Montmatre from Musee de Orsay Van Gogh! On the Champs First drink on my birthday!!!! Hot wine (rouge vin chaud) My hotel! On the same street as the hostel I stayed at last night! First view of the Akropoli! View from the window of my hostel, so beautiful outside On the plane on the way to Athens, one of the best views I've ever seen. There were mountains and clouds and the sky was orange and yellow and blue, it was great.
Euroterm is done, I seriously can not believe it. It feels like it went by way to fast. This has been the best experience of my life and it's going to be something I look back on forever. The group I was with were some of the most important people in my life and I have learned and grown with them in so many ways. The last day before everyone left was my birthday, so it was happy and sad at the same time. I had a great birthday spending the day with John and Dana. Dana and I walked all around Paris looking at the Christmas decorations and the christmas village shops. It was really nice. My mom sent a package for my birthday with Hostess cupcakes and candles, and I handed them out to everyone at our last dinner in the Fiap. People put 21 candles on one hostess cupcake for me and no one knew that it was the special kind of candles that don't burn out, so there was this huge flame coming from one cupcake, with smoke blazing on top of it, and me trying to blow it out over and over, it was seriously amazing. We tried pouring water on it and finally someone put a cup on top of it. It was really funny and a nice way to end the last dinner haha.
I am in Athens now! I got in last night and stumbled on a hostel called Athens Backpackers, which turned out to be really cheap and in a nice location, and I also found out it was two buildings down from the hotel I am meeting Eugene at! It was really perfect. I am now in the Parthenon hotel, which is really close to the Acropolis and to the heart of the city. I walked around last night to all the little shops and saw some great street music. Now I am taking advantage of the free internet and just relaxing. Thats what this whole trip to Athens is for, just to kick back after Euroterm. Then I fly back to London to meet my Mom and Grandpa! I can't wait.
Great hostel right next to the Oktoberfest Field Oktoberfest Field! 200th anniversary next year! Best pretzels ever. These pig things where you rub the nose are all over Europe. Cool church in the heart of munich Amazing Dali painting, this is just a close up to show the detail. Cool design through history exhibition in the Modern Art Museum. River surfing in the English Garden!!!!!!!! Beautiful, huge english garden Christmas decorations everywhere!
Munich was so great, Dana and I spent the weekend there, relaxed, ate good food, and saw some pretty cool things.
We took a 6 hour train ride out there, stopped in Stuttgart, and ended up in Germany. The first guy we run in to is probably the strictest man in Germany at the train station. Dana and I needed to get a train ticket so we could get home, so we thought we would do it early, and we run in to this guy, who a supervisor for the Eurail passes, and is one of the most annoying workers in the world. I have not gotten as mad at someone as I did since I have been out here. He basically said that my Eurail pass worthless, because someone else messed up in the Paris station. He forced me to pay a 20 euro fee to get a new copy for my eurail pass, and I was really furious because it was not my mistake, but I couldnt do anything. I was so mad. And he also got mad at Dana for not using a ballpoint pen on hers, and that just was so insane, no one should care about their job that much. But, on to the great weekend. We walked to our hostel, and found out that it used to be an old palace. The rooms were really spacious and comfy and their was internet and a kitchen right across from our room, we were even able to do a beer tasting at the bar! It was so nice trying all the bavarian flavors. The first night there, we walked around the central part of town, saw some of the best street music so far, ate some sandwiches and saw lots of christmas decorations, which put us both in a perfect mood. We spent a couple hours in a starbucks :p found an ice rink and got hot wine and watched people ice skate in this room overlooking the rink. It all worked out really nicely. The second day we walked around the hugee English Garden, and we saw RIVER SURFING. It was unbelievable. There is a really strong current, and somehow, there is a constant wave that is in the river going through the English Garden, and there are about 5 to 6 guys on shortboards and in wetsuits riding this wave, switching off. We watched for about an hour and could of stayed there all day, one of the guys did really cool tricks flipping the board. After that, we went to the Modern Art Museum that had so many pieces. There was an entire exhibition for design with random apple computers through history and chair and car designs, it was nice. There was Picasso, Beuys, Dali, Flavin, Warhol, etc. The rest of the trip was spent exploring, watching Friends and House, looking in shops, listening to music on the streets, eating the best pretzels ever.
Its the last week of school!!! So much stuff to do this week. Two different photo projects, literature paper, art history paper AND art history test. But I am slowly cracking away at it all, not to worried. We had our last painting class today, and I am really going to miss it. I learned so much, and am excited to paint back at home :)
There were rooms for every album where they were playing it, and it this one, there was John Coltranes Saxophone, Miles Davis trumpet, and a letter than the piano player wrote about each song. It was really incredible. Miles trumpet from his later funk, drugee stage. Coltrane's sax Miles Trumpet Dana and I went to the Miles Davis Exhibition. It was really amazing. There were videos, 6 or 7 of his trumpets, notes, interviews, everything. I was so happy, and Dana bought me a new Miles Davis shirt as an early birthday present! haha so perfect.
What I lived off of :P Rembrandt Old Man print Rembrandt's bed all the great houses made out of brick at weird angles I amsterdam! yayy Swans on the canal xxx is the sign of amsterdam, and there were thousands of bikes out there. my bed! cool graffitti next to me.
A weekend in Amsterdam by myself was pretty amazing. I got on the train, had no idea where I was staying, or where the train was taking me in Amsterdam. I got there around 10 p.m. and started walking around the city. I walked through the streets and walked over the bridges of the canals, and decided to play guitar on the canal. It was really fun, then it got freezing around 12:00, so I decided to look for a place to stay. Before I had left for Amsterdam I had looked up Hostels, and Bob's Youth Hostel was the only one that I had checked out. I was walking for a good amount of time, and of course, the one place I stumble on is Bob's. I walked in to the lobby, with the smell of weed overpowering the room and random indian music playing. There were pictures and drawings all over the wall, and it looked like a perfect place to stay. I later found out it was probably the cheapest option in Amsterdam, so that worked out nicely. I went to my room, got in my bed, and went to sleep, it was nice and warm with a good view out the window of the street. I woke up the next morning, and I met Callum, an Australian guy and his girlfriend who was Swiss, and we decided that we would hang out at night together. During the day I went to the Rijksmuseum and saw Rembrandt's Night Watch and Ruisdael and Frans Hals paintings, and then I went to Van Gogh's Museum. Van Gogh museum was so amazing, it was three floors full of his art, his letters that he wrote to his brother and friends, and basically showing his whole life, the method behind his madness. He really was a smart man who knew a lot about art history and he loved to read, he just started going mad in his later years. After the museum, I went to the grocery store and bought Stroopwaffles, which are some of the best foods ever. I basically lived off those this weekend, its a mini waffle with honey inside. I went back to Bob's, and had a great night with Callum and his girlfriend. The next day I woke up, got free breakfast from Bob's, two pieces of bread an a boiled egg, and then I started walking around. I went to a really nice big church, and then just walked around the streets. I found a great market where I bought a three euro camera, I bought some cannibis lollipops as souveniegers haha, and then I stumbled on Rembrandt's museum, which used to be his house. There was a printmaking room, his original prints, his room, and other prints. There was Albrecht Durer, Picasso, etc, it was really cool to see. I walked by the Heiniken Brewery, but couldn't convince myself to spend 15 euros to walk through a brewery, and then I went back to the room to get a good nights rest. I ended up meeting another guy in my room named Arturo from Mexico, who turned out to be a really interesting/weird guy. We started talking by him telling me he wanted to go to the Red Light District, and he wished he had more money because he would be over there, and he started telling me about the prices and stuff that was really funny, and then I we actually got in to real conversation. He told me about all of his travles and he is a travel agent in Mexico, and we talked about his girlfriend and stuff, and we both kind of learned and helped eachother by talking, it was really cool. Then I went to bed, woke up, had breakfast, checked out of Bob's, and walked around the city. I found a really amazing library with free internet and comfortable chairs, and I ended up spending a lot of time in there, it gave me a chance to get my homework done and kind of just relax. I left there, and was determined to find the red light district because I had to go there before I left Amsterdam. I found it, was really suprised and kind of shocked, and then I sat and played guitar on the canal. I was playing for awhile, then these two drunk irish guys come up and sit next to me. We sang and played guitar and had a great time, and they took me to a couple of bars to hang out, it was really fun. I left them after awhile, and went to the Centraal station to see if it was open, and it wasn't until 5:45, it was about 3:00. I sat and played guitar again at a metro stop, and met a crazy bisexual local netherland kind my age named Thomas, and a lady named Merina from Greece. We hung out all night, and it was really amazing how I met all of these great people and did all of these things on the night that I needed to stay up for my train. The Greek lady actually stayed with me until I left on the train and we had some great talks. Then I slept the whole ride back, and was overall really happy with the weekend.
The rest of the week has been nice too. I had painting class yesterday, went to the rodin museum, and art history and photography class right now.
Munich this weekend, and then just one more week!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Contemporary Art Museum Barcelona (right next to the hotel, which was working with the hotel, our locks for the rooms were art pieces!) The cool sculpture on the coast, the lions were fun! Our hotel on La Rambla Andy Warhol Silver Clouds in MACBA There was an amazing exhibition for John Cage with all of his work, there was also a Ray Johnson exhibition which was great. Thanks Uncle Richard, this building was amazing to see. Can't remember the name of the cathedral, but it was beautiful. Museo Picasso! It went through all his different period, Blue, Rose, even his influence of Japanese exotic prints. He was a great print maker too! The Lion Sculpture On the Coast Amazing little bar called the Black Sheep, I bought a shirt for 5 euro! Here is an idea of the hotel :) Great Market with a lot of fresh fruit and candy and disgusting looking meat everywhere. Gaudi! At the Tapas Bar! I got Chorizo The newest look at the guitar. The great Market Tapas Bar Chorizo! On the way to Barecelona we stopped in this nice looking town.
So Barcelona was amazing. We ate some of the best food. Burritos! Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona, we went to a Tapas Bar, and best for last, McDonalds. It was a great weekend, we went to the Museo Picasso, we saw some Gaudi architecture, ate Paella, and walked all over the city. We had an amazing hotel.
This week has been wonderful too. I skyped with my mom, I painted a cool portrait in class, I did well on my Art History test, and I presented my third set of photos today. It has been really nice, and we had a family dinner last night in St. Michel at a nice Greek Resteraunt. I got Greek Salad, Moussaka and flan!!
Now in about 2 hours I will be heading off to Amsterdam for the weekend! I can't wait.
Montmatre from Musee de Orsay
Van Gogh!
On the Champs
First drink on my birthday!!!! Hot wine (rouge vin chaud)
My hotel! On the same street as the hostel I stayed at last night!
First view of the Akropoli!
View from the window of my hostel, so beautiful outside
On the plane on the way to Athens, one of the best views I've ever seen. There were mountains and clouds and the sky was orange and yellow and blue, it was great.
