The Start of Something New

The start of the craziest year of my life... WOW. I feel like I have talked about doing this forEVER but then it totally sped up on me. I didn't even want to jump on the plane and go for the entire week leading up to departure, but I'm really glad that I did. I wanted to write this blog for my family and friends so they could see what I'm doing, and not have to stalk me on my facebook, and so my mom won't have to hound me about emails. I hope whoever reads this blog, even if its just my mom and dad, that they can see just what I'm up to and follow along on the amazing adventures I'm sure to have.

SOOO week one: opening tour. Our opening tour this year is Berlin, Dresden, Prague, and Vienna. Today, day six, I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Prague using the free wireless (boy is that AMAZING). It has been a crazy week. No sleep, lots of walking, beautiful sights, and crazy people. I guess I'll start where it all began... BERLIN.

Berlin was awesome. It was interesting to see how the city really still is two different places. There is still def. a communistic feel in the east part of the city. We went on a four hour tour of the city and got to see everything. I also went on an optional tour with Dr. Burke to the Jewish museum which was very cool. The second day we went to a concentration camp, which is something I really wanted to do. It starts with an S. and wasn't an gas chamber camp like Aushwitz. It was intersting to see, but they didn't leave much there so it was hard to imagine it back when the reign of terror was occuring. I still think it is probably one of the things everyone should do before they die. Just walking around the city and exploring was awesome.. I even got to hit up one of the millions of H&Ms they have which was good for some retail therapy.

The next day we traveled to Prague, with a mid-way stop in Dresden. I absolutely loved Dresden. It was one of those old German towns with so much history. They were fire bombed during the war and lost almost anything, so much of the city was re-built, but its was still old-style and beautiful. We went on a two hour bus/walking tour which was super cool. Afterwords we had free time so I went to the market and got to see all of the cool booths and enjoy local German cuisine.

We have been in Prague for the last 2 days and its a crazy city. Yesterday we went on a three hour walking tour of the city, which is absolutely beautiful because it has remained unharmed from the war. My friends and I then decided to explore more of old town and then walk back the way we came, which didn't work out so well. We ended up hiking back through the castle and getting lost after exiting it. The map we had was completely confusing and didn't include all of the city. We walked around asking local for help for an extra four hours. As crazy as it was to be lost, it was something awesome I can say happened to me. Last night we went to the craziest club. It was 5 stories of different themed floors, including one called "Black Music" (so PC i know!). You must go and see it if you come to Prague. Today I went to the church where the assasins of Hitlers would be successor hid, which still has all of the bullet holes from the fight between them and the nazis. That was amazing. I love wwII history so this trip has been amazing!

Now on to Vienna. I can't wait! Talk to everyone soon.

Music Guide: "The Start of Something New" by High School Musical