The last few weeks.

Hey guys! Sorry its been so long without a post.

Unfortunately the school part of STUDY abroad has caught up with me. The past couple of weeks has been really busy trying to study and write papers before we leave for our month of backpacking around the Mediterranean.

The weekend after Switzerland was spent here in Maastricht. We took a day trip to Cologne, Germany and got caught up on school stuff. I honestly love this city, and could see myself living here one day. Just staying here on the weekend made me appreciate it so much more. 

The following weekend (March 12-15), Jazzy, Briana and I went to Prague. I loved it! It had a different feel than the other cities we've been to and we were blessed with good weather and wonderful people in our hostel. I spent a whole day hanging out with a girl named Sarah from San Francisco studying in Denmark, an Australian named Angus (who we nicknamed Beef), a guy named Kevin from NYU studying abroad in Spain, and a guy named Dominic, from New York, working for an engineering company in Sweden. Jazzy and Bri did their own thing for one of the days and it was really fun hanging out with new people from all different walks of life. Angus, for example, is traveling for 11 months straight around the world, literally. He started in Asia, is now in Europe, then does a 63 day WALKING tour of South America, and finishes up with a 10 city tour of the U.S. I invited him to stay with me when he comes to Denver and/or Austin (hope thats okay mom and dad!) These Aussies are hard core about their backpacking! 

The American guy working at the hostel was doing an imitation on how intense Aussie's are about backpacking and it was really funny. He was like "First I swam across the Indian ocean, then road a camel up to Russia, where I met some gypsies and they gave me a piggy back over to Prague, slept on the street, then hitchhiked to Berlin, chugged 3 pints in 10 seconds as a bet for some guy to buy me dinner, it was a good eat though, especially with a little Vegemite." It sounded a lot funnier with the guys fake accent. 

Prague was beautiful though, and very inexpensive. A nice three course traditional Czech dinner was 200 KC..around 8 euros, including a stout (and not very pleasant) Slovak beer. If you ever get a chance to go to Prague, do it! Ill have to post pictures when I get a little more time, or go check them out on facebook. 

Last weekend, I went and visited my mom's cousin in Mannheim, Germany. He was stationed there for the army in the 1980's and ended up marrying a German woman. They were excellent hosts, and it was awesome having a home cooked meal, a hot shower, and a nice bed. They also took me to Heidelberg to see the castle ruins and it was an adorable little town. It was a lovely weekend.

Classes ended on Thursday, but I am still in Maastricht trying to finish a 10 page paper on Eastern vs. Western philosophy and perspectives on travel. We got to pick our own topic, so I thought travel was fitting. 

Bri and I leave tomorrow night for Berlin, where we catch a flight to Athens. We spend a night in Athens, meet up with Jazzy and then head to Santorini for 5 nights. Then back to Athens for a night and we take a ferry to Ancona, Italy, where we take a train to Florence. We spend two nights in Florence, three nights in Cinque Terre (so excited!). Then one night in Milan and a flight to Barcelona, where we spend two nights and then fly back to Brussels, train back to Maastricht. Then the next day, April 15th, my mom flies in to Amsterdam. The two of us are spending the next 9 days in Maastricht, Bruge or Luxembourg?, Delft, The Hague,  and Amsterdam.

Then back to Colorado! Its going to be a crazy 4 weeks, but Im really looking forward to it! This has gone by entirely too fast, but at the same time I'm looking forward to spending the summer in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, then back to Waco in August. Its actually weird how much Im missing Waco, I think its a sign that its really became a home to me the past year and a half. Missing Colorado is a given, but when I start to yearn for frontage roads, Rudy's bbq, and humidity, you know I've been away too long! haha. Probably a lot of it is just missing my friends there, because I don't think I've appreciated all of them enough until I came on this trip and have been forced to be one of the few people who didn't know anyone before we left. It's been a little hard, feeling like everyone was such good friends or sorority sisters before this trip, but it's forced me out of my comfort zone for sure. I've become a lot more independent, and comfortable being by myself, alone in thought and able to absorb all of my surroundings. Not to say I haven't met a lot of awesome people, but still. 

Anyways, I gotta get back to writing my paper, and then packing 16 days worth of stuff into a backpack..Yikes!

With love (and a longing for vacuum bags),

Taylor 

So in honor of Carnaval, we decided to celebrate by spending 6 days in the Swiss Alps. University of Maastricht cancelled school for the festivities so we experienced a little of the craziness and then got the heck out out of town. Our destination: Gryon. It's literally not even on the map. Its a tiny town outside of the bigger ski town Villars. Its in the French part of Switzerland and we were recommended the hostel, Chalet Martin, by previous Baylor study abroad students. We spent a whole day, over 12 hours, navigating our way through the European train system and finally at about 9:30 pm on Monday (March 23rd), we arrived. 

Honestly, Switzerland is my favorite place so far. I could have stayed there for another 2 weeks, if I didn't have to come back to school. The hostel made our trip. It was so warm and homelike. The people there, the owners and the other guests, were incredible. The owner is an Australian named Matt who is married to Elizabeth, a girl from West Virginia, who stayed there while doing a college backpacking trip. Now, her and her younger brother Patrick help run the place. They also rent rooms per month, so besides people who just come through for a few days at a time, there are people who live there all year or for the entire ski season. I guess its a running joke that you can never really leave the Chalet Martin. You just keep coming back. I can see why.

This is the few off the deck. Im sure it's just as amazing during the summer months. 

Ill just get confused if I try to do this in order. But one of the days, we went skiing. I'm in the middle here with Briana and Jazzy.

Breathtaking

This is Barbalouse, the next little town down the cograil from Gryon. This is where we got on the ski lift and such. 

Every night, we had a "family dinner" with the twelve of us from Baylor in an effort to save some money. The hostel had a kitchen with everything you need to cook. We had spaghetti one night (hey, were college students!), chili the next, chicken noodle soup, and breaded chicken and mashed potatoes another. The first night we didn't get there til after dinner and the last night we were on our own.  

All our skis outside of our hostel

This is where we stayed, the attic. My bed was behind that first curtain. 

View from the hostel

Ski resort

Palm trees in Switzerland. This is getting me excited for the beaches in April

Lunch break from skiing (Tori, Meghan, and Miranda)

They have these weird lifts there. Kind of intimidating

The quaint little town of Gryon. 

We did wine and chocolate tasting at our hostel. Switzerland only exports 1% of their wines, so tasting them is something you have to do while visiting. We learned a lot, no really, we did.  

The next day, one of the girls Carolyn and I decided to venture to the town of Zermatt in order to see the Matterhorn. We failed to realize that our Eurorail didn't cover the trains to Zermatt because its a private train company. So we had to pay 50 swiss franks to get there...We probably wouldn't have gone had we we realized that, BUT it was too late. So we decided to have a positive attitude and enjoy it for all it was worth. If I was going to 50 Swiss Franks for a train ride, however, this would have been the one. The ride there, was stunning. Going through vineyards and mountainous areas with rivers cutting through, like the one above.  

And then we got there! Here's me in front of the Matterhorn. I mean, honestly, how cool is that? The real thing was 5 times better than the Disney World Ride and that's saying a lot. 

We walked around the town of Zermatt and went in some shops. It was a super cute town. 

No cars were allowed in the town, except for these little taxi car thingys. Yes, thats their technical name. 

Our last day in Switzerland was absolutely beautiful outside. It was 60 degrees outside and sunny. Jazzy, Briana, and I went out to lunch at a restaurant called Cookie. We splurged for some authentic cheese fondue. Best lunch ever. Period. 

You are supposed to either eat fondue with white wine or hot tea, so that it doesn't upset your stomach. We figured noon was a little too early for wine, and we got some amazing fresh mint tea. Isn't it pretty?

Yum!

Our time to leave Switzerland had come, so we packed up our bags, said goodbye to our Aussie friends and the beautiful views, and hit the road. "We'll be back, Chalet Martin," we wrote in the guestbook. And we will. Someday. 

The picture is of Lake Geneve taken from the train on our way home.

This weekend I'm staying in Maastricht and a couple of us are going to do day trips to Cologne and Luxembourg. I needed a weekend to get caught up on laundry and school. Plus, there's so much to see within an hour or two of us, that it would be a shame if I didn't spend at least one weekend here.

Oh and good news, my mom is coming to visit the last 9 or 10 days Im here in April. I'm so excited to show her my little European home :)

With Love,

Taylor

Long time no talk. Sorry I went on vacation..from my vacation. Or something like that. Maastricht, the city where I'm studying, is famous for its Carnaval celebration. The entire town shuts down and then goes crazy. Oh and hoards of tourists come into town and everyone dresses up crazy. Sort of like Halloween, except for a thousand times cooler. They have a parade and families build their little "floats" or carts or something, and then dress up to match the theme. 

One important aspect of these carts is to hold the food and alcohol for the day. This guy, for instance, is filling his mug with beer straight out of the tap built in to the side of his SWAT tank. Oh and the speakers, they can't do without the speakers. 

Then families, from the 90-year-old grandmas to newborn babies all dress up crazy and march around the streets and into all the pubs. 

 Some sumo-wrestling chickens? You know, just another day in Maastricht. 

Clever little Dutch theme. Delft china and tulips. They literally spend the whole year coming up with these outfits. 

A man in a baby stroller. Why not? 

Look closely and see the people in the windows of the building. Best seats in the house. Where do I make friends with these people? 

There's even hippies at Carnaval! Polka-listening hippies!

And cute little children who look like porcelain dolls (and who think I'm a creep for taking pictures of them)

Even President Obama and Michelle made an appearance.

 Random note: Dutch people exclaim "Yes, We Can!" all the time to Americans. Even in the most awkward of circumstances. "Excuse me, Man from the Waffle store, can we get powder sugar on those waffles?" He responds, "Yes We Can!" (followed by a chuckle and a "do you get it?" look) Yes, I get it, Waffle Man. And don't think you are that clever. Kebab and Frites Man and Bus Driver Man have already said it five times...each.  

The little tourist children. You can tell they are tourists from their coats covering their costumes. Come on, people, if you want to fit in with the real Maastrictonians, you are going to need to cowboy up.

These are like the Carnaval council. On the highest stand was the prince of Carnaval. A big honor in these parts. 

This was actually a couple days before Carnaval in the Vritof, which is one of the city centers. The "after" photo would show lots of broken glass and trash from the entire square being filled with people. 

My friend Julia from high school came into town. She is studying in London. So we dressed up. This is not nearly my whole ensemble by the way. I'm wearing a very glittery dress, and the wig is actually mine. Along with some huge sunglasses and some crazy accessories. It changed every day for the three days we were here. 

Overall, it was quite the experience. And I wasn't even here for the craziest part. We left early Monday morning for Switzerland, so we headed in early Sunday night (probably the craziest night) and then Monday and Tuesday are almost as crazy. 

Im going to do a seperate entry for Switzerland. Partially, so it's more readable. But mostly because then I'll get credit for TWO blog posts. 

With Love (and the official Carnaval song stuck in my head..the one in the video),

Tay