Sum-up of travel plans :)

This weekend (Oct 8th-10th) we are couch surfing in Leiden! Me, an australian girl and two canadian girls are couch surfing at a house that two Whitewater girls stayed at and they said it was the best weekend they've had so far. > check out www.couchsurfing.org

Sunday October 10th (when we get back from Leiden) we're headed to Zutphen visiting our Dutch friend Stephanie. There is a national beer festival in her town on Sunday so we're going to check it out. She said there is lots of beer, music and food! Its about 20-30mins by train and the train costs 10 euros to get there. Houtmarkt, Zutphen > location.

So next week, the week of October 11th I have NO CLASSES! This is a "make up week" so my prof's aren't holding classes!

Plan for Week of October 11th:
- Rotterdam, Netherlands -- for one night in a hostel with some girls. We are going to check out the city and hopefully shop!
- Check out more of Arnhem, there is a zoo here and also lots of museums/war stuff we haven't seen yet.
- Also, another Netherlands city, very old world and close to Arnhem, is Zutphen (about 20 mins away, mentioned above). It’s a walled small town (on the train route) that gives you a real feeling for what the Roman version of the Netherlands must have been like. So I'd like to take a day to walk around more & get to see some more historical stuff :)

Hopefully this all works out for next week. Will be a cheap week - Thank god! But we'll be able to see a lot of cool things

Thurs October 15th - Leave for Porto, Portugal! *This is our Autumn Break for school. We are there until the 19th. Then on the 19th we're headed to Madrid for two nights, then Barcelona Spain 21st thru 24th. Coming back to Arnhem Sun. Oct 24th.

I also have no classes the week of October 25th because this is exam week and I only have exams in January. We are looking to do something this week, though it is still up in the air.

Nov. 1st is also exam week - no school! (There are two weeks of exams) School starts back up the week of Nov 8th.

I will be in Krakow, Poland Thurs Nov 4th - 9th. And staying with someone who lives there - i.e. CHEAP TRIP BABY! I'm excited to try some legit Polish Sausages.

Friday November 19th the ISA Group (International Students Association in which I am a part of here on campus) is going to Prague, Czech Republic! It is 100 Euros for two nights including sleeping and transportation - hopefully I'll so this as well :) I've heard Prague is absolutley amazing and verrrryyyy old.

My friend Madison from Toronto has family friends who live in Antwerp, Belgium so we are staying with them Friday Nov 26th until Sunday the 28th (Happy Thanksgiving weekend back home). Its only 33 Euros to get to Antwerp by train -- staying with people really helps to save $$$.

I am leaving for Rome with a bunch of people the 19th of December for our winter break. Winter break starts December 17th - my birthday!! We are going to travel all of Italy in a van from the 19th until the 30th of Dec. Then the 30th of Dec until the 2nd of Jan. we'll be in Berlin celebrating New Years!

Then exams start for me the 3rd of January.

Pretty scary stuff! (European Threats)

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/us-tone-down-says-al-qaeda-attack-alert-meant-for-europe-not-specifically-america_100439372.html

We were just talking about this in class, as I am planning on traveling to London, Paris and Berlin (For New Years).

BBC's take from October 1st >> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11456421

All security measures have been raised in Europe. My friend Marieke from France (is from a suburb of Paris) told me today in E-Marketing class that her father works about 50 meters away from The Louvre in Paris, and that there has been heightened security just about everywhere, especially in big European cities. It makes me thankfully I am not studying in Amsterdam or a bigger city, and I am just in Arnhem.

Let me know what you think or what you are hearing on the US media waves. I try to listen to the news each morning when I am getting ready for class, and try to keep up during the day.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11467150
- "In recent weeks, the Eiffel Tower in Paris has twice been evacuated because of bomb threats"
- ...urged their nationals to be vigilant when using public transport or visiting tourist sites

Italy for Christmas!

Soooo I've made some plans with friends. On December 19th (two days after my 22nd birthday) We will be headed to Rome! We are renting a van with Kristie (from Australia) and her boyfriend, Thane, that is visiting from Townsville, Australia to go ALL THROUGH ITALY! On Christmas we will be in Venice, Rome, but we plan on going to Rome, Milan, Pompey and a bunch of cities In Italy from the 19th of Dec. till the 30th of Dec. ---- the whole bit! We are flying from Dusseldorf to Rome on December 19th and then on the 30th of December going to Berlin, Germany for New Years Eve! In Berlin we have a 12-person flat and will be there Dec 30, Dec 31st, and Jan 1st for NYE :)

EXCITED!

POLAND!

Exciting news! I'm headed to Krakow, Poland Nov 4th - Nov 9th !!!! My friend Zuewanah from San Fransico and my friend Kristie from Brisband and I are going there together! It was only 37 Euros thru Ryan Air to book the flight from Dusseldorf to Krakow directly and we're staying with Kristie's friend in Krakow so we won't have to pay for housing. Very Exciting :)

B
XOXOXO

Food in Germany & More

The pretzels are delicious here. They are HUGE as well. All the pretzels and bread you could ever want :) Also the 200 is cool, as it is the 200th anniversary.


Brats....
I've noticed they don't really have "hot dog" buns like we do. They generally just put the meat on a bun, like a hamburger bun.


This is the exact 1/2 chicken that we ordered! It is to die for!


Tray of TONS of food. The servers would get the food out of the window and put it on a BIG BIG tray and take it out. These servers would put over 10 plates on one tray. They can also hold over 5 steins of beer at once. Check out all this yummy german food :)


Downtown Munich! Absolutley beautiful at night.


Obviously if you can't handle your beer at Oktoberfest you get taken out on one of these. There is a little window on the inside, and they lay you down and take you away. The first day we were there (Thurs) we barely saw any, but on Friday we saw lots and lots of these at Oktoberfest.

Beer Tents at Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest Fun

The nice Friends that we met...



Kristie and I with our Steins of Beer - Don't worry guys, I brought one home!!




Chicken and Stein!


Me and some Munich girls...

What the gentleman wear

The first tent we went to

Where the church service was being held

Pictures from Oktoberfest...