Deniz’s Blog

Who: Katie and Deniz

What: 3-day weekend

When: Friday April 6- Monday April 9th, Easter Weekend, 2007

Where: Brussels, Belgium

Why: because it was the cheapest trip

How: with the help of money from my familia and the services of RyanAir

Katie and I decided to go to Brussels, Belgium for our last long weekend of the semester. Honestly, it was the cheapest trip RyanAir was offering and I speak the language, so we thought we’d go for it. Hotels in Brussels are VERY cheap, so we ended up staying at a 4-star hotel It was about the same price as staying at a nice hostel, so of course we picked the place where we could shower and leave our stuff in the room! The hotel was walking distance from the city center (Le Grand Place), right next to the European Commission and the European Parliament, and very near a huge park. I got to use my French, which was nice. Apparently I can acutally hold a conversation and be understood! AMAZING! I even got to do some translating for Katie Butttt we won’t go into that!
Katie and I had some great food: Belgian Waffles, [Turkish] Kebabs, [Moroccan] Falafels, and sandwiches! And for all you TinTin fans, the famous cartoon character is Belgian, and there was a store dedicated to him! (I bought a keychain) Delirium Bar is also a MUST-VISIT because it has the widest variety of beers from all over the world. It was pretty amazing Also, everything was pretty decently priced, even though Belgium uses the Euro.

Here are some interesting tidbits about the city of Brussels:

* about 1/3 of the 1 million inhabitants of Brussels are foreigners, which probably explains why Katie and I feel as though we still don’t know what a real Belgian looks like!

* it is the headquarters of the European Union

* Brussels is a bilingual city, meaning all street signs are both in Dutch AND French

Katie and I LOVED Brussels, and I would love to go back and practice my French there. The people were nice, and if you’d like to hear more about it, let me know!!

CHECK OUT THE PICTURES HERE!!!!!!!

Who: Me, Professor Rocourt, and a group of about 28 students
What: Academic Travel to London
When: March 3rd - March 15th
Where: Royal National Hotel, Russell Square, LONDON!
Why: Because Franklin College requires students to go on a certain number of academic travels before they graduate
How: Thanks to that large sum of money called “tuition”…and my parents of course

London is one of the most amazing cities I have ever been to. I know I say this about everywhere I go, but London is truly in a league of its own. It has the history of a big European city, but the vibe of New York City. Now some randomness:

The Hotel: The Royal National Hotel is part of a chain of “budget hotels,” meaning they are pretty cheap. I believe a double room runs for about 88 quid a night, which I believe is cheap for London standards. Obviously we didn’t stay in a 5-star hotel, but we had the essentials and that’s all that matters.

The Lingo: quid = pounds
chips = french fries
ballacks = BS! (or something along those lines)

The Transportation: The London Underground Railway system, (better known as the Tube), will get you just about anywhere. Be warned, however, that the train are quite tiny…nothing like the metro in D.C. or Barcelona! Depending on how long you are going to be in London, you can buy an Oyster pass (similar to the smart trip card) and put enough money on it to last you 1 or 2 weeks… or however long. This Oyster Card is much more convenient than buying a new ticket each time you get on the Tube, AND it can also be used for the London bus system!

The Sites: Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, The British Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower of London, etc etc are alllll places you should visit while in London. I mean, you have to! But don’t forget to explore the rest of London as well!

Places to see: Camdentown is very hippy-esque with outdoor markets and shops selling everything from tea to paintings to… mushrooms… It’s nice to walk around here on a nice day and just observe the interesting people who walk by. ANYWAY! I personally LOVED Notting Hill. There are cute bakeries and shops, as well as some vendors selling antiques and the like. If I ever get to live in London, a house in Notting Hill is what I’m gunning for! Though you are still a Tube ride away from the center of London, you get the feel of a beautiful suburb instead.

Things to Do: Take a walking tour! We took the walking tour of the square mile of London that is the actual city, andddd we took the Jack The Ripper walking tour. They were both very informative and really interesting! Jack the Ripper takes place at night, which adds to the creepiness. I loved it A bus tour is a must as well! You see everything in London from a seat on a double-decker. You can hop on and off the bus as you please depending on what you want to spend more time seeing. Our tour was about 15 quid, and this included a river tour on the Thames. Our passes were valid for 24-hours. Aside from the tours, pubs are a necessity. What to expect at a London pub: drunk, loud soccer fans watching a soccer match. Good times! One should also explore Chinatown, go shopping in Oxford Circus and SoHo, and explore Piccadilly and Trafalgar as well!
Also, go to a Show! We saw the Queen musical which was AMAZING and Spamalot which was HILARIOuS! Highly recommended!

What to Eat: Chinese food in Chinatown! Indian food in Brick Lane! And anything else your little heart desires. London has everything from T.G.I. Friday’s to Subway to Starbucks. Oh, and Crush is a REALLY good smoothie place, F.Y.I.

The People: I found the people of London to be quite nice. Compared to the Ticinese, Londoners seemed to be happy, fun-loving people. Even the old people were funny

I LOVED LONDON AND I AM DEFINITELY GOING BACK!!!!

Here is the long-awaited post about my travels last weekend to Barcelona, Spain!

Who: Me, Cydnee, Joyce, Hessa, Miel, Simmy, and Mikaila

What: Long weekend in Barcelona, Spain

When: Thursday February 15th - Sunday February 18th

Where: BARCELONA

Why: We had a 3-day weekend for Carneval/Mardi Gras. It’s a big thing here, what with everyone being Roman Catholic and such.

How: Made possible by RyanAir and funded by my parents

Though we went in a big group, Cydnee, Joyce and I stuck together the whole time. We stayed in the same hostel, and except for Joyce not being a hostel-staying kinda person, we had an amazing time. Our hostel was off of La Rambla, which is the main touristic street in Barcelona. This is where all the souvenir kiosks, shops, and crazies are. At night there are creepy men who walk around trying to sell cans of beer. Random. Many locals hang around La Rambla as well because there are several bars, clubs, etc, and it has a lively nightlife! Anyhoo, before going to Barcelona, we were told to watch our things VERY carefully, especially when walking along La Rambla. We came back with everything we went with, but La Rambla, like any ther touristic place, is definitely a place to watch out for pickpockets.

As in any other big city, the metro is a cheap way to get virtually anywhere. Placa de Catalunya is the main stop on La Rambla (kind of like the MetroCenter stop in D.C.). Once you learn how to use the metro in one city, every other city is easy to figure out. You just need to know which direction you are going! Here we found out that people are extremely helpful. Most people in the La Rambla area speak English… actually, many people in Barcelona speak English. Everyone we talked to was very willing and able to help us when we needed it!

We visited the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family) church, which is a must-see. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I won’t get into history right now, but basically half of the church is designed in Gothic-style architecture and the other half is completely different and modern. It really is amazing. The construction of the church is still not finished, so don’t be surprised to see cranes and such!

We also visited the F.C. Barcelona soccer stadium. Tours/to get in is about 8 euros I believe, but Cydnee and I hung out outside while Joyce went in. Joyce lost track of time and had Cydnee and myself waiting for almost 3 hours… yeah. lol

As for food, Barcelona has everything. Kebab houses, pita places, Indian restaurants, STARBUCKSSSSSS, Tapas places… it was awesome eating REAL food and having Starbucks sometimes twice a day. We really loved Barcelona, and if you want to hear stories, I’ll tell ‘em later Barcelona, Spain is DEFINITELY on my top list of cities. New York is, of course, first… but Barcelona is pushing either 2nd or 3rd I WANT TO GO BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my german is progressing.

Auf Wiedersehen!

the flight from DC to Munich (some key points):

- i sat next to a young-ish man who was on his way with some friends to go skiing in Germany. i’m not sure if they are aware of the lack of snow. anyway, he was a pretty talkative man, didn’t catch his name though. he is originally from Michigan, but is living in DC for at least 5 years because of his job with the Department of Commerce. he deals with something called “dumping”. he explained this whole dumping thing to me which was kind of interesting. yes, mystery man was a talker… anyhoo, he also explained to me that he is a vegetarian and before he gets on a plane, he orders some indian vegetarian dish online rather than the regular vegetarian pasta dish they’d give you on the plane. oh and mystery man didn’t strike me as a vegetarian. big guy with tattoos. ha.
- i wanted to order some red wine, but the flight attendant didn’t hear me, so my plane buddy got me my wine. THEN he asked if i was 21… told him no, and he just laughed.

- i ate ravioli. it was pretty good.
- there was 1 movie on the ride over: “Scoop”. didn’t watch it.

- my plane buddy tried flirting with the flight attendant numerous times… i think she just thought he was stupid. he was cool though because he read my girly magazines with me! haha
the flight from Munich to Zurich:

- Munich airport was okay this time. i saw the same cute dude working at the security checkpoint thingy that i saw when i was going back to america… weird.

- i sat next to this german-looking lady who seemed quite nice. then i passed out on the about 40 minute plane ride.

the flight from Zurich to Lugano:

  - there were a couple of FC kids on my flight, one of which i actually talk to (Alexis). it was nice running into her because we got to split a cab to Girasole.

- i got one suitcase… but the one with all of my important stuff (my clothes) never came. yes, my suitcase was lost…

- … until TODAY. it arrived at FC today thank goodness.
i loved being at home… thank you canim ailem and my friendsies! the food was amazing, the company was great… i loved it. can’t wait to see you guys again in may! (or sooner!!!)

You might have seen or downloaded these in the Images section of my blog, but I thought I’d put them in here for easier viewing.

Enjoy,

-aop