The past couple months have been a daydream filled with travel, friends, and fantastic moments. Let's go way back to April 14, which is the date I left with all of my Odyssey pals and headed off to Europe. We arrived at the Salt Lake City airport during the wee hours of the morning, ate some breakfast, and boarded our flight overseas.
I sent emails to friends and family throughout my journey and figured it was the best way to describe my trip. Enjoy.
April 15, 2010:
"I don't have a phone while I am in Europe so I figured e-mail was the best way to keep in touch, and a lot of the hotels and hostels we are staying at provide free access to computers. I survived my first overseas flight! We headed out of Salt Lake City at 8:45am had a short layover in NYC and then landed in Frankfurt at 7:45am the next day. Weird how that works. I pulled an all nighter the night before our flight because I was trying to figure out how to fit a weeks worth of clothes in a backpack, and we all know that I am NOT a light packer! I tried to stay up most of the first flight to New York because the flight over the Atlantic is around 8 hours and the perfect amount to sleep. Who knew that International flights provide free alcohol? 2 Glasses of Red Wine and 2 NyQuil later I was out cold.
Definitely a blessing that we arrived in the morning because I woke up from my drug and alcohol induced sleep feeling rather refreshed. Our group of 30 Americans in the Frankfurt airport was quite the sight. Dancers don't blend well, we are too loud! All 30 of us hopped on our tour bus and settled in for the hour and a half trip to our first performance city Ludenscheid, Germany. During the drive we got to see the beautiful rolling hills landscape of Germany, and it is the weirdest thing to look out your window and see a castle just sitting there. So cool! I love the group of people I am traveling with because even after all the traveling we did right when we checked into the hotel a big group of us gathered to walk around the city.
Ludenscheid is such a quainte town with darling tree-lined streets and houses that have been around forever. I tried the coffee already and it is delicious. My first German transaction was interesting considering I know NO GERMAN. Literally, not one word. Ha. And the woman serving didn't know English, but we figured it out. The gelato and Bratwurst were tested by some others in my group and I plan on definitely doing a taste test of those soon! The lifestyle is so relaxed and it was really neat to get a sense of the culture just by walking around and sitting at cafes to people watch. Anyway, we have class in about a half hour so I have to go, but I will keep you updated."
April 17, 2010:
"So glad to hear all of your responses! It is our last day in Ludenscheid and we have our first show tonight. It's the Romeo and Juliet show and is apparently sold out. It will be interesting though because we don't have a lot of the props or the big screens that were a major part of the show, and all the commentary is in English. Sorry Germany! So, some very funny things have happened already! After I wrote to you last time we took class and then went back to the hotel. I am rooming in a triple with Jen Osorio and Veronica Yeager, two of my very favorite people and they are so fun.
We ate some dinner and then all the Odyssey people want to go to the pool which is on the top floor of the hotel. It has the most gorgeous view of the German country side and there is a little deck you could sit out on. We hung out on the deck for a while and then decided it was time to test the water. I was with Matt Dorame and we headed into the pool area, he went to dip his foot in the water and this German woman with a swim cap on starts yelling at him in German (she may have been just talking, but they always sound mad,) obviously we have no idea what she is saying and she just keeps going and going. Ater a bit of sign language we figure out she is trying to tell us that we have to shower before we get into the pool. Apparently Germans REALLY follow the rules. We just waited for a bit until she left and then after she got out we all just jumped in. Ha. We played all the pool games, did relays, sharks and minnows, etc. The pool was actually really cold so we decided to head into the sauna. It was through kind of this spa area in the hotel and we walked in a group of probably ten to go check it out. Half of the girls went first and this German man followed them in screaming once again in German... we have no idea whats going on. Then the second half which I was in walked into the spa room right as he was leaving the sauna and he started screraming at us in German, he kept going and going... clearly we have no idea what he is saying. He is standing there in a towel and all the sudden he takes it off and shows us his GERMAN WEINEY! Old man German weiner! ha. It was the craziest thing! We kinda just walked by him and joined our friends in the sauna. Come to find he did the same thing to them. We couldn't decide if he was trying to tell us that we had to be naked to be in the sauna or if flashing your weiner was like giving the middle finger in America! Ha. We got kicked out of the sauna later by a guy from the hotel who said we were too loud.
We got 'SHHHHHed' in the street by this German guy and we were seriously talking at a normal rate. Germans are practically mute and Americans are really loud! haha. I tried a Donner yesterday which is this yummy Gyro type wrap, but the meat is shaved off so its really thin and put in this wonderful bread. DELICIOUS!
I am off to go take some pictures with my cool camera, then walk around town for a bit, class, show and end the night back at the hotel. We get on the bus bright and early tomorrow and head off to our next city, so it may be a bit before I check in again. Love you all and talk to you soon."
April 19, 2010:
"It has been so nice to receive your messages! It is morning in Wolfsburg and we performed our Let it Be show last night. It went so well and the Germans love the Beatles. They seriously clap for like 20 minutes after the show is done. We got into the city of Wolfsburg yesterday, which is the home of the Volkswagon company! I was going to go to the headquaters and tell them my bumper is falling off and that I want a refund but we didn't have time! haha. We didn't get to see much of the city yesterday because our call was pretty early and the show started at 6pm.
This morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed out the door by 7. We walked around the town that has buildings from 1600. Stopped at a cute bakery for coffee (I am getting much better at the transactions, except I keep holding up my pointer finger to say the number one, but thats like the middle finger over here. They count with their thumb as number one! whoops!) We headed to this awesome cathedral in the old part of town that was built in 1667! So great. We are getting on the bus and taking it to a city called Goldslag, which is apparently a really cool medival town. WE HAVE THE DAY OFF! Wonderful.
No shows! So we get to spend the day in this cool city and they we head to our next performance town. No idea where that is, but I will let you know when I get there. No more German weiners to be seen yet, but I will let you know! haha. Of yah, the volcano eruption happened the day after we arrived here so we were so lucky, but our lighting tech wasn't. He's still stuck in Atlanta! Love you all and miss you. Kisses.
After completing our tour with Odyssey I set out on my sightseeing vacation with Katia Bode, Jessie Thacker, and Chase Wise. And oh what a trip we had! With two weeks of travel time we decided to hit all the major stops in Western Europe; Amsterdam, Paris, Nice, Rome and Interlaken. Let the adventure begin!
May 3, 2010:
"It has been quite the whirlwind. We finished with our last Odyssey shows and then headed out to hit Europe. It was amazing to be alone in the Frankfurt Airport and realize that we were about to embark on our adventure.
We stopped in Amsterdam and had an amazing time riding bikes, walking along the canals, eating at bistros, and enjoying the nightlife. We saw the Anne Frank Museum, which reminded me so much of Grandma Reid because she gave me that book so I left a donation in her name at the end. It was unreal to be there! We rented bikes for a couple hours and took to the streets, almost died a few times because their bike lanes are practically roads!
And we did a canal tour which was so fun. Saw the red light district, actually were staying kind of close to it. So weird! Went to a fun club on the last night in Leidensplein. there we had some funny experiences on our trains from Amsterdam to Paris. We decided to take the local trains because they are free, but the journey is a bit longer. We took our first train and everything went off without a hitch. Our second connection was fine too, no drama.
The reservation only gave us a 4 minuted layover between our 2 and 3 train so of cuorse we missed that. The train we were on was 15 minutes late to begin with. So from there we had to go into an agent and figure out a better way to get to Paris. Oh yah, and on the first train one of our friends forgot to fill out his train card with the date and he was fined 50 ER which is like almost 75 bucks! Anyway, so we get this stuff all worked out and we are on a train that goes from Belgium to France. All the sudden a German shepard walks by and I say, (oh cute dog) then realize its a drug dog! It starts to walk by us and then stops. All the guards start interrogating us and saying (do you smoke the cannabis). Holy cow my heart stopped! We were dying looking at this dog.
It was insane. Everything ended up being ok. They checked our passports and let us go. After the fact, when we got to the hostel in Paris Katia found half a blunt in her bag. Basically, she was really really lucky! ok. So then we end up runnning around the train station thinking we are getting on the wrong train at one point. It was honestly one of the funniest things!
We looked like the dumbest Americans sprinting around this train station with HUGE backpacks on! Classic. Eventually, we arrived in Paris and had a wonderful dinner with wine and pizza ni the Latn Quarter, which I LOVE. The next day we saw the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Egyptian Obelisk, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tour! So amazing. I love the atmosphere of this city. The second day we were in Paris was May 1, which is a big national holiday. At first we were kind of bummed because everything was supposed to be closed, but it ended up being the best day ever!
So many people were out on the streets, there were break dancers, street performers and even a huge riot going on downtown. I will say that Paris Policemen in gas masks is not a settling feeling! ha. Only bummer is some creepy little Italian broke into a whole bunch of bags in our room and he stole my iPod and100 Euro! I had been so good at saving my money so I could shop a ton and do crazy stuff in Switzerland so I am kinda bummed. Anyway, Paris has been amazing. I absolutely love it! Off to Nice we go on a night train. Should be interesting! Au Revoir."
Our trip tp Nice, France was such a blast, but the rain was a little bit of a bummer. We spent a lot of time in our amazing hostel called the Villa St. Expury. The best place ever with the most amazing breakfast cereals you have ever seen. Who knew they had chocolate nuggets filled with NUTELLA and call it cereal! Fantastic. We basically stayed in, relaxed a bit, made caprese salad dinners, partied at the hostel and slept on the beach for the little bit of sun that we saw!
From Nice we headed off to Rome! Such a fantastic city full of such amazing history! Vatican City was definitely my favorite part of our tour, but the Colosseum is a close second. By this point in the trip we were pretty tired, but we kept truckin' along!
May 10, 2010:
"This is probably going to be my last email to you in Europe. So crazy! We got really lucky with our hostel here in Switzerland. It is a hostel and a hotel so the bathrooms are attached and the beds are super comfy. There were probably ten beds in our room, but only the three of us ended up staying there. It was so nice to leave our stuff sprawled out on the floor! Also there is a huge St. Bernard that lives at the hostel and she is so sweet.
So yesterday we arrived early in the morning in Interlaken and the weather was pretty decent so we had to do some kind of adventure. We decided on Paragliding first. Oh my it was amazing. They take you up to the top of this mountain with a huge backpack, which isnt very reassuring because jumping off a mountain with something that fits in a backpack just does't seem right. The view from the top of the hill where we took off was absolutely gorgeous. Interlaken used to be a glacier and when the ice melted away it left a bit off land in the middle of two huge lakes, and we found out that Interlaken literaaly means between lakes.
guide was hilarious and he decided that out of the three of us, we were going first! Fantastic. So he straps me in this harness which freaked me out because they don't really tighten the straps. It just kind of hangs off you when you are standing up because when you are on the tandom ride you ar in a sitting position. So I am walking around with this loose harness on, and then he straps me in with a carrabeaner under each armpit. THATS IT. One tiny strap held onto with a carrabeaner (which might I add did not have a twisty lock it just hooked on like one of those cheap key chains... fantastic) separating me from death! ahh.
So we are all strapped in and ready to go and he tells me that I just have to run as fast as I can down the mountain. In front of me is a super steep steep slope so running just doesnt seem like a good idea. He gave the go ahead and we started running. The wind caught us and it just lifts you off the ground. The views were surreal. It felt like I was watching a movie with some panoramic shot, but I was really seeing it. It was such an awesome ride and really cool to feel the updrafts catch the sail. One the way down he asked if I wanted to get crazy and I said of course so he starts spiraling us in circles and doing these crazy tricks. It was intense and I definitely had my carnival ride face on the whole time! ha. When we did the spiral he said that we hit about 3 G's. So cool. We landed in this medow and right after we landed it kind of started to sprinkle. We were super lucky because it was the last trip of paragliders they took up that day because they cancel when it rains.
So fun. Today we are headed out to go white water
rafting and I am super excited. A little nervous because our guide was tanked at the bar last night, but apparently he is the swiss champion. Cool. I will let you know how that goes too. Thanks so much for writing to me. I love getting emails while over here and I am going to finally get internet when I get back because it is so wonderful to keep in touch with you all. Love you so much."
From Interlaken we took a train back to the Frankfurt Airport to take the long journey to the States. So sad to leave such an amazing place. I am a changed person from my trip and I cannot wait to set out on my next adventure!
