May 15-June 17 reporting in on Adventures

June 21
On my way to Ireland
So I was just thinking about my European adventures and experiences so far on this trip, I have:
run away from a knife in Prague,
took quite possibly the most pleasant nap in the royal palace in Vienna,
slept walked in Croatia and awoke to find myself in the street,
had a few drinks at the number one rated bar in the world (Rotterdam),
'discussed' politics at a communist rally in Barcelona's Las Rambas,
ran and avoided riot police while those around me were being clubbed,
was an inch away from being pick-pocketed in the world’s largest Bazaar in Madrid,
happened to stumble upon an international street theatre competition,
avoided a fight over the BP oil spill on London's tube (subway),
made my own luck on London Bridge,
waded through pro-Palestine, anti-Israeli protests getting shoved along the way (Brussels), fixed major problems with a little imagination and earbud wires,
and experienced some stories that my friends and I will take to the grave.
I have met people from every corner of the globe, of every creed, and numerous occupations, including a professional ballerina, an anti-terrorist expert, micro-biologist, laser scientists, etc... and the thing that I have noticed is that people are all basically the same no matter where you go... Good. People are wonderful no matter where you go and it’s the people you meet while traveling that make your experience that much better. I have picked up on two sayings that very wise men have told me and I really try to live by them when I meet new people. One is to learn something from each person you meet so your brain never goes hungry. This doesn’t mean each person you meet will teach you something earth-shattering, but they could change the way you look at things in a small way. The second is the most important thing: the world can be cruel enough to people, so just be kind. Love them, even if you don’t know them, never yell or bicker. Try to logically figure out problems. You never know how heavy of a load that person could be bearing. So why make it any heavier? As far as I know Atlas doesn't walk the earth anymore.
Anyways I love you all,
stay safe out there,
and, of course, seize the day!
Nathan Reich

June 17, 2010 England Trip
I don’t even know where to start for London. I was enthralled by the city. It’s unbelievably international, with a bustling business center, steady tourism, enough sites and activities to keep me busy for months but relaxing enough so I never felt like I was rushing a thing. It was the first time I had been in an English-speaking country (unless you include the Amsterdam) since March. It was beautiful to hear, read, and speak whenever I was confused or just wanted to chat with locals while rubbing elbows at a pub. I have fallen in love with the city and could be one of the greatest in the world. It topped Barcelona in my own personal book. I would like to go to grad school there.

I stayed with Mark and Elizabeth Donahue, family friends from Florida. They are newlyweds and greeted me with unbelievable hospitality. Liz can cook up a store and whipped up a gourmet meal in minutes while providing a conversation as she cuts, mashes, stirs, etc. all the ingredients together. I ate and felt like a king while I was there and have to thank them for making my London experience exponentially better. They provided me with local tips and took me out to eat to at little pubs where each bite of food tasted like an explosion of flavor. They invited me to watch the World Cup with them and friends. Truly wonderful people.

It’s been very interesting to meet so many people as I have traveled mostly solo throughout Europe. While my plan was to travel solo for eight days in London and the surrounding area. However, I knew a lot of people that were there at the same time and also made new friends along the way. They include a Seattlite that just spent a year in Africa working in orphanages, a Texan that was full of laughter, a soul-searching Canadian, a couple of Kiwis, and group of fun guys from NC State. It’s amazing how flashing a smile and making a little joke can create a travel relationship, but I guess that’s not only for traveling but just building relationships. Traveling solo makes you much more social and pushes you to step outside of your comfort zone (which is where all the fun is.) I think traveling solo for the majority of my trips has been one of the best things as it pushes you to meet new and incredible people where friendships are created fast.

A little piece of advice: there is a company called New Europe (Neweurope.com) that offers free walking tours all throughout Europe where the guides are paid on tips (usually 5 euro.) It’s a wonderful way to see the sites, learn the history, and just listen to the chatty guides fill you with local knowledge and historical facts. For example, I bet you didn’t know a drunk Irish man broke into Buckingham Palace, sat on the throne wearing the crown giving orders to his imaginary minions while drinking the royal wine and even talking to the queen for 30 minutes before being caught. This was in the 80's. The only crime committed by him was petty theft of wine because at the time it was apparently not illegal to jump the fence and break in.

So through the tours, I saw most of the sights in the first two days leaving the next 6 days wide open . I went to the Churchill War Rooms one day which is underground bunkers where England's leaders orchestrated the war below the ground. There was a private tour behind the scenes of VIPS. The tour guide asked 'what was the weather pronounced if London was being blitzed at the moment?' Well, growing up watching the History Channel (I know I’m a bit of a nerd,) I muttered in passing 'windy.' The guide was apparently impressed and asked if I would like to join the tour. I, of course, said yes, and got to go into the rooms that were off limits to others, hang out in Churchill’s office and received a much more indepth tour than an audio guide.

So I have these American sunglasses that I bought in Rotterdam and have picked up the nick-name, ‘The Generals.’ They have taken on a life of its own as they are so tacky and ridiculous that a lot of people like to try them on while traveling. So I try to take a picture of each person wearing the glasses traveling with me as my own way of remembering them. Well, I went to the Royal Guards (the ones with the funny hats and that are not allowed to smile, laugh or move) wearing the Generals and whispered in his ear 'How much do you hate me right now?' I wasn’t expecting an answer, but he replied in an almost unaudible throaty mutter 'a lot.' I laughed so hard that I fell over. In a way I feel bad for that guy wearing that absurd uniform just for tourists. The uniform really serves no purpose but to be verbally poked and prodded. However, as a tourist, I had to at least try.

The museums were awesome. Most of the museums are free there unless it is owned by the royal family. If so, it’s a minimum of 12 pounds to enter (which is a bit pricey for my budget.) So I went to the Tate Museum of Modern Art where I mosied up and down the halls looking at works by Picasso, Dali, and many more. I felt very rich as I stood in front of these paintings that are worth millions of dollars. I also went to the British Museum which holds extensive collections of Van Gogh, Monet, 3 out of the 4 Ninja Turtles, and many more. It’s one of the finest art museums in the world. I am going to have to say Van Gogh is my favorite. I like the way he globs on paint and appreciate the textures that it produces. Monet is a close second. Alex, a Canadian I met in Brussels, and I met up in London and went to a museum (the name escapes my mind) but holds the most extensive and valuable Egyptian collection (the famous Rosetta stone was there), it held Mesopotamian artifacts (known as the 'Cradle of Life'), Greek, Roman, Chinese, and the list goes on. But each room held really cool works that were usually in good condition. It made the history come alive instead of just reading about these old dead people that built old buildings here.

Stonehenge and Bath.
I took a bus that went to nearby Stonehenge (1.5 hrs away from London) and Bath. Stonehenge is weird. It is in the middle of nowhere. The only life around is sheep, some of which are for some reason spray painted! It’s cool to see that these prehistoric people moved these rocks hundreds of miles from Wales to that spot. Historians don’t really exactly know the reason why it was built or the exact method of how it was built. They do know that it took at least sixty people to carry one rock. Imagine carrying that rock hundreds of miles. It was nice to walk around with a new friend, Amanda, from Texas, chat about how cool it was, the places we have been and where we plan to go. It was also nice to hear a southern twang again. While I may not have a twangy accent and it was to hear a little piece of home. So Stonehenge is roped off, so you can’t get to close. I understand that the reason is that too many tourists tried peeing on it. I think she really meant too many Americans. Anyways, Amanda and I also stuck together in Bath.

Bath is beautiful. All the buildings are built from ivory limestone and are really old. The city is cradled in the hills and has large Roman influences. That is actually where it got its name. There are hot springs located there which are said to have healing powers (just mineral water) so the Romans built a huge “state of the art” Roman Bath which still stands and is in excellent shape. We power walked through the bath stopping only to take pictures as we had just a few hours in the city. The sun was shining and barely a cloud was in site for the first time in England. Enjoying the weather, we made the decision to split a bottle of wine in a park and just stroll around the city with coffee cups of wine soaking up the sun and sights. I do think this was the best way to see Bath. That night I remember Mark and Liz talking about how there was an authentic BBQ restaurant in London. So Amanda and I checked it out and ordered the pulled pork sandwich. It was delicious, but not nearly as good as home. There wasn’t the grease and the rub, nor the smoked flavor (I think it was an electric smoker) but still very good and filled with flavors that reminded me of home.

Pub Culture in London is awesome. I have not yet been to a bar in Ireland (soon I will - June 22-26) but it’s just so relaxing in there. People from all over the world come in there grab a beer, watch the game, rub elbows with every demographic and good conversation and beer is easy to find. Pubs got their names from Public house because that’s where people hung out in their free time in the villages across England. It still has that feeling. It is awesome that they were able to preserve it for so long.

Watching the World Cup in London was an experience as America vs. England was played. I stopped by a pub near where I was staying to grab a pint before the game and participated in some friendly banter. Then we went to Mark's and Liz's friends to watch the game with a crowd split evenly between Americans and Englishmen. It was fun to listen to the jeers and cheers from both sides. The tension rose as America equalized after England’s keeper made a fatal mistake. The next day the newspapers ripped the goal keeper and even managed to rip the BP oil spill. It’s absurd that the English think Americans are making a big deal out of nothing. So the Headline was 'One disastrous spill the Yanks won’t be complaining about' (in reference to English keepers poor performance).

Amsterdam.


First of all, I have gotten a couple of messages questioning whether everything in these blogs are true. Absolutely. I feel no need to lie about my journey as I write this for me and to express what I see, do, and feel while I am abroad. I have just been lucky to experience everything that I have and meet some of the most wonderful people on the planet.


I stayed in Amsterdam for a few days, and I have mixed feelings about the city. I met Shiv (a fellow UNF Osprey) and Larissa (an Aussie I met in Barcelona) in Amsterdam. Our hostel was in the heart of the Red light district. This seemed like a great idea at first but then you begin to realize the whole district is all the same. The red light district is made out of coffee shops (places where Marijuana can bought and consumed), chinese food (for munchies I assume,) head shops (where you can buy marijuana pipes, bongs etc), sex stores, and of course the infamous ladies in the red windows. You begin to realize there is no cultural value about the redlight and the district's coffee shops are filled with only tourists and locals don’t participate with the ladies of the night. In fact, the Netherlands, has the lowest percentage of people that smoke marijuana because it’s legal. They smoke it when they are in high school and then decide its time to grow up. Just thought that was interesting as the only country in Europe where it is legal to purchase weed is also the country with the lowest percentage of consumers. I understand that they are cutting down the red light district because locals are tired of dealing with the ever present smells. Also tourism may be hurting (there are 240 coffee shops in Amsterdam a bit excessive in my book.) Bottom line, going to the redlight district for cultural value is equivalent to going to I-drive (Orlando's tourist street filled with hotels, restaurants, and tacky t-shirt stores) for the real Florida experience. It’s a amusement park for adults.

Since I was in the red light district and it took about 25 minutes to walk out of it, I really didn’t venture out to the real Amsterdam until the second day. Now that’s the best part of Amsterdam. It’s gorgeous, boats navigate through the maze of narrow canals. Tall Buildings are built directly upon the edge of these canals. Most of the buildings are hundreds of years old and are incredibly narrow. The stairs in these buildings are incredibly steep, as there is such little room in these buildings. In fact, the bathrooms were so small that my knees were smashed against the door. Shiv and I went on a free walking tour and we were amazed by the history of the people and the humor of their history. Fun fact: when Napoleon conquered the Netherlands, he created a law that each person must have a last name (before it was Jim the Baker, Dutch are practical) in order to keep track of his subjects. The Dutch begrudgingly agreed; however, many of them thought it would be funny to make funny last names like 'Jim Pubichair, buttwipe, long live the king etc...now one out of ten Dutch people have jokes for last names. I guess their ancestors didn’t think that far in advance.



The people of Amsterdam and the Netherlands are incredible open-minded. Their motto is 'If you can contribute, you’re welcome to come.' It all started with William the Orange, a Medieval king that saw that there was money to be made helping those religiously persecuted. He thought that if he opened the doors to all those persecuted as long as they could contribute whether it be business men or an officer in another army you were welcome. Ever since then, those that were being persecuted fled there for equal rights (Jews from the Nazis until they conquered Amsterdam, homosexuals, even the French noblemen ran there for protection during the French revolution.) They were the first country to legalize gay marriage, prostitution (fun fact: it was in order to fight Sexually Transmitted Diseases), marijuana and they promoted women’s rights.


Also the language of Amsterdam is officially Dutch, but unofficially English. 94% of the Dutch people in Amsterdam can pass an English fluency reading, written and speaking exam. I am not quite sure if some states in America can boast such a literacy rate. The people are unbelievably kind. When I was on the train, I met a giant Dutch man (the Dutch are the tallest in the world) with weathered skin and hardened hands. He was a goat and olive farmer outside of Barcelona. He had this perpetual friendly grin that made you feel welcome and I couldn't help but flash my smile back. He thought it would be a shame for me to not enjoy Amsterdam the way the locals do, so he wrote down a list of things that he used to do when he was my age and lived in Amsterdam (another fun fact: the waiting list to buy a house in downtown is around 17 years.) He also then walked me directly to my hostel. I hadn’t asked him to, but he just said 'Once again, it would be a shame for you to be lost. I would hate for this to put a bad image on us.' This was also his first time home in 10 years. He put off seeing friends and family for me, a complete stranger. I touched by his gesture. However, this was not the only time that I was impressed with the Dutch generosity and hospitality. I did as my farmer friend recommended and bought a couple bottles of wine, sit on the canal’s edge, and call out to boat locals and ask if I could join. I did this on my last day there and on the first boat I was welcomed aboard and spent a few hours cruising the canals, sharing laughter and beautiful conversation. They went out of their way to drop me off at the place closest to bus stop as I was leaving straight from there to Brussels. There we parted with hugs and smiles. It’s just the Dutch way. It strengthens my belief that people are generally good, especially the Dutch.







I briefly talked about the bike culture in the Netherlands in my Rotterdam entry. However, in Amsterdam, it’s even stronger. There are so many bikes there locked up that people forget where they put them. In fact, there are four bikes for every one city native. Also, drunk dutch people find it fun to throw bikes that are not locked to objects like trees or a pole and throw them into the canals. It’s a little sport they call 'chuckin.' 20,000 bikes are in the canals and there is a layer of bikes 4 deep and it provides numerous locals with full time jobs to go around in boats with cranes and just pull out bikes 10 at a time. Now people are not only throwing bikes bin the canals, but also small ‘smart’ cars that are parked next to the canals. An average of two smart cars per week are being pushed into the canals. I also can’t tell you how many times I was almost hit by a bike while wandering around the city. It’s pretty dangerous, I must say.


Brussels.


I went to Brussels directly from Amsterdam to meet Larissa. I'm not really a big fan of the city. I stayed there for two days and saw everything the first afternoon I was there.

They have a giant square in the heart of city. It is the grandest square I have seen yet. Three or four story buildings made with the same design as the canal houses in Amsterdam. The tops were plated with gold, glistening in the sun, creating an awe-inspiring view. Also there were other fantastic buildings with ornate carvings of saints, knights, and other important figures with the smallest details of the person’s facial features shown. It was truly a spectacular square. I met a girl named ‘London’ who was a ballerina (brings the count to two now) in NYC before she tore her ACL and shifted focus to film. I was interviewed for a documentary. I forgot the name, but she seemed pleasant enough so she tagged along with us. Anyway, there were a lot of wonderful architecture, monuments (Europe is just one giant monument meca), churches, gardens, and of course EU's parliament is located there. The city is primarily a business city, so there are large glass skyscrapers, etc. The exciting part of the trip came when there was a large, but peaceful, protest of Palestinians against the Israeli floatilla blockade. I had to walk through to get to where I needed to go. I was shoved and things were yelled at me a few times, but I felt safe. It was nothing compared to the communist rally in Barcelona.

The next day I enjoyed the parks around the city and stopped in for a few pints of Belgian beer. The belgian beer was everything I expected, and then more.


When I went to Brussels (about a month ago,) a lot of college grads were just starting to make their big trip through Europe with friends. In the hostel the first night, I encountered a lot of weird and common sense questions by these travelers (including two UF grads.)

Here’s a list:

1.Q. Can you use a debit card to book hostels and flights online?
A. Really?! Of course you can.

2. Q Where do you eat to save money?
A: Shopping at grocery stores
Q:You can do that?
A:rolling of the eyes.

3.Q:Where do you get a good haircut in Europe by a proper stylist. A:Rolling of the eyes again.

And my favorite:
4. Q. Did you see a place to get Prada sunglasses today?
A I couldn’t help but laugh.

They all talked about doing Europe through the backdoor, but good luck wearing Prada, designer haircuts, and just showing up to hostels hoping for vacancy. I was happy to help, but I felt that this was very common sense stuff, not just beginner traveler ignorance. I wish them the best of luck. They were also very depressed when it rained that night. They left with expectations of Europe being like Candyland where everything works out and you will be entertained every moment. I told them a lot of the time, things don’t work, you miss trains, you jump on the wrong train, the weather is awful, etc. But how you deal with these situations will make or break your European trip. You have to entertain yourself and be disciplined with money to ensure yourself a long and enjoyable trip. Also, many of my trip highlights resulted from bad situations. It takes an optimistic attitude to find something to do. I think most people would agree with that statement. I don’t say this like I'm a world class traveler, I am not. I still look and ask for tips from others, but I just found the questions funny.


Sorry I don’t have much else to say about Brussels, I just thought it was bit of a let-down. I just stayed too long. I would feel different if I was just there for a night. Wonderful city though.


Sorry this took me so long to write and post but I have been basically non-stop traveling for basically a month now, and I just forgot to write it.

As always I love you and miss you all,

stay safe out there,

and, of course, seize the day.


Nathan


Croatia, Rotterdam, etc.

Wow, how beautiful is the world we live in! That’s all I can say. I feel like I have seen so much of Europe but have barely even scratched the surface. I think I would have to spend 2 years of just straight traveling to see everything. There are micro-cultures in each country where different interests thrive, counter cultures etc. Actually Germany has quite a big population of punks (late 20's people that keep fighting against the man), emos (14-19yr), and Goths (not unusual to see them on rollerblades). They all hang outside the central station. The punks play music and drink while asking for change. The emos just hang out like mall rats in America playing music on boom boxes dancing to the music (give these kids a mall Germany!). I completely understand why they feel the need to rebel. The German people as a whole are very disciplined, rigid, and reserved. (These are not bad qualities to all of my dear German friends that may or may not read this) I have only heard one temper tantrum since being here and that lasted about 20 seconds until the mother shushed the child. Even the dogs are trained and act like people. Dogs can go into stores (some grocery stores) they are like trained and act like police dogs. The few times I have tried to pet a dog while walking along or hanging out at a park. I was not greeted with wagging tail or lick on the hand but the dog looked at me, then his master, then me and gave me a look like ''what the hell is wrong with this guy, right?” The dog brushed me off like I'm the mangy mutt. The way they play is even rigid; it’s not as free and open. It’s unbelievable. It’s just a different culture, not better or worse. But I feel myself missing the chaos of America where jaywalking in the middle of the night on an empty back road is not grounds for being yelled by a grouchy old German woman. She literally gave me a disapproving look and shook her cane at me ( I did not succeed in holding back the laughter.) Don’t get me wrong - I LOVE GERMANY! However, I miss not waking up and know what will happen, what jerk will cut me off etc so I can understand why the there is such a large counter culture.

Rotterdam
Wow, this seems forever ago. Rotterdam was the most modern city I have visited hands down. It makes NYC look like ancient and historic Rome. The architecture there is unbelievable. When Germany invaded the Netherlands, it took them a extra day then expected to take over the city. So they decided just to fire bomb the city to make an example of the city. The entire city center except two buildings, the town hall and I believe a hotel, were all destroyed. The people from Rotterdam take pride that they stood up and fought against the Germans when other cities did not (their rival city Amsterdam did not.) There are small red lights in the sidewalk that illuminate the circumference of the area that was firebombed. They really cling to this and we were actually there on the anniversary of the day when the city was in flames. These folks still to this day are not huge fans of Germans. I would compare Germany and Netherlands relationship to America-Canada’s, maybe a bit more heated.

Stu and I were lost on our first day; we had no clue where we were. We tried calling to get people’s attention in German (most people there speak English and German) and they just walked past us so we went into a bar to order a beer and then ask for directions we talked in German and they were nice but not overwhelmingly warm. However, we told them we were American, then old men bought us beers and told us 'NEVER ask for directions in German here or you will never get home. Speak in English.' In contrast to the rest of Europe after the war, Rotterdam decided to rebuild the city, not the way it was, but build it better and more modern. Every building looks like if you took a modern art sculpture and a traditional sky scraper, threw it in a blender and that’s Rotterdam. Weird modern columns jut out in the middle of these boehemith structures. Ah, it’s to hard to describe, I lack the architectural vocab to accurately describe these buildings, but I have heard that architects from around the world flock here to study these buildings.
　
Stu and I couchsurfed ( a website where you can crash on people couchs across the globe for free) with a great host named Ted. We enjoyed a beer at a acid jazz bar, and he showed us what to see, what to eat (pancakes best in the world), where to drink (Weiss Ape, the number one bar in the world according to Lonely Planet (Heineken, a beer brewed in the Netherlands and is completely different from the tap, strongly recommend it if you get the opportunity, haven’t seen it stateside) while in Rotterdam. There was a gay French clothing designer that subleased a room in Ted’s historic (I believe it was from the early 1800's) canal house. He said that Rotterdam will surpass Paris as the greatest city in the next ten years and could be poised to take the top spot as fashion and culture capital of the world. Also bikes are everywhere in the Netherlands. I love it. Children at the age of 6 or 7 bike and are competent enough to bike around the bustling downtown. There is just a vibe about this city. I know I have used this line before, but its a city like no other. It’s really modern in the city center, but there are old buildings in the residential area.

We went to their Sunday market which takes place downtown. It’s weird because usually these markets take place where gothic buildings topped with Gargoyles glare from high above. The only glaring down was a few office workers that were unlucky enough to work on that Sunday. I love the Netherlands and look forward to heading to Amsterdam tomorrow. If I had to move any country in Europe, it would be the Netherlands. The people are well educated (most speak 3 languages,) they are more open and out going and very polite. I love this country.

Croatia-Sleep Walking through Europe for 3.5 days.

Beautiful. It was everything I expected and more. To be honest, the only expectations were beauty and warmth; however, I found a back door to paradise that was rough around the edges. Croatia was at war in the 1990's; so if you branch out away from the tourist district, you will find buildings scarred by bullets that whizzed by missing their human targets and marks where molotov cocktails were hurled . That being said, I felt very safe and I found the people unbelievably welcoming. The majority of the population either speak German (Croatian TV is in German) or English, so there was not that terrible language barrier . The first day was a day of recuperation from sleeping in the airport, exploring a little around are immediate area etc. We had a pretty awesome 'hostel' which was more like a flat, 3 rooms and 3 beds, 1.5 baths,a kitchen, and balcony where the beach could be seen - all for 15 euro a person per night. Fantastic for four weary travelers. So Zadar the city in which we spent most of our time in, is located along the coast and there are numerous ancient ruins. The city itself is older than Rome, and was conquered by Rome. The city is littered with ancient statues and columns so much that in a park, authentic Roman columns were used pushed on their sides and used as benchs. At this park there was a Roman lookout upon a hill that covered in vines and looked wild. The marble stairs were originals from the Roman era and were cracked and spun around the mountain like crooked and cracked teeth (aka Like your average Englishman’s smile) and overlooked the Adriatic. The city was completely enclosed by an old medeival wall. I spend at least half of a day of every trip at or in a park. It’s a nice place to unwind plan your day, eat a picnic and just enjoy life. I will miss them deeply when I go back stateside. While they do have their old sections, they also look forward to future and do contain modern aspects. The most interesting is called The Sea's Organ. Along the sea wall in old town, hundreds of small holes are drilled into the concrete and when swells hit these holes in the bottom air is pushed up creating a flute like noise. So all of these holes each create a different pitch, and the rhythm of the ocean created quite a joyful noise. Croatia is famous for its islands. What I was told to do was go explore the islands in the area. So we had to do it. We bought a tickets for a tour that shuttles tourists through a national park refuge of islands for 5 hours. The day was a bit cloudy, so the sun didn’t peak out until around midday. From that moment on, you could soak up the rays on the top deck, enjoy good company, and strike up conversation with different travelers. They served you typical Croatian 'breakfast', lunch and dinner. Breakfast consisted of 3 dixie cups filled with the cheapest vodka and a few cookies I can only presume are suppose to be chasers. I guess not a bad way to start the day at 10, „breakfast of champions“ as they say. Anyway, the islands were beautiful, they are not lush but are speckled with brush and trees. They jut out of the water rising to their small 'mountainous' peaks drop off immediately into the abyss. The water was a different type of blue to anything I have seen in Florida on a sunny day. It just faded into the horizon to a point where it was almost impossible to differentiate. We had the opportunity to explore one of the islands on foot. It was wild, and different than anything I have experienced. The plants were unique and many of them had spikes on them so the only way to walk around was on the path or jump from rock to rock. Truly a spectacular day.

That night was just was as strange as the days was wonderful. I went to bed, then I woke up freezing cold (it gets quite cold and windy at night) standing in the middle of the street that runs along the Adriatic Sea. Why am I here? What time is it? IT’S SO COLD? It took me about 10 minutes to realize I was a little over a quarter mile away from my house. I soon realized that I slept walked. No, I was not drunk or on drugs (my Dad assumed I was drunk, my sister said ‚shrooms; glad they think so highly of me.) This was the first time in my life I have ever slept walked. So I stumbled back home and realized, I was locked out. I had the presence of mind to open one door walk down a flight of stairs, and open another as I slept walked through the streets. I arrived at the door, banged on the door for about 30-45 minutes, and no luck. Nobody woke up. The next morning my hands were bruised. I was thinking, well sleeping on this stoop might be my only option right now. Then I saw a way out. I stepped on to the curb that is on the stair. Somehow I jumped over a hedge, grabbed onto my balcony ledge, and was able somehow (I don’t think I could do it again) to get a finger grip on a ledge of the balcony. I climbed my way up the balcony, threw myself over, and was able to open the balcony door (glad we didn’t lock it that night). So that was my most absurd story from being in Europe so far. Waking up a few feet away from the Adriatic. Second place is almost getting stabbed in Prague.

Some funny things about Croatia.
One, they can’t do math. Not being rude, but its true. I got into a 10 minute argument with a woman about giving correct change which equaled out to a dollar. I wrote down the math and even used my hands to calculate that she was stealing 10 kronen (their dollar) when I gave her a 20. She just couldn’t understand; I finally gave up. This was not an isolated case, it happened quite frequently, maybe once a day. I don’t think they were trying to take advantage of us because the amount usually was minimal - usually a few cents. I just think they are awful at math because they couldn’t understand that I gave them enough money etc..I’m not saying Croatians are stupid or that they are not competent. I am just saying you should be able to add together small coins if you are going to work with cash. Bottom line - invest in a calculator.
Another thing
Public transportation is all buses. No trains. Coming from Germany where trains weave throughout whole country and are used on a daily basis by many Germans (including me) was a bit suprising. Also, don’t be surprised if you find yourself in Croatia where buses are always late and may not even come. So, never catch the last bus. Overall, I loved Croatia and want to head back to soak up the sun.