So, it's been awhile, I know...

Heyy everyone! I know, it has been an insanely long time since I have written in this journal, and by insanely long I mean over a month.... BUT lots of exciting stuff has happened since I last wrote that I will tell you all about in this entry!! So be patient, this is gonna be a longggg one.. you might want to break it up a bit. But I had to tell you about everything, I know you guys have been waiting so long for this!! SO, here we go:

March 22nd-March 29th

My 21st Birthday!! It was reallyy fun, and no, don't worry, I didn't drink TOO much! Haha, but it was pretty expected, considering I live in the city known for its delicious beer, so lets just say I had a couple But it was extra amazing because Andi came and visited me! I hadn't seen her since this past summer when she came and visited me in Boston after her semester abroad in Seattle, Washington, so it was really awesome to see her and introduce her to all of my friends here. We went out one night salsa dancing (talk about interculturalism.. salsa dancing in the Czech Republic?? crazy.) We also just walked around and toured the city, since Andi doesn't come here too much, so it was definitely really cool to show her around her own neighborhood! haha.. and then, from what I remember, I did laundry and studious things on my birthday, soo exciting I know! But it had to get done, and I had an exciting week, andd it was a Sunday, soo I guess I'm entitled to being a bum, right? BUT when I got home from all my bummish things that day, I walked down the hall of the Kolej (dorm in Czech) and I saw huge balloons on my door! And then when I walked in, there was a sign on my door and MILLIONS of balloons all over my room, which my amazing roomie Liz blew up with her own lungs. I felt so loved. Alllll the way over here in the Czech Republic, away from my favorite people in Boston, I had an awesome birthday, so I was happy. But I wish you were all there to celebrate with me and missed you all so much! So I guess that means we'll have to have a few belated celebrations when I get back...

March 30th-April 5th

BOSTON WAS HEREEEEE! My friends Lisa, Sarah, Charly, and Baird came to visit!! Baird was already here with his study abroad program from Copenhagen, Denmark, and I had also seen him on my birthday weekend which was an awesome surprise!  But the Prague invasion reallyy began when I went to the airport to pick up Lisa and Charly, who were coming from Edinburgh, Scotland (Charly studies in London, Lisa in Edinburgh). It was SOO nice to see them and I couldn't wait to show them all around the city! We then went to the hostel where they were staying and waited for Sarah and Baird to show up, because Baird was picking up Sarah from the train station from the journey she took all the way from Cannes, France! It was so cool to see everyones faces finally and hear all of their exciting stories from their respective countries. It felt like no time went by! The next few days fleww by, as usual, in between classes and being tour guide and spending time with everyone, that before I knew it everyone was leaving, Sarah and Baird to Berlin, Lisa and Charly to Vienna. But the adventurous birthday weekend wasn't over yet! On Thursday, the same day Charly and Lisa left, I was leaving for Bratislava, Slovakia to go visit Andi and her family!! I was soo excited, I hadn't seen Andi's family since summer of 2007 when I went to go visit her here (which is when I fell in love with Prague and decided then that I was going to study here!), so it was an amazing reunion. But the day wasn't without its usual craziness, as I forgot my passport in my room and didn't realize that until I was AT the train station. Typical, I know. So, I had exactly an hour until I had to catch my train, and to get back to the dorm to get my passport I had to take two metros, one tram, and then RUN to my dorm. Amazingly, I made it, and I swear, it was all because of my amazing speed because those metros and trams were SO SLOW. So thank god, I made the train with a millisecond to spare, because the moment I put my foot on the train it started rolling away. Clutch. After a 4 hour train ride through the beautifulll Czech and Slovak countryside, I was back in Bratislava! It's so weird, even though I've only been there once, I feel like it's home. Andi's family is like my second family (her mom always calls me "my second daughter!"), so it was really great to be with them, especially for my birthday! Andi and her mom cooked me a cake with a huge 21! on it, and her dad made his famous Hungarian goulash. Lets just say I was in heaven. I also got to meet Andi's boyfriend, Sam, and also her friend Jenny, who were both so nice (especially Sam, since he stayed with me and Andi while my train back to Prague was delayed for hoursss)! It was soo nice to spend time with them and I can't wait to see them again when I go back to Bratislava to spend my last week in Europe! (Also, if you're wondering, I didn't see Obama when he came to Prague and spoke, but I did see him on TV at Andi's house. A lot of my friends went because they happened to be in Prague, and they said it was amazing. And, if you saw the speech at all, where Obama was speaking was Prague Castle, which is literally a 5 minute walk if I were to jump out of bed and walk there. pretty cool.)

April 6th-April 12th

When I got back to Prague after my weekend in Bratislava, the sun decided to show its beautiful face! For the first 2 months in Prague, it was literally cloudy every day, some days rainy, and every day foggy. Also, for the whole month of February, it snowed EVERY DAY. Seriously. I thought New England weather was bad.. but I was wrong, it can be worse. But to make up for it, the weather since then has been absolutely GORGEOUS, so no more complaining (well, at least about the weather, hah!) So, after getting settled back into my routine after my travels in Budapest and Bratislava and from being tour guide for awhile, I had to pick my tired butt back up again to leave for..... ITALY! It was Easter that coming weekend and we had bought tickets to Milan (for 90 euros, round trip! i know.) awhile ago to leave on Wednesday night and come back that next tuesday. We knew we were going to go visit my friend Ryan, who is studying in Florence this semester, at some point, but that was all we knew. So my friend Jenna and I basically boarded a plane to Milan on Wednesay night, our backpacks on our backs, with no destination in mind. All we knew was that we had a hostel in Milan for the night and then we were free to travel wherever we wanted. What an amazing (slash slightly scary) feeling. When we landed in Milan, which was a beautiful but veryy large city, and after we bought train tickets to Florence the next morning, we decided to go find our hostel since it was late. After talking to a few police officers and transportation attendants, none of whom spoke english, we finally found the tram we needed to be on and, eventually, found our hostel! It was okay, pretty modest, basically just did the job. We also had to share the room with a girl from Argentina, who was pretty nice, so overall it was a good experience. From the hostel, Jenna and I had some time before the train to Florence, so we figured out the metro system and found our way to the Duomo, which is a hugeeee church. It was beautiful. I was already in love with Italy and my trip hadn't even started yet. After the duomo, we went back to the train station to figure out what train was ours, which was the beginning of the most stressful two hours in my life. None, and I mean none, of the people there spoke English, which made finding the right train very difficult, as most werent just going to Florence, they were going to many other towns, so we really didn't know what one we needed. But after talking to many people and almost completely screaming at the top of my lungs and hitting someone in the face with my backpack, we FINALLY found our train. It was a 6 hour train ride, including 4 switches and 5 trains, but the ride was amazing. It was directly through tuscany. Oh, my, god. I need to go back someday. Also, it was like forced relaxation. After running around for so long, it was nice to just sit. And be a tourist.

So we finally got to Florence!! Jenna and I went and got dinner at a little Italian restaurant and lived in the moment. Florence is amazing, its so alive and so different than any other place I've ever been. Also, its filleddd with Americans, so hearing English was pretty nice too! We met up with Ryan, who was an AMAZING host by the way, and went back to his apartment down a little Italian street! haha, I know, it couldn't be anything else but Italian, but seriously, how many people live on little Italian streets?? His apartment was beautiful, and overlooked the main market of the city. In the morning, with the windows open and light shining in, all you could hear was people talking, birds singing, and an accordian playing. Heaven. Ryan took us to all of the major sights and showed us around his usual hangouts... and took us to the most amazing gelato places EVER!! I seriously had the best time, and have definitely fallen in love with Italy.. it is NOT overrated like I thought it was going to be, trust me!

While we were in Florence, Jenna and I decided that we wanted to just get on a train and go somewhere completely random for the rest of our trip, which was about 3 days. We decided on this little place called Cinque Terre, which is a group of small towns on the Mediterranean coast of Northeastern Italy. We had heard awesome things about it, and it seemed kind of like the road-less-traveled way to go. so we got on a train.. and went. Best decision we have ever made. Cinque Terre is absolutely amazing. The whole time I was there, I felt like a place this beautiful cannot exist in the world, it was that cool. The hostel we stayed at made it even better. It was the only one with vacancies, as it was Easter weekend, and the only cheap one, so we went for it. Well, lets just say we went camping. Yup, I know. It was literally a tent, on a platform, with beds inside. That's all. It was the best sleep I have had in a longggg time. During the day, Jenna and I went hiking on the hiking route that connects the five towns of Cinque Terre, and we did this in our flip flops. Since we didn't know we were going to go here, we weren't really prepared, so we just kinda went with it. It was so funny, people passed us, and in all different languages pointed at our feet and were like, "Oh!!!" and we were like "We know, stupid Americans..." It was an amazing experience. You'll have to ask me about it in person, because honestly, I can't even explain it in words.

After a 3 hour train ride from Cinque Terre back to Milan, which included laying on the floor for about 1 hour of it because there were no seats, we had to trek back to the airport. When we finally got there, it was 11 pm. Our flight was at 8 am. So we had 7 hours to kill in the Milan-Bergamo Airport. There were alot of other people doing the same thing, so it wasn't so bad, until the security guard kicked us out of the waiting area. Since nothing was open, and we couldnt sit anywhere else, we basically just sat in the lobby of the airport which was converted into a make-shift hostel, with people sleeping on the floor everywheree. So, Jenna and I swallowed our pride, made little beds with our backpacks as pillows and our scarves as blankets, and called it a night. Not toooo comfortable, but I was surprised that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't worry, I am definitely not making sleeping on the floor of airports a habit, but it was definitely an experience. Then, when it hit 6 am and we were allowed to check in, we went and waited, got some food, waited for my friend Adam (who was also on our flight but spent the weekend in Milan instead,) and then boarded our plane back to Prague. Never before in my life was I so happy to see my bed in the Kolej. Oh, my little bench with my diaper-filled pillow, I missed it so much!

April 13th-April 19th

Much needed rest was had over the next few days, thank GOD. But then, as usual, I had to pick my sorry lazy butt up again because we were going to Krakow, Poland for our last program trip! I was really excited for this trip, I had never been to Poland before and I heard it was beautiful. Also, the history that is there is really cool, too, so to be able to go to the place where it all happened, I was excited. Yes, again, I know, GEEK. So, to actually get to Krakow, you have to drive a reallyyyy long way from Prague. And my long, I mean longggg. The only main road that goes from Prague to Krakow is through Brno (QUIZ: Does this name sound familiar? Yes, I went there earlier this semester on a trip! If you got that right, I'm buying you a drink when I get back, remind me), a city in the western part of the Czech Republic. And then, from there you have to go allll the way up to Krakow, which close to the middle of Poland. So, it was basically a 10 hour bus ride. Fun. Well, not really, but once we got there and saw how awesome Krakow is, it was worth staring at the back of a seat for half a day. Seriously, Krakow is beautifulll. It has a ton of history, has AWESOME food (perogies!! filled with whatver is your heart's desire), and a lot of students. The weather was reallyy nice too, so the next day in between tours and walking around, Jenna, my friend Steph, and I sat in a pretty park, ate hugee 2 dollar french bread pizzas, and enjoyed the day. We also walked down near the Jewish quarter of the city and layed by the river, which was also really fun. Krakow is a city I would definitely want to go back to and learn more about, I feel like there's a lot about it that can be discovered and I wanna discover it all! The next day, we had to go to Auschwitz, which was really hard. I don't know if I can talk about it over this, but if you want to ask me about it at some point, I would be glad to tell you about it. It's just one of those things I guess, you know? One of my friends today when we were talking about it put it perfectly "It's one of those things that you should recognize and respect, but  it gets to the point where you just don't want to think about it or remember it anymore" Overall, it was a great weekend and I learned a lot not only about this part of the world, but also myself, and I am definitely grateful for that.

April 20th-Today!

Now that all of my traveling is over, I can finally relax and enjoy Prague! I'm leaving soo soon and I want to experience and see as much of this city I've called home for the past 3 and a half months. So, it has definitely been nice to be a bum for a little while!! I was sitting here just now trying to remember everything that I've done in the past two weeks, but I can't really remember much haha! I guess my long-term memory is better than my short-term? Weird. But anyways, I've pretty much just been going to class, hanging out with friends, lounging in the parks by the river, doing homework, applying to jobs (AHH!), and sleeping in FINALLY. When you're traveling, you can't really do that because you don't want to miss out on anything. But now, I can sleep in. Beautiful. As we speak, I am in the midst of finals, finishing up projects and writing papers. I have to go downstairs in a few to go study with one of my friends for a test for tomorrow, and the other night I finished a paper at 8 am that was due at 9 am, didn't sleep, and still made it to class on time. Alllll that training, it has paid off. Oh ya! And last weekend Jenna's family was here and they took me with them to this town like two hours west of Prague called Karlovy Vary. It was awesome! It's known for its spas and its natural springs that run through the town. You can buy a little mug, they have so many different kinds all decorated differently, and then you go around the city and fill them up with the water from the springs. Supposedly the water is magical and has been known to cure people of diseases and sicknesses and give people special powers and stuff like that. Well, I haven't noticed anything yet, but I'll definitely keep you posted.

So, here's the run-down for the next 3 1/2 weeks! OH MY GOD 3 1/2 weeks?! what????

Rest of this week- In Prague! Doing homework, hanging out, exploring... but I'll be here in the city!

Week 2- In Prague again.. more finals work, presentations, etc.. but next weekend I have a class trip for my Landscape Sociology class to "Czech Paradise" or Cesky Raj, its in northern Czech Republic and supposed to be absolutely beautiful and has a lot of naturey things to do! I leave on Friday 5/15 and then come back Monday 5/18 in the morning.

Week 3- Last week in Prague! AH! Finishing up classes, saying goodbye to everyone, packing up my room in the beautiful Kolej... sad!! But I'm leaving here on either Thursday 5/21 or Friday to go to Bratislava to spend my last week with Andi and her family.

Week 4- In Bratislava! Then...

SUNDAY MAY 31st- Home. In Boston. Fo' Real.

I cannot wait.

I Miss you all SO much and thank you for putting up with my insanely, ridiculously, and somewhat unneccessarily long journal entry. But hey, you all asked for me to post something, so I did. Be happy that I actually sat down and did this. It's all because I love you all sooooooooooo much

Also, pictures up on here veryy soon. If I forget or something, don't worry, you will all be subjected to viewing every single one when I come home!

See you in, wow, 26 days????? wooo

Love,

Maris