An Acquired Taste: March 2015

I want to start this off by mentioning that I am writing this as I watch the sun set over Italy's countryside. Talk about seeing God. This is too beautiful to take pictures.

So here's the update of my first week of traveling! I am absolutely in love with this world we get to live on.

First stop was Prague. This is a really low cost place to visit.....aka it was fabulous. We visited the castle and toured it. We went to the top of a tower and looked out over a beautiful view. We went through a mirror maze. Drank some beer brewed by monks - real good. Went to an ice bar - real cold. Then I lost my phone and ID. Classic. I have chatted with many police officers and embassies, and I officially will get these back....someday....somehow...I have no idea.

Then we went on over to Munich. We drank a lot of beer here...duh. We toured the city on bikes here and it was so fun! And easier. And faster. I am a fan of bikes. We saw: the palace, the Olympic grounds, a German market - SO MUCH FANTASTIC FOOD...and beer - and finally the English Gardens. We also ate at some good restaurants. The last stop in Germany was a visit to a concentration camp. I don't really have much that I can put into words about this experience. You learn about this in school, but seeing where tragedy like this happened in person is just too much to explain. It was overwhelming. Such an awful period in history that I can't understand how humans can take part in such evil.

Finally, we visited Salzburg. What a beautiful city!!! The mountains are absolutely breathtaking. We took a cable car to the top of a mountain and hiked the rest of the way up. I stood in two countries at once. No big deal. We also visited: the catacombs, the fortress, the Salzburg museum and Mozart's birthplace. We also toured Stiegl brewery. Got some tasting drinks. Good day. Then we relaxed and laid by the river on a slope for a few hours while the sun started to go down.

We took a night train from Austria to Italy. That was a neat experience. Unfortunately, a train has still not taken me to Hogwarts. I don't get it.

I am learning so much and loving every second of this crazy trip. I can't wait to see Emma and my family in the next two weeks!

But for now, time to go eat some pasta and drink some wine in Italy. I am in Heaven. :)

So you might be asking what I'm doing since I'm not posting.

The answer is not much.

I've been exploring and going fun places here, but I haven't really traveled for the past few weeks.

The most exciting event in the past few weeks was definitely traveling to York, England with my friend Annie and her two friends from back home. They came to visit for their spring break.

Anyways, when we went to York we took a free guided tour and like usual I got to chatting with her. When I say like usual I mean that once the Blackwell trait of talking is passed on to you, you really don't stand a chance. So we were chatting about war reenactments (don't ask) and I started talking about Centralia and how we do one every year. Well previously we had made the connection that she had been to Missouri before, so she knew which state I was from. ANYWAYS. When I brought up Centralia SHE KNEW WHERE IT WAS. How neat is that?! It was so cool making a connection like that all the way across the ocean.

Besides that I have been hanging out around my dorm area with friends and exploring into the city. I haven't been traveling because I'm saving money for my Easter Break trip that I leave for this Friday. I'm so so SO excited! It's going to be exhausting but such an experience.

So here's the trip I have planned:
- Prague
- Munich
- Salzburg
- Venice
- Florence
-- all of these places I will be traveling with some of my exchange friends that I have made here
- Denmark
-- this is when I'll meet up with Emma and it's going to be super fun
- London
- Paris
-- I'll finish up the trip with Mom, Aunt Karla, Anna, Tara and Maya and I could not be more excited to see them! It's going to be a blast.

After this trip I come back and have a few more weeks of school. Then they give about a month for "exam period" where anywhere in that month I could have my 3 exams. So basically I'm going to take a few more trips. I have one trip to Ireland already booked but we've also discussed going to Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Greece. We'll see!

Since I don't have much exciting news to share, I'll just say some of the random things that I like to do in my free time here.

1. Netflix. Currently watching The Office. It's not as good as Parks and Recreation but it is quite hilarious.
2. Procrastinate. Annie told me tonight that I'm really good at procrastinating. I've perfected the art while I've been here. Seriously. When I got back from supper tonight I wasted an hour and a half and I honestly can't even tell you what I did during that time....because even I don't know what I did.
3. Not running because the air here is awful. Seriously. If you have asthma and enjoy running probably don't come to a big city that smokes a lot and has pollution because your lungs won't allow it. I do pinterest workouts in my room though. So I'm sorry to the person who lives below me.
4. Eating good food. There are lots of great places to eat here, you just have to find them. It's like a college version of hide and seek. The other night I went to a place called Home Sweet Home and got a brisket sandwich with macaroni and cheese. HELLO to my two favorite things, amiright?! Speaking of food....
5. Two words. GOURMET MONDAYS. Every Monday I skip on the dining hall and Becca, Jake, Annie and I make a great meal. Today is Monday so we made it Mexican Monday. We made 7 layer bean dip and guacamole and had chicken burritos. Guys we're chefs. Seriously.
6. Sometimes we go to clubs. Sankeys may have asked me to be a rep. I politely didn't respond.
7. There are some good pubs in the area. Just sayin'.
8. To everybody's disbelief, I do in fact attend class while I'm here. I can actually honestly say that I enjoy my classes and enjoy what I'm learning. All of my professors here are also really cool and way less intimidating than they are at Mizzou. Maybe that's because my opening line here when I talk to them is, "sup I'm Andi and I'm a foreigner so plz help" and they're really cool about things. Maybe I'll pretend to be British when I go home and see if my professors at home notice.
9. I like to go to Primark. It's the world's best place for low price low quality clothing and I have spent entirely too much money there. Oh well.
10. Trying every Cadbury candy bar flavor in existence. Guys I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to come home. I honestly have debated leaving my clothes behind and packing 50 lbs of Cadbury in my suitcase. I wish I was kidding.
11. Going to Archie's on Sundays with Becca to get food.
12. Texting Annie about never getting any of my work done but being on season 6 of The Office already.
13. Making lists like this when I have a paper to write and important things to get done before I have to leave on Friday.

Okay I'll end there because 13 is my lucky/favorite number.

So as you can see, the life of Andi is absolutely thrilling.

But really I have made some really great friends here in my flat as well as my exchange people. I don't like thinking about coming home in June.

But I am excited to see all of you kids again.

And my dog and cat. And Alex's cat. I can't wait to annoy that fur-ball again.

I promise to TRY and post at the end of each day these next few weeks (depending on internet) to let y'all know of my travels.

Peace and love.