London

So again I have been slack with my updates but cut me some slack I have been busy travelling and exploring the globe. Whilst away I have had a brilliant idea, instead of updating you on every single little thing I am just going to write about my top 5 things. So as my plane is delayed leaving Barcelona what better time to start, hey? However this great new idea does mean we will have more to talk about when I get home, which is very soon mind you, so start pencilling in some free space for me in those busy schedules of yours.

Ok, so what better way to begin my top five than with London?

No. 1 – The West End

Well, hands down my number one thing I did whilst in London was see multiple shows on the West End. And seriously what more could I have possibly asked for? It was hard to pull me away. Seriously, I contemplated hiding under the seats and sleeping in the theatre.

I was lucky enough to see three shows and even got the opportunity to go up on the stage with the cast of one shows while they sang and fooled around – this was most definitely one of the greatest experiences, EVER, I didn’t want the night to end.

First show, The Lion King.

There was not a chance I would miss seeing The Lion King on the West End, the musical theatre capital of the world. This mesmerising show had me from the start when life-size animals draped through the aisles of the theatre. I instantly reverted back to my six-year-old self and found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, with tears of overwhelming excitement/happiness, wanting more.

The characters were amazing and costuming fantastic!

And then we have the choreography and music, I only have one word to describe this, well it’s quite ironic really, because that word is indescribable. I guess from experience you really do have to see it to believe and experience the amazingness of it. Moving on…

Second show, Wicked.

A lifetime dream came true, seeing Wicked the musical on the West End. From the beginning I was pestering my neighbours singing every lyric to every song possible. I even sparked a conversation with the Aussie guy next to me as I quote he stated: ‘have you seen this before? I’m gathering you’re a big fan, you know all of the words and have been on the edge of your seat the entire time’.

The biggest and the best hits were definitely Defying Gravity and I’m Not That Girl. The actress playing Elphaba was sensational and had THE most amazing voice, it was breath taking. Then again Galinda was a breath of fresh air and carried the role through perfectly, keeping the audience entertained with her ditzy personality and amazing voice.

Oh how I dream to one day be up there myself.

Third show, Once: a New Musical.

I had heard only the best of things about this musical prior to seeing it and had only learnt every song off of the sound track. The highlight of my night, and probably even my London trip, was being able to go up on the stage at the beginning of the show with the cast while they sang around an old piano and jammed.

The musical itself was beautiful; I loved every single minute of it! I don’t know if it helped that the lead male actor was Irish, sang one of my favourite songs, or that the music is mostly Irish folk music? But, still I was lost for words at the end and still am. Again I did not want to leave the theatre afraid that the euphoric feeling would leave.

One of my favourite quotes from the movie;

‘

No. 2 – The spare of the moment decision making

Some of you may be wondering what I mean by this statement exactly. Well to clear things up one of the best things about my time in London was that I had no plan! I winged each and every day and honestly wouldn’t have done it any other way. The sporadic decisions to go out to the pubs on random nights were excellent life choices. Just taking each day, one at a time really made for a relaxing but yet fun filled time in London.

Some spare of the moment decision-making highlights:

-   To go and see the Lion King, well actually we didn’t plan when we would see any of the shows.

-   Spontaneous pub-crawls resulting in new friends, fond memories and a badass crew of elbow fighters.

No. 3 – The food

When I was in London I ate at some of the cutest little cafes, which I thought all deserved a mention and wanted to share with you all in case you were ever venturing the area.

1. Eat, Drink & Shop, Kings Cross.

This cute/quaint little café served high tea on odd sets off china and sold everything in the store. If you liked the stool you sat on or the plate you ate off you could buy it! This funky little place also offered, ‘dance like Beyonce’ classes and

2. Maxwell’s Pub, Covent Garden

Best day to go to Maxwell’s is on Monday, for Monday Madness. Most meals under 10GBP, Bargain!

3. Bill’s Café, The Strand.

If you’re going to the theatre to see the Lion King just up from the Strand there is the cutest little café, Bill’s.  Reasonably priced for the most delicious food amongst the cutest setting. The crew at Bill’s are lovely, and did I mention free WIFI, a travellers dream.

4. Yalla Yalla, Oxford Circus.

One word – Delicious, seriously if you do not go here you are missing out big time!

5. 99p, Camden. (Great for 30pence noodles; a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do when budgeting for 7 months in Europe)

No. 4 – The sights

As all tourists should on their first trip to London we of course visited all of the monumental sights. Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, The London Bridge, The London Tower & London Tower Bridge. We also managed to take token photos with the iconic red telephone box and Brad Pitt. Yes, Brad Pitt, Max and I were ever so lucky to come across a red carpet event for the premiere of World War Z, Brad & Jolie looking their utmost finest of course!

No.5 – The English

Well what an overwhelming experience being in an English speaking country for the first time since January. Max and I found ourselves trying to read every sign possible, taking time to read the menus, even watch the television and understand what they were saying. But my favourite we were able to clearly overhear and understand conversations between others on public transport. But seriously not having others constantly speak English around you is something that you take for granted.

Although there were so many benefits to having everything around me back in English it also had its downfalls. I could no longer just tune out of a conversation, which I found myself doing rather often, nor could I ignore those seedy remarks made by creepers on the side of the road, or say no to pamphlets or sale reps.

It did however have its perks especially when walking through Hyde Park when a man crashed his bicycle into a police officer. Let’s say that he wasn’t happy and neither was the officer. Max and I of course watched from a distance, it was like a filming for The Bill – it was excellent.

Well there you have it my top five from London, keep your eyes peeled for my Irish top five, which shouldn’t be too far away considering I have delay after delay, I don’t think we will ever be gracing Turkey with our presence.

As always,

From London with love,

H x

German Instalment!

Well again I see that I have fallen behind in updating you all on our crazy European adventures. But before this there is one important thing I must mention, this week will be my last week in Sweden. Emotional? Yes! Excited? Yes! I guess you could say that we are all a big ball of mixed emotions with having to say goodbye to friends we now refer to as family. After having our final farewell Ronnen party on the weekend and a week full of farewell dinners and fika’s we will all be officially leaving our humble abode at Ronnen International housing at the end of this week and embark on what is going to be the trip of a life time.

Okay, now for my German instalment.

Destination: Munich, Germany

Munich is truly the city of beer.

We arrive early morning after another classically minimalistic train ride with DB Bahn, drop the invalids (Sarrah, still quite unwell, poor thing) off at the hostel and depart for the city where we would begin the Sandemans free walking tour. On this tour we passed The Feldherrnhalle, Kristallnacht, Frauenkirche, Viktualienmarkt, The National Theater & Opera House, Marienplatz, Covered the Origins of Oktoberfest, Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch, The Hofbrauhaus, Odeonsplatz, Theatinerkirche, Mary’s Column, The Royal Residence, Church of St. Peter, Maximillianstrabe, New Synagogue, The Glockenspiel, St Jacobsplatz and much more. 

Our tour guide Jon was a character, and we tipped him well considering he put up with us staring at pooches, making inappropriate jokes, even answering his rhetorical questions and being the most interactive participants on the tour. I even stayed focussed for the three-hour tour, which impressed both Lindsay and Emily! His true English humour really brought the city of Munich alive. Just a couple more highlights worth a mention from this tour;

-       Jon’s explanation of the town clock, the second biggest waste of time/tourist in all of Europe, that has a combination of ninja baby statues that twirl, a thrusting clown and the sound of strangled chickens.

-       Jon complimenting my marvellous whistling skills (told you I’m good mum)

-       Being mistaken as being a German school child on an excursion and being rounded up for roll call in the main square

-       Being introduced to the vomitorium

-       How crazy ‘us’ Australians are

-       Learning about the craziest ways people have died at Oktoberfest, lost their children and at times even forgotten they had children let alone taken them to Oktoberfest with them

Moving on, the tour was complete and we were desperate to make a quick toilet stop but before this could happen of course Lindsay was hit on, by a drunk Norwegian who insisted on telling her how his mother had given him strict instructions to come to Munich to drink. We could only leave telling him how proud she would be. We continue on and find ourselves in the beautiful Englisher Garten; if you are ever in Munich I would definitely recommend a stroll through this fabulous park it has so much on offer. We continue to stroll through the park and come to realise that in some sections clothes may be optional. Continuing on and we find a man made stationary wave in the river, where locals all wet-suited up, scoot across in front of an audience filled with tourists and their cameras.

I could honestly watch this forever and we did, 2 hours later we realised what the time was and continued on with our stroll through this massive park. We soon come to the Chinese Tower, one of the world’s most famous beer gardens. Order a beer and a pretzel the size of my head and came to the realisation that all those people who attend Oktoberfest may actually be onto something; this beer is delicious. We soon depart with 3 steins and make our way to of course an Irish pub for dinner and then back to the hostel for a relatively early night.

The next day was spent in true Munich form, relaxing, drinking beverages and soaking up the marvellous sun. Although we did manage to embrace our inner tourist and make our way to the top of an old church bell tower, much to some of our displeasures (Max). Although I must say credit goes to Max who managed to get one photo with one foot out the door, the fear of heights really got the girl. The rest of the day was spent in the sun at the park we had fallen in love with the day before, naming surfers and giving them fake back-stories. We soon retired for the hostel as we had an extremely early morning the following day.

After a 3am wakeup call and short flight we were in Berlin. We of course did a free walking tour, pub-crawl and drank plenty of beer, why not? We were in Germany after all.  On a more serious note we covered plenty of history, including museums based upon the horrible Hitler, memorials of the great Berlin wall and the east side gallery.

We also went to the concentration camp – Sachenhausen. For all of you who may be considering going to Berlin or Germany I would recommend doing this fantastic and insightful tour of the concentration camp.  Our guide Nigel really encapsulated the true ambience and I guess you could say eerie feelings of the concentration camp. The tour finished with one quote that has stayed with me ever since.

‘The last thing that dies is hope’.

This is so true; walking through the gates of a concentration camp where so much torture, pain and suffering occurred all due to one mans idea of perfection really made me stop, think and consider how lucky I am, well how lucky we all are. To consider the fact that this one sick mans way of creating idealistic society was to kill innocent victims and make them suffer because they were different or did not conform. To think that we complain about little dramas today when innocent children and families were murdered for no reason. We really need to stop, think and appreciate how lucky we are to be free.

Besides this our Berlin experience was not complete until we of course went on a pub-crawl. This pub-crawl took us to a few underground bars and bars that were built in old railway stations, quite the experience. We made plenty of friends, drank plenty of beer and ended the night in true style, having piggy-back races.

The next day would be our final day in Berlin and after locating the whereabouts of Genna carefree Bradley we of course continued on with our tourist expeditions.  Berlin was a truly great city, it has a fantastic arty vibe and they love beer, why not? My taste buds have definitely warmed to the taste.

Well that was the end of our May adventures and again the end of a well overdue blog update.

So be sure to keep posted,

H xxx

Goodbyes Suck!

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

 -  A.A Milne, Winnie the Pooh.

Ok, so I’m currently sitting at my computer for the first time in weeks and I have come to the conclusion that goodbyes suck! I have now come to the realization 15 days after leaving Sweden that I may never see some of the fantastic people I have met over the last 5 months ever again. My travels so far are yes unbelievable and yes I am meeting even more fantastic people but Sweden became my home and the people there, my family. They all played a special role in making my exchange experience amazing and for that I thank them all so much. I definitely have a new perspective and desire to live my life to the fullest. This experience has not only taught me to drop all of my concerns and fears but to live my life on the edge and dare to dream.

Over the past 5 months on student exchange I have definitely learnt a lot about my self and know that I have become more independent and confident in my own abilities. But there are also a few special people that I have to thank for this, for easing my exchange experience, and allowing me to be myself.

In particular my Aussie nursing girls, Lindsay, Emily, Genna and Sarrah I cannot thank you enough firstly for putting up with me and my crazy ways over the past five months. After leaving Sweden I know that I have left behind some of the truest and best friends I have ever come across, you girls are amazing! I not only consider you girls as my friends but my family. I will always look back on these last 5 months and consider them to be a big highlight in my life.

To the rest of my fantastic exchange pals, Bibi, Lars, Susanne, Damo, Carmen, Kristina, Asyegul, Lucy, Julien, Rasa, Tereza, David, MJ, Trish, Gabby, Tom, Allison, the Sina’s, Basti, Alexis well just the entire international Ronnen family thank you for all of the memories, experiences, laughs, tears and drunken times we have had together.

Although our 5 months together went far too quickly I know that my ‘family’ I made whilst abroad are something so special and will stay with me forever.  So therefore I leave knowing that it is not a goodbye, only a ‘see you later’.

Our last crazy rendezvous, a memory I will have forever. I’m already looking forward to the next time we are all together again. I certainly am going to miss you all like crazy, I already do!

So for the final time, 

From Sweden with love,

H xxxx

Austrian Adventures

Destination: Vienna, Austria

As I write this I am currently on the train to Salzburg, watching the beautiful Austrian countryside zoom past.

The last 2 days we have spent in Vienna, the capital city of Austria. With a warm welcome, literally 24 degrees we were super excited to find our hostel, drop our bags and explore. Our first touristy adventure would involve exploring the remains of a World War II tower and hopefully climb it. However much to our disappointment when we arrived we noticed that they had turned it into an Aquarium and we were not paying some ridiculous amount to enter. By this time the weather had rapidly changed as Lindsay had forecast and the wind had picked up. We headed back through the city, had a little shop, stopped for dinner at Vapiano’s (our favorite pasta place), and of course ice cream on the way home.

For our second and final day in Vienna it was pouring with rain, which restricted what we could do. We headed into the city and lost each other in Forever 21. Lindsay, Emily and myself soon found each other but were still missing Sarrah. After searching the 3 levels of this massive store over 4 times, there was still no sign of Sarrah. What were we to do? We headed to McDonalds to use the WIFI to see if we could get into contact with her, no luck! So we made the mutual decision to head back to the hostel in the pouring rain to see if she had gone back. Although the seriousness of the situation we still managed to see the funny side, with Lindsay wearing her scarfe as a head cover and me accidently crashing multiple times into other patrons with my umbrella.

Arriving back to the hostel looking like drowned rats we find Sarrah. Shortly after we leave again and purchase a ticket for a bus tour so we could see the top tourist destinations of Vienna.  12 euro, multiple destinations and one long nap later and the tour was complete, yes I accidently fell asleep and saw approximately 3 of the top destinations. We went out for hot chocolate and headed back for the hostel to recuperate after our long tiring day in the rain.

Later that evening we went out for dinner at an old Viennese restaurant where we all indulged in a true Austrian meal, schnitzel and Pommes – delicious! Of course a quick ice cream stop on the way back to the hostel for our last night in Vienna.

Which puts me back here right now writing my blog post on the 2-hour journey to Salzburg, where hopefully the hills will be alive with the sound of music.

Destination: Salzburg, Austria

WARNING: This post is purely based upon themes and music as seen in the motion picture; The Sound of Music, featuring the one and only Julie Andrews.

The hills are alive with the sound of Salzburg.

Yes, you guessed correctly, the last few days we have been in Salzburg, Austria and what more to say than I LOVE this city. As I write this post, we are yet again in transit, this time to Munich, Germany with our favourite train company, DB Bahn (I joke, never travel with this company).

Our affair with Salzburg began by of course singing our entire way to the hostel. There is just something about the air in Salzburg that makes you want to instantly scream ‘The hills are alive, with the sound of music’. We drop our luggage, take advantage of the WIFI briefly and set off again on foot, exploring where we would be staying for the next two nights.  We take a short walking tour through the old town, over the bridges and to the peak of the fortress, where we were treated with amazing views of the city. Salzburg is definitely a picturesque city surrounded by majestic mountains that reach across the skyline and beautiful old buildings that create and help attain its old world charm and atmosphere.

We soon head back to the hostel to write journal entries, post cards and relax before dinner. Now dinner, well let me just say food in general, has become a topic of discussion that is raised multiple times throughout the day and always appears to be one of our biggest challenges of day-to-day life. Just deciding where to go and what to order all within a tight student travel budget is a challenge in itself. Much to our pleasure we find a cute little café/restaurant, My Indigo, which catered for all of our needs. We fill our bellies and make the short walk back to the hostel, sit down and watch the regular screening of ‘The Sound of Music’.  Singing the entire way through the movie I am certain we managed to annoy every single other guest that was in the TV room also watching the well-known classic.

Soon it was bedtime where some of us thought it would be a great time to play practical jokes by removing the ladder to my top bunk bed whilst I was asleep. This became quite the issue when it came to 2AM in the morning and with one almighty full bladder. I don’t think I have ever tried or thought of so many creative ways to get off an unusually high bunk bed in my life. You will all be glad to know that I pushed through, just! Watch out Mackie, you’re next.

We all wake up the next morning bursting with excitement it was the day we had all been waiting for; the Sound of Music tour. We were booked through Panorama tours that collected us from our hostel and dropped us off at the Sound of Music coach, where our tour would begin.  In case we weren’t sure which bus to catch we needn’t have worried as the bus was appropriately decorated, there was no mistake as to which tour we were going on.

We board the bus, and are soon to notice that we are the youngest bar approximately two people one of whom was a baby. We are quickly introduced to our flamboyant tour guide Garry, who we liked to call Gazza, and Manfred the bus driver. We shortly depart for the first destination; Leopoldskron Palace, where the famous scene where the children and Maria capsize into the lake takes place.  We took lots photos, attempted to climb the exact trees the children climbed, but failed due to the fact that apparently over years trees do grow.

We soon depart the lake and were headed for the point where we would acknowledge the fact that we were sixteen going on seventeen. You guessed it, we were gazelle leaping towards the Gazebo and Salzburg really embraced the moment by queuing the rain. We were informed at the Gazebo, which is now placed in Hellbrun, that this particular Gazebo was created for purely the outside shots throughout the movie. The gazebo with the scene between Leisel and Rolf was actually filmed at the 20^th Century fox studios in California. This however did not dampened our spirits nor rain on our parade, we insisted on singing at the top of our lungs and leaping around the outside.

Next stop: Fronburgs, the Trapp family residence where Maria was filmed during her song, ‘I have confidence’.  We kept on moving and were headed for the hills that were definitely alive with the sound of music, well the sound of our angelic voices.

Driving through the countryside, blaring the Sound of music soundtrack was definitely an experience I personally will never forget. Not only for the fact of the breath taking scenery but for the pure reason that we were the only ones actually singing on the bus, but we didn’t care.

We enter the Lake District, which is located in the Province of Salzburg. This area will hopefully be my future home, once I have earnt my millions. We stopped at various locations where the opening credits of the film were shot. The atmosphere was phenomenal, and the views overwhelming.

Back on the bus and we were headed for one of our last stops, Mondsee where we would see the church where Captain Von Trapp and Maria were married. We travelled along the romantic road, as referred to by Gazza and continued our repertoire of Sound of music hits. We arrive in Mondsee, where we stopped by the cute little café, Conditorei for Austria’s best crisp apple strudel with vanilla sauce.

 After this we moseyed on up to The Mondsee Church.  The exterior of this church was beautiful yet the inside had a creepy feel. This however did not at all deter from the ultimate Sound of Music experience. Little bit of insider’s information for the die-hard fans like myself; The real Captain Von Trapp and Maria were not actually married in the Mondsee church, they were married in the abbey that Maria was apart of in the beginning of the film. You will notice that they are not the same church.

We board the bus once again and are headed back for the city, of course filling the coach with the sound of music. The tour was over but we still had one more stop to make before our Sound of Music experience would be complete, the Pegasus Fountain and Mirabell Gardens. Now for those of you wondering these two destinations were filmed during the song Do Re Mi. We of course were overwhelmed with excitement and reinacted the entire scene. From running around the fountain, through the luscious green hedges and jumping up and down the infamous stairs that are captured at the end of the scene. Our tour was finally complete but we still managed to sing/whistle the soundtrack the entire way back to our hostel.

This tour was unbelievable and definitely an experience I will never forget. Maybe next time Julie Andrews will be the tour guide? I can only hope right?

Next thing you know it was back to the hostel for a little relaxation session before Lindsay, Emily and myself decided to go on a hike around mount Kapuzinerberg. Insert song ‘Climb Every Mountain’ here. This hike was an experience in itself and we can all officially say that we climbed an alp in Austria (in the rain). The walk itself was simply breath taking providing us with amazing views of the city and beautiful greenery. Although hiking we still managed to amuse ourselves by attempting to take multiple jumping action shots, getting slightly lost, taking forbidden routes, stopping at every bench for core exercises and wearing the most appropriate hiking gear (Mackie).  We make it back to the hostel safely and head out for dinner, again at My Indigo, definitely a favourite.  Then before you know it we are yet again back at the hostel packing and getting ready to set off in the morning for our next destination, Munich.

 Anyways that is all for now so be sure to keep posted for the next German instalment.

As always,

From somewhere in Europe with love,

Holly xx

Prague

2^nd Destination: Prague, Czech Republic

Touchdown, we arrive safely without any hassle into Prague airport. Lindsay and I were lucky enough to be upgraded to first class during the flight; well that’s what we lead the girls to believe anyway. We collected our bags and were headed for the bus only to realize that the shop to buy tickets was closed, excellent.

We finally make it into the city, only to find we were walking in the completely wrong direction to our hostel. I stopped a stranger to ask if they had any idea as to what direction we needed to be heading in. Turns out he was Australian, and I ever so rudely referred to him as ‘it’, oops! After our running with the Australian we had all come to the conclusion that we as a nation are taking over Europe. We are lucky to go anywhere without running into at least 7 Australians. Luckily enough ‘it’ pointed us in the right direction and soon enough we found our hostel, Hostel Orange.

As it was late we all dropped our bags, ducked into the city to grab some dinner, returned to the hostel and watched some pay TV, hello Disney channel.

The next day in Prague was mostly spent getting our bearings, wandering the streets and partaking in a free walking tour of all the top tourist destinations. We really discovered the true Prague, if that is possible? In my opinion, Prague is a very old/beautiful town, the street performers added to the vibe of the city, and it’s old buildings and eerie streets contributed to its medieval ambience.

Mackie was sick for most of Prague and spent a lot of her time in the hostel, which wasn’t so much of downer considering our hostel was amazing! Meanwhile Lindsay and I spent our time relaxing in the sun on the roof terrace, the heat of the sun was definitely something we had not felt on our bodies in a long time. Later that evening Lindsay and I found it appropriate to interpret all the different kinds of dinosaurs, why not?

For our final day in Prague we went on a tour of the castle, which is meant to be the largest in the world, according to our tour guide, George. The tour castle of course did not have a dull moment as we always find ways to make our own fun. Whether it be posing in the middle of the guards (Lindsay), sitting down on the ground at any chance possible (Genna), or posing for a photo in a reflective mirror because it made our legs look skinny only to later realize that security guards were behind the window laughing at us.

After the Prague castle tour we indulged in our first Czech beer at one of the locals and then continued on to find a pub that would provide us with a Czech feast and a half for less than 10 Euro each (literally a feast, Buffalo wings, fried onion rings, 3 x roll of lamb roast, 1 x schnitzel, beef goulash, 3 beers, wine and soft drink). With full bellies we rolled out of the restaurant and went in search for ice cream. Before finding anywhere we yet again passed street performers where I thought it would be a great opportunity to show off my interpretive dancing skills in front of them, I personally believe that the crowd and band thoroughly appreciated/enjoyed my performance.

We finally found the perfect ice cream store got a small cone each and sat under the star light and watched multiples of street performers in the old square, the perfect way to end a short but sweet trip to the capital of the Czech Republic.

That again is all  for now, next stop Vienna. 

From Prague with love

Holly xx