Passportfolio: 2012

July 6-9, 2012

Well, the time has arrived and I am back home in the wonderful state of Texas. I cannot even begin to express how wonderful my journeys across Europe were, and how valuable the relationships I have formed with my classmates and friends are to me. Barcelona was perhaps the ultimate end to my time in Europe.

We departed Prague at 2 in the afternoon and had an extremely cramped flight that is very characteristic of European Airlines. Luckily, the flight was only a couple of hours and we arrived in Barcelona around 5 pm. Desigual, a Barcelona fashion brand, provided us with free maps that highlighted all the good clubs, tapas, and included key tips for surviving Barcelona (which is surprisingly difficult - think heat, late nights, and an extremely different daily schedule from any I've ever experienced). It was incredibly helpful as we made our way into the city. Getting to our hostel was a little bit of a task, as this was the first time the entire trip that I had to actually carry a suitcase, and boy was traveling with it difficult. We took a bus from the airport to the center of the town, and then continued to walk about 5 blocks to our hostel. In the Spain heat, it was quite a task.

Our hostel was really fun. We had a room with six beds in it, but unfortunately the beds were pretty much the only things that could fit in the room - we hardly could all stand in it at once! We could handle it though. That night the hostel hosted a punch night and then took everyone to a club. My friends I was traveling with wanted to go explore the city, so I opted to stay at the hostel for the events by myself. I met wonderful people from switzerland, morocco, France, Spain, and all over the world. My favorites were the six German guys staying in the room next door. They were probably the goofiest, funniest, and cutest foreigners I have ever met.

The club that our hostel took us to was a salsa club only a few blocks away. Holy moly can Spaniards dance. I was so amazed by the incredible movements of the locals and had so much fun when the DJ taught everyone some basic salsa moves. The movement is so different from our own dancing! I've honestly never moved my hips like that.

Even though the locals normally stay out until 6 or 7 a.m., I decided to make it an early night and got home to the hostel at 2. The next day we woke up early for our Fat Tire Bike Tour (sound familiar?). It was a great time and we went all through Barcelona. My favorite area was the old town, where on every corner you can find a different spanish guitarist or musician. Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's masterpiece, was also incredible to see. The people on the tour were great as well, and I learned a lot from my Australian friend and a fellow native Texan who has worked across the world with the U.S. Embassy. I never knew how many avenues you can employ a business degree!

After the tour we all went to the mariner museum, and then to THE BEACH! Barcelona's beaches are famous - for the beauty, parties, andddd nudity. It was a little bit of a culture shock to see, but I give the locals props for their confidence in their skin. My poor pale skin couldn't take the Barcelona sun for too long, and so I left early to walk back to the hostel (which was about 2 and a half miles away). I walked down La Rambles, the most famous shopping street in Barcelona. It was full of markets and art work, and I had a blast looking at everything. After getting back to the hostel I took it easy and got ready for the night. My friends and I wanted to experience to Barcelona nightlife, and we decided to do it right. In order to succeed in this, we had to wait until 2 a.m. to even LEAVE the hostel! Guess what time got home? SEVEN in the morning. Really, it was so much fun, but I could never live like that. Probably the funniest thing about the night was running into our German neighbors at the subway station. They didn't reserve enough money to get home and were stuck! Luckily I found them and was able to donate to their desperate cause, and the 6 Germans, me and my 5 friends all made it back to our hostel safely.

The following day I had plans to meet up with friends from Prague at the beach, and split from my group to try and do so. Unfortunately, the people I was meeting and I had some miscommunication, and we were not able to connect (not having cell phones is pretty difficult at times). As a result, I had a full day to wander through Barcelona by myself. I decided to walk home again from the beach and took a slightly different path. I found so many incredible musicians. My favorite moment of the entire trip was getting to know a woman who had sung opera across Europe. She was singing in front of a church, and her voice was so beautiful that I had to stop. After listening to a couple of songs I decided to donate some Euros to her, and when I approached her little table she had set up she stopped singing and came up to talk to me. She was probably 65 years old, and so so kind. She wanted to tell me about her career in Opera, and showed me all of the different pictures of her performing and even the book of poetry that she had published. All of this was in Spanish, so I missed a little bit of it, but the conversation was endearing. I decided to read some of her poems and sat against the church wall while she continued to sing. After what was the most wonderful hour, I decided to continue on my way back to the hostel. Once there, I was able to check back in on wifi to see how the rest of my group was doing and confirmed a meeting spot for that night. With still a couple hours left, I decided to travel to visit the famous Parc Guell in northern Barcelona.

The journey there was a little complex, as it involved a subway ride and a 1.5 mile walk, but the park was beautiful. I wandered through by myself and stopped to sit when I saw a guitarist playing. He too had a gorgeous voice and I enjoyed every moment of his singing. When he stopped playing and put his guitar up, he looked right at me and gave me a wave. What a great connection of appreciation. I started wandering again, and was drawn like a moth to a light when I heard a choir of kids singing Bohemia Rapsody. They were gathered under an awning and sounded like they were sent from heaven. The group was from Belgium, and they had travelled around Europe singing. They were so good I even bought a CD.

After the part it was time to meet back up with my group. I took the subway to the Magic Fountain to see the night time show. Man was that area in Barcelona beautiful. There was the palace, a gorgeous fountain, and a breathtaking sunset. What was more, Harley Davidson was having a festival there so there was food, games, rides, and tons of bikers. What fun!

The show was incredible, and it felt great to get back in contact with my group. It was hard to believe that that was our last night not only in Spain, but in Europe. We spent the night reminiscing and appreciating everything that we had this summer. I cannot express how thankful and appreciative I am for the opportunity to have seen the places I did, and enjoy them with the people I was with. Thank you to my parents for supporting me, and thank you to everyone who made this adventure all that it was.

June 29- July 1, 2012

Traveling to Munich was my first time in the country of Germany, and I was beyond impressed by the extreme juxtaposition I found between Prague and Munich. Throughout my history classes I have always learned that Germany is a major European power, but I didn't expect to find such a modern city! I have travelled to London and Paris before, and while both radiate power and history, Munich had an air of sleekness that was impressive. From the BMW world to the reconstruction efforts undertaken by the town after WWII, the city is extremely well built. What perhaps surprised me the most, however, was how much the people of Munich appreciated the outdoors. The city has beautiful parks (The English Gardens being probably my favorite park of all time), a great outdoor festival culture, outdoor beergartens, and endless events to promote the city center and community in Munich.

Our first day in Munich (Friday), we arrived around 1 pm. And by arrived, I mean we came with 20 people from Prague! It took us a while to get our bearings, but when we finally figured out what trams to take and the passes to purchase, we all loaded up and headed to the hostel. Courtney booked this one for us, and it was by far the least expensive hostel in Munich. The cost reduction probably came from the fact that the hostel was literally a giant TENT (Hence the hostel's name "The Tent"). The hostel consisted of extended camp grounds where people had the choice to bring their own tent and camp in the grass, sleep on the floor in the public floor tent, or rent a bunk in the public sleep tent. There was no electricity in the tents, but they did have lights that lined the top at night. Our group, because we were a whomping 20 large, was able to rent the "group tent" - a smaller scale tent that had around 25 bunks in it. Upon first arrival I was a little skeptical (with camping comes bugs....), but The Tent proved to be a very fun community with great staff, good affordable food, a campfire at night and a relaxing place to spend downtime at.

The banner at the end of the gravel drive to our hostel

The campfire and outdoor picnic tables. The tents in the background are the public sleeping tents.

Our group tent. Colorful sheets!

Our tent. Simple but charming (and really really really hot during the day).

After checking in and settling in our tent, we headed back towards the city center for "Mikes Bike Tour". We met the guide underneath the Old Town Tower and began our journey with a couple dance moves and a little bit of adult humor. After getting to the shop, we all picked up a bike (mine was burnt orange!) and headed through town. We saw the National Theater, Ludwigsstrasse, Residenz, Chinesischer Turm Biergarten (and man were the ribs there delicious), Theatinerkirce (one of the most unique churches I have ever seen), the surfers, The English Gardens, and Maximilian street (Rodeo drive of Munich).

The Old Town Tower

City Hall. While it looks like it is very old, it was actually built in 1907.

Ready for the bike tour with my burnt orange bike!

Rolling 20 strong. Our tour guide, Kyle, was a UT graduate, so all in all we had 21 Longhorns strolling through the streets of Munich.

Nationaltheater. Built by Max Joseph, the first King of Bavaria (appointed by Napolean)

Theatinerkirche - the inside is one of the most unique I have ever seen. The entire church is completely white.

This memorial remembers the generals who have served in German wars. There are two lions positioned in the front. The one on the left (not shown), faces Residenz (the palace) and has its mouth open to symbolize the necessity for citizens to always question their rulers and stand up for their rights. This lion (on the right), is facing Theatinerkirche (the church) and has its mouth closed symbolizing the need to never question God.

Eisbach - the river running through the English Gardens that everyone swims in. It is like a lazy river, and it's not uncommon to see people swimming in their underwear or even completely nude.

On a sunny day, everyone flocks to the English Gardens to get some sun and enjoy the beautiful park.

My ribs at the Chinesischer Turm Biergarten.

The beirgarten's centerpiece. Musicians play from the second level.

Surfers! This is the only constant standing wave in the world, and surfers shred it all day every day. It's quite a sight. Last month Jack Johnson even came to ride it!

That night I was feeling a little run down so I headed back to the hostel to sit by the camp fire and read my book while everyone else experienced Augustine Biergartens. The next morning the group wanted to go to Dachau Concentration Camp. Michelle had already been to this same one, and I have travelled to Mauthausen last time I was in Austria, and so we decided to spend the morning on our own and meet up with Sanjana and Angela, who were coming into town at 1. We went to Nymphenburg Palace and explored the grounds. What a beautiful place. It is just another exhibit of the joys that can come from beautiful gardens in Europe. I hope that I can help bring a piece of this serenity to Austin one day.

The Palace fills the horizon as you walk down the path towards it

So much water and such a beautiful day. This palace ended up being the best way to spend the morning.

Gotta do a handstand...

Michelle and I about to embark on our walk through the grounds.

Rivers ran through the entire grounds. Along with all of the beautiful water, we found natural raspberry bushes, flowers, and more.

After the palace, Michelle and I went back to the hostel to meet up with Angela and Michelle. The four of us went to grab lunch and then headed back again to try and meet up with the group that had gone to Dachau. Unfortunately, miscommunication ensued and they ended up going into the city center without stopping back by the hostel, so we were on our own. By the time we got back to the city, it was a little too late for all of the sightseeing (and I was dying to go back to the park, but it was getting close-ish to sunset). We were all kind of bummed because everyone else seemed to be doing exactly what we wanted to be doing. We stopped back into Mike's Bike Tours to ask them of a good place to go, and upon seeing our distress of being left and now having anything to do, the owner agreed to let us have four bikes for the afternoon for FREE! In return, we graciously flyered for their shop. We had SO much fun riding throughout the city. We went back to The English Gardens, swam in the river, watched the surfers, and toured the city again (showing Angela and Sanjana the sites they missed that we saw on the tour Friday). Everyone laughed at me as I quoted the same history the tour guide told us back to Angela and Sanjana. After we returned the bikes (with many thank yous and smiles), we picked up a sushi snack (by we I mean the other three), and headed to a coffee shop to get some caffeine before our long night out to celebrate Forrest's birthday. At 9, we met up with the other 16 kiddos at the Hoffbrauhaus and had a dinner full of chants, cheers, toasts, and rowdy laughter celebrating Forrest's 21st! The night didn't end there, and we made it to one more biergarten before finally getting back to the hostel for some shut eye before our final day.

Back in the park.

Michelle and Sanjana with their bikes!

Sanjana at the parliamentary building. They replaced the roof with glass to symbolize the transparency of their government.

Hofbrauhaus! This beirgarten can hold over 5000 guests at a time! It gets loud!

In the Hofgarten

The famous "Ranny Point". There's no better indicator of a good time.

Sunday was pretty incredible. We went to BMW world and saw incredible cars and an impressive phenomenon where families took their children there as if it were an amusement park. The cars were awesome, and the facilities pretty amazing - it was almost like a club in some parts. After BMW world we went to the Olympic Park where Munich hosted the summer Olympics in 1974. The strucures are amazing and the facilities to die for. They've converted a lot of the space into gyms, and I could only imagine what it would be to train there. Talk about motivation. After the Olympic Park Ran and I went off to Konigsplatz, the museum district, where they were hosting the SLACKLINE WORLD CUP! To our surprise, they were also hosting the European speed climbing championships. Wow - we were both extremely inspired by the athletic power at the event, and even more so by how fun the atmosphere was. You could try slack lining out on your own, rock climb a small wall, zip line, juggle, indoboard, listen to live music, rave to the DJ, jump on trampolines, and more! The best and most amazing part was that it was all free. It literally was the coolest sporting event I've ever been to, and I've been to many. After that, we went back to the hostel to pick up our bags, headed to the Augustine Biergarten to watch the Eurocup finals (go Spain!) and then made the extremely long journey home to Prague. We arrived back at 6:30 am this morning to class at 9..... Good thing we're young.