the menu and saying, "I want that.", make sure it isn't the chicken innards sandwich.9. Don't go to or through Bulgaria.10. If crossing a border that requires you to purchase a visa, get everyone to pay with a large bill. They never have enough change and you end up on top. (America 1: Turkey 0)11. Never tell anyone you are a medical student. "Oh sweet! Could you take a look at this!?" Well everyone, that's all for now!Cheers! - B

Romania and Such

Hey again everyone! I am now staying in Brasov Romania, a really pleasant town a bit north of Bucharest. For the last couple of days, TJ and I have been at the Rolling Stone hostel and did a lot of the tourist sights in transylvania. We went to Bran castle, Vlad Tepes' (Dracula) castle wich incidentally, went on sale 2 days ago. While it sounded really cool, it was a bit dissapointing and extremely touristy. The second part of our tour we visited Rasnov, the town where the movie Cold Mountain was filmed. It was absolutely gorgeous. The town is an old fort/ town that lies on top of a hill that overlooks the carpathian mountains. Aside from that, we've just toured around. Unfortunately, TJ continues to be stuck by the Sultan's Revenge, so our travelling plans have been put on hold a bit. The hardest part is finding medicine here. The latin names for drugs are different here, so pepto bismol is a bit hard to find, and this is the one country in Europe in which you need a prescription to get Codeine. So tonight, TJ and I will be heading to Belgrade on an overnight train, his stomach willing. On a side note, we've heard about a disconcerting little scheme that's been happening in overnight trains from Romania. Apparently, theives will pump some kind of sedative gas into your train car and steal your things while you are sedated. It happend to some girl here a few days ago. In any case, we'll sleep with the windows open! Hope to hear from you all soon! Tschuss!

Leaving Istanbul

Ok... fırst, I can´t swıtch thıs computer to Englısh layout so please forgıve the odd characters, ıt ıs far too slow to type properly. Today TJ and I are leavıng Istanbul for Bucharest on a nıght traın. The last few days have been fantastıc! The sıghts were awesome but we´ve walked so much that we had to take a day off yesterday to recover. We found a number of other travelers and have been tourıng around Istanbul wıth them for a couple of days. One of the funnıest thıngs that we dıd was vısıt a Hamam, a Turkısh bath house. Usually, hamams are pretty swanky places that you can get a massage and take a bath and a shower. For us, the offer of feelıng clean ın the 110 degree heat was very temptıng. So, to make a long story short, ın order to save money we (the group) went to a hamam off the beaten path. What thıs means ıs that we paıd money to be bruısed and beaten up by some burly Turkısh guy and sıt ın a sauna whıch was actually colder than the temperature outsıde. At the tıme we were all pretty pıssed, but now we can laugh about ıt. Strangely enough, I have a too many Turkısh lıra left over and I,m goıng to use my last bıts of turkısh cash to go to a better bath today. In other news, everyone here ıs watchıng the news pretty ıntensely after the brıtısh terrorıst stuff. Turkey ıs prety safe rıght now, but gıven the upcomıng electıon, some kurdısh troubles are expected to start effectıng the larger cıtıes, partıcularly ın the east. The food here ıs awesome about 99% of the tıme, and the döner kebaps are amazıng. The 1% that ıs not good though, ıs a bıt eye openıng. My language dıffıcultıes led me to purchase an ´ınnards´kebap, a horrendous lıttle dısh made entırely of gıblets. My experıement wıth Turkısh ravıolı also ended ın dısaster. By densıty alone, I would guess that the ravıolı was mıned from the earth ıtself. The affects of saıd ravıolı on the human dıgestıve tract can only be descrıbed as ´dısasterous´. So after the complete mechanıcal faılure of my ıntestınes, I took some ımmodıum and my condıtıon has ımproved dramatıcally. However, I have to be partıcularly vıgılant of the condıtıon of my guts when I venture from the safety of the hostel bathrooms. Typıcal Turkısh toılets consıst of two foot pads and a hole ın the ground. The one unfortunate tıme I had to use one of these toılets, my unfamılıarıty wıth the proper procedure and usage prompted me to throw most of my clothes ınto the corner of the bathroom and hope for the best. To a fly on the wall, ıt probably looked a bıt lıke naked yoga. Serıously, stay away from the ravıolı. I hope everyone ıs doıng well. Pıctures unfortunately seem a bıt lıke a lost cause. Most of the hostels allow us to use theır computers, but not plug ın our own devıces. Talk to you agaın soon!

Help!

Hey guys! It's getting a little hard to write these blogs without a little commentary! Help me out!

Travels in and about Istanbul

Ok... so I\vefinally found an

Travels in and about Istanbul

Ok... so I have finally found an English layout keyboard and feel a little better about posting. Although, I still cannot find the apostrophe... ergo the cannot. In any case, our travels in Athens were brief at best. Upon climbing up to the Acropolis in 112 degree weather, we found out that the entire historical tourism department was on strike for the only day were were in Athens. So, frustrated, we walked down the hill, canceled our reservation, and walked to the train station. We were assured by the porter that our train from athens to Salonica would arrive in time to board the night train to Istanbul leaving at about 11pm. Well informed as he was, he was absolutely right. We arrived around 9pm. However, the 11 o'clock train to Istanbul doesn't actually exist (found it!). So we needed to find a room. The best we could find was a hotel in the stripclub district, seemingly very close to the lawnmower parts district, for about 40 Euros. We finally took showers and slept in real beds. (It had been about 48 hours since we had slept in anything but a chair). The next morning we made reservations for the next train to Istanbul... around 8pm. So we waited in the station with our luggage for about 8-9 hours in the over-a-hundred-degree heat. The train ride was fairly uneventful except for the border check, which was truly Kafkaesque. The Americans and only the Americans were taken off the train at 4AM to be processed for entry. In my haste I left my shoes on the train and ended up shoeless before the immigration officers. The fun began when everyone attempted to pay the 15 euro fee with a 50. Having limited change, the officer attempted to offer me ten british pounds in change. I replied in a 90% sleep filled state... "I'm not really going to England" To which he responded with a facial expression I can only describe as extreme dissapointment. For the next ten minutes everyone traded money with one another until the officer was satisfied that none of us had any clue how much money we had. His job done, he smiled and told us we could get back on the train. Little did he know that we actually came out about 15 Euros ahead. US:1 Turkey:0 Well, more to come! I'll update again soon! I have to get on a boat to go up the Bospurus!

Athens

Hey Everyone, I'm back online and now I'm in Athens! We left the Pink Palace last night in the midst of their weekly pink toga party. The whole hostel seems to operate like a very organized and expensive frat party, but it is fun for a few nights. In any case, TJ and I felt like we had reached the end of our stay at the Palace and caught the Pink Palace Athens Bus from Agios Georgios to Athens. The package deal promised comfortable seating, and a stop at a restaurant for a snack. We left at midnight and took a ferry from Corfu to Igoumenitsa and then drove from there to Athens overnight. The "restauraunt" promised by the bus guide was a truckstop at 5AM. The whole place was covered with little roaches and the only food they served was souvlaki for 7 Euro! After our food stop, we hopped back on the bus and tried to sleep until Athens. Unfortunately, the sun rose and the bus began to heat up. The outside temperature here is 90 degrees Farenheit at 9:30AM. So, sleep did not work out very well. In any case, we got to Hostel Aphrodite in one piece and we are about to check in. Directly after we lock up our stuff in our rooms, we are going to Placa and the Acropolis before it gets much hotter or dark. It's gonna be a long and hot day! Hopefully this place has comfortable beds!

Corfu!!!

Hey Everyone! Long time no update. Well, we've been in Corfu for a few days now and internet cafe's are few and far between. Corfu town is still great, but the overwhelming amount of cars parked along the roads is enough to make you never want to drive again. Staying in the house also presents some challenges. When we first arrived, the plumbing was extremely weak and the shower barely worked. The next day it was fixed though, and apart from some dust, the house is in pretty decent shape. Our first day at the beach was awesome. We went to Agios Georgios and spent all day in the sun. TJ and I met two extremely cute Canadian girls (Topless I might add) who invited us to a club. Unfortunately, the club was closed taht night so we never got to meet our new friends again. Since our first appointment fell through we decided to go out on the town to check out the local scene. Unfortunately for us, it truly was locals only. One bar refused to serve us due to our nationality. The others allowed us to drink, but no one was interested in conversation. I was a bit surprised by the reception of the locals, everywhere we have been so far has had an extremely friendly local population, apparently Corfu is the exception. The next day we went to Dassia. Although it was uneventful, it was a nice resting spot, and the water was nice and warm. I'm starting to get a great tan, the food is excellent, and the water is clear; I'm not sure I really need anything else! I'll update you again soon when I remember more to tell!

On the boat!

HHey everyone, jsut a quick message. I'm on the boat on my way to corfu. This place is a universe unto itself. It's a little speck of Deutschland in the mediterranian sea. EVERYONE here is German, half-naked, and Geriatric. Fortunately, I met some other americans who have a tent that we set up near the front of the ship away from the mayhem of tourism that pervades throughout the rest of the ship. The food is rather expensive, and drinks are exorbitantly priced (Coke etc.) But the weather is absolutely perfect and the sun is just about to set over the water. We almost missed the boat though, due to train delays. In my haste, I left my gift bag from Florence in the train and have now lost the two Italian leather purses I bought for Amy and Kristen. It's a shame since they were the only large purchases I have made on the trip to date and asked Mama to bring a bag to transport them specifically. Other than that though, it has been smooth sailing and I am anticipating a really relaxing week on the Corfiot beaches. Looking forward to having pastidsada every other meal. I'll message again soon!

On the Boat!

We just arrived on the boat and I have to make this quick so pardon the typos. We almost didn't make it! The italian train was delayed and we had to catch a cab from outside Venice to the port to get to the boat. Now that we are on I have just realized that my gift bag has parted ways from my pack and all within is lost. Unfortunately, that included two very nice italian leather purses for Amy and Kristen, and a few T-shirts and post cards. The ship is incredibly crowded and the Germans are everywhere! We found two americans and we have camped out at the front of the ship away from the bulkk of the mayhem and I am just about to crash. Since we were in such a hurry, I also haven't had the chance to eat, except for a cappucino in Florence.So I am now at the mercy of Greek Cruise food prices... 2 euros for a coke! Well, I'm almost out of time so I must go! Talk again soon!!!!

Florence

Hi again everyone! I am writing on my last day in Florence and I am absolutely exhausted! Our campsite is on the top of a very large hill upon which sits the piazza de Michaelangelo. The first night, we checked in and ate dinner at a fantastic restaurant on the Ponto Vecchio. The next morning, TJ and I slept in for the first time until 10AM when our tent got unbearably hot in the sun. Our tent is actually situated inside a new-growth olive grove overlooking the city of florence! Not bad for 10 dollars a night! We walked around a bit at night and had a small snack at a cafe in the Piazza della Republica. After that we walked up to the Piazza de Michaelangelo again and watched the sunset with a couple of bottles of wine and some cheese and some other UGA people that are studying abroad here. Wine is only2-5 Euros here, and incredible. TJ went out last night and I stayed in with another bottle of wine and some really cool Brits at the campsite bar overlooking the River. Upon waking, TJ and I ate a nice breakfast with some cappucino and headed down to the city to see the David in the Galleria Academica. After seeing it in person, I can truly say that photographs do not do it justice. The david is massive, and astonishing to see. Afterward, TJ went to another museum and I headed back to the camp to rest and shoot off an email or two. In a few minutes, I'm going to go pack to the Piazza de Michaelangelo and open a new bottle of wine for the sunset. Florence is a really cool town, but everything is expensive, with the exception of wine and leather. This internet session is a euro per ten minutes. I'm very much looking forward to being in Corfu and having a brief hiatus from travelling and touring. Pictures will be posted when the internet is not so expensive!

Long Night in Salzburg

Ok this will be a quick post. After going to bed last night around 2AM a new roomate came into the room while we all slept. He had a key so I guess he belonged. Well, to make a long story short he began stomping around the room at about 3AM and went to bed after about 20 minutes of said stomping. The plot thickens though, whilst stomping, he bagan reciting and and singing religious sayings. Once he was in bed he continued to do this... for 6 hours. At one point he actually turned on the light and woke us all up. Basically, I only slept an hour and a half becuase he kept pacing past my bed. I thought it was kind of a weird story! More to come later!

Bis Später!
- B

Travelling Onward!

Sorry for the delay in emails, posts, and calls everyone! Munich is very touristy and everything costs a fortune. The internet connection in out hostel was spotty at best and was also expensive. The last three nights were great though but the wild-tourist atmosphere is a bit tiring. Our last night there, TJ and I split up for a while and I went to the rooftop lounge at the hostel. For most of the night, I hung out with a bunch of girls from Stuttgart that spoke little to no English. They were very friendly and surprisingly I held my own in conversation. I'm certaintly not fluent, but I can have a fairly sophisticated conversation around a meal or a beer. Due to the late night out, TJ and I decided to wake up a little later than usual at about 9:30 and grab the free breakfast. After that, we walked a couple of kilometers to the Hauptbahnhof and boarded a train to Salzburg. On a side note, we tried two types of sodas that are very good Apfel Schorle and Mezzo Mix, which was a sweet departure from our 4 liters of Stillwasser to combat the midday German sun. Now that we are in Salzburg, we have far better access to the internet although still expensive. The hostel is extremely nice and the weather is pleasant (not nearly as hot as Munich) and there is a nice smell from the light rain that came through this morning. The rain ride was absolutely fantastic. The mountains were beautiful! I have so many pictures to post right now that I may wait until I get to Greece to post them. Most cafes and hostels do not allow patrons to use the USB ports but I know that some will allow me to use them to upload my photos. Also, the Skype phone works like a charm in our hostel, so feel free to call us tonight. It's laundry day and Sunday, so we're likely to stay in (everything is closed!) Well I'm running out of time, so... .Bis Später!

Munich some more!

Ok so, we've done some more touring around München and we've seen a lot of new places. First, out roomates in the hostel are pretty cool. One is a Turkish girl and the other is Italian. Our common language is German, but they speak a bit of english too. In any case, we went to a nearby schloss that once housed the Bavarian royal family. It wasn' that impressive and cost 4€. Next was the Deutsches Museum and was, by far, the most interesting place we have visited so far. After that we walked around the city to find a nice place to sit down and have a beer. We promptly met a group of Irish guys and hung around with them at a bar for a little while. After about an hour we decided to switch locales and moced to a new bar. Little did we know that the bar was a VERY gay bar. There were posters all over the walls of male models and the TV was men's beach volleyball. In any case, we left there and continued on to the Chinese Tower Beer Garden which has excellent food and beer. We walked back a couple of kilometers to our hotel after leaving the Irish and that is where we are now. Tomorrow we leave for Salzburg and hopefully a little more calm. Bis Später!

München!

This is one of the many Münchner Löwen.

We've spent the last couple of days in Munich and we've been having a great time. On our way from Köln, our train was stopped for repairs so we had to stop in Mannheim. Unfortunately for us it was the Day of Ascencion, a national bank holiday. As a result TJ and I walked aroudn the town with our packs on for about 2 hours before we found a single open restaurant. We got back on the train and headed to Munich after eating the best Döner Kepab ever and apfel schorle. Once we were back on the train it was a quick stop to Munich. We walked to our hostel to find an entire German soccer team on vacation and drinking heavily, but they were actually pretty nice and bought me a beer because I speak german!

This is a German girl doing an Irish dance.

This is me and Judith from Stuttgart.

The Morning After

Ok, so after a night's rest, we both feel a lot better. Last night we met a bunch of other student travelers and hung out with them most of the night. They were mostly Americans, but there were some brits and Aussies as well. I was the only one among the group that spoke passable German so it was pretty fun for me to translate, order food, etc. Unfortunately though, we are in Cologne on the day or week of some massive Evangelical festival and the town is completely overrun with German young-teens wearing orange scarves and what seem to be boyscout uniforms. Strangely enough the main staging point for the festival is directly in front of the Dom, a catholic cathedral. I was told by some other travellers that most Germans view this group as something similar to Billy Graham. In any case, it is a madhouse here, and we're looking forward to getting somewhere a little less busy. Both TJ and I woke up very early this morning (0630) and we're about to go grocery shopping, pack up, and catch a train to Munich. I'll update you when we get there!

We Made It!

Hi guys! TJ and I have just arrived in Köln and we are very tired! Our flight from Atlanta was delayed on the tarmac for about an hour and a half. The flight was pretty uneventful, and the layover in Newark as WAY too long. The flight to Germany was awesome; it was hald empty and i got a whole bench to myelf. Tj didn't have a neighbor, so we both got to spread out. The flight still sucked though, it was really long! Either way, we just got to the hostel and they have free internet with wireless, so the Skype phone works like a charm! Since we could not enter our rooms until 2PM (it was about 9AM), we took a walk around the innenstadt and visited the Dom, a massive cathedral in the middle of town that completely dominates the Köln skyline. Little did we know that the tower walk, which we paid 2€ for was 530ft straight up. By the time we reached the top, our legs were shaking and we were both drenched with sweat! We are both exhausted now after travelling for the last 24 hours and touring the city, so its off for a nap! Tschuss everyone! More to come with pictures!