But I know everyone would be very upset with me if I left it at that so I'll try my best to let you into the three craziest weeks of my life so far.
Tag 1 - Sonntag (15 Apr) - A&O Hostel Dresden = Berlin/Dresden
Katie had slept over the night before Euro tour so we could travel together to Rostock main station, it was cute. 5am straight for a 10am arrival in Berlin, despite the earliness we were beyond excited and did not shut up the whole way to the station. Once on the station we meet up with the "Rostockers" (4 other exchange students from our area) and our excitement grew. Our train to Berlin was excruciating slow because all we could think about was hugging all the exchange students and feeling at home again. Literally once the train pulled into Berlin we all sprinted to Maccas, where a bunch of exchange students we being beautiful and social. After killing Will with another crushing Australian hug, and said hello to old and new faces we were all ushered and split into 2 buses heading to Dresden. It took 3 hours to get to Dresden and once there we attended an extremely boring tour but Dresden was very pretty though it just looked a lot like a German town to me. An hour later we were in the hostel, we got given our rooms, had a basic dinner, then received an introductory lecture from the leaders where we were given our rotary tshirt, jumper, name tag and diary. After the meeting we wandered the streets of Dresden to find something to do or somewhere to go on a Sunday night, and naturally we ended up in Maccas. One odd thing about Maccas in Germany is that it sells beer on tap.. so most exchange students tried it - none for me, beer sucks still.
Tag 2 - Montag (16 Apr) - Hotel Duo Prag = Dresden/Meißen/Prague
In the morning after breakfast we headed into the buses and took a 2 hour tour of Meißen. The town is very historical, typical German, with churches, castles, "the best beer" and old houses. After the tour a group of us ended up in a gelato bar and got toasties and hot chocolates, very random. After lunch we jumped back on the bus and headed towards Czech Republic! 3 hours later and about 200 spanish songs later (we ended up getting on the bus with majority of spanish people- they sing a lot!!) we were in Prague :) After getting settled and having dinner we had free time, where everyone split once in the city into smaller groups. My group consisted of majority Americans and Canadians, then myself and a French guy, Maxime, we ended up in a music bar. As Maxime and I were the odd ones out we stuck together and chatted, I found out he was a scout in Paris and I literally died a little bit inside. Since we had a curfew we headed up early to get to the hotel at 12pm. Before bed I went to Katie's room for a debrief of her night and I ended up staying longer than expected along with some other girls; long story short leaders checked rooms, Katie lied about how many people were in the room, I hid extremely well and didn't get caught but there were still 5 other girls that got caught so Katie got a yellow card - not a great start.
Tag 3 - Dienstag (17 Apr) - Hotel Duo Prag = Prague
Today we explored Prague with a 5 hour tour, lucky in English, and also free time in the afternoon. I stayed with Katie and we had a little Czech adventure together trying to spend all my KC (Czech currency) at a little market and buying ice-cream. We also ended up in maccas where funnily enough we meet some retired Australians on a tour. After a little chat with them Katie told me "thank goodness your accent isn't as strong as that otherwise we could not be friends" - they came from Darwin and NT way. Once back at the hotel we had dinner, chilled then hopped back on a train to go see a black light theatre play. It was extremely weird but pretty awesome, it involved people wearing black (not seen by the audience) moving different objects on staged which interfered with the actors. After that a group of close friends went to a dodgey Czech bar and just chilled.
Tag 4 - Mittwoch (18 Apr) - A&O Hostel Wien = Vienna
The drive from Prague to Vienna took around 4 hours, and after almost bursting my bladder we arrived mid afternoon. There was a mix up with rooms so we were waiting for over an hour, That was ok though because we bumped into other rotary exchange students from France who were on a Euro tour as well, so cool. After chatting for ages with the other exchangers our rooms were sorted I was put into a with majority Spanish, one French (Laurine) and one Brazilian (Carol). After dinner we had free time as usual so we got ourselves a map and headed out to find a fun place to relax. An hour of walking later we found an interesting pub/club which ended up being English, named Charlie P's. It was extremely full due to a Bundesliga game being played upstairs so we headed downstair and found a table. I made friends with the Brazilian bartender so we got really good cocktails, yes! Once again our curfew made us come back early but lucky did because we were confused about how to get back, a really nice Austrian guy named Marlin saw our confusion and helped us. Once back at the hotel everyone was pooped but I couldn't sleep so I went to the lobby and found Maxime, we ended up playing cards for hours - no room checks that night thank goodness.
Tag 5 - Donnestag (19 Apr) - A&O Hostel Wien = Vienna
Today started off really shitty as one of the boys in my group, Jonah from Alaska, got sent home as he was caught with weed. Everyone was extremely upset and frustrated with Rotary, we thought they'd give me a second chance but no. The day got slightly better when our bus went to an Austrian castle with beautiful mazes and gardens. I hung out with Roy, Katie, Will and Maxime all day it was wonderful! We ate enormous pretzels, played in the rain, go lost in mazes, chased squirrels and just had an overall great time - I love those guys all so much. At night again we had dinner in a restaurant which made me feel unwell but I battled through it and in free time went out to again to Charlie P's as Marlin the Austrian guy was meant to meet us. Of course he didn't so we were pretty bummed and ended up having a few drinks then going back to the hotel to play fussball and pool.
Tag 6 - Freitag (20 Apr) - A&O Hostel Wien = Vienna
In the morning I facebooked Georgia (an Aussie girl who moved to Vienna about 2 years ago) to see if we could meet up, as today we had the longest period of free time - but no reply. At around 10 we headed to the UN Organisation in Vienna and had a little tour, it was pretty cool but nothing insanely special. Literally 5 minutes after the tour finished Georgia called me and we organised to meet in the city later. So again our group wandered around trying to find something cool, until we found an old camera shop - Katie literally died of happiness. I wasn't too fussed until I saw I bright red old film camera and flash for 3 euros, Katie convinced me to buy it and said she would teach me all about how to use it - I'm pretty excited. Straight after my great buy Georgia came to the shop with her sister Haley, my day was awesome so far - it was so good to see her I didn't realize how much I missed her! We had coffee with Georgia and Haley, and also received some entertainment - a fight between a tour guide and a drunk man which involved police pointing guns at them, very odd.. "Welcome to Vienna" Haley said after the commotion stopped. Once the excitement died Georgia took us on a personal tour of Vienna where we ended up lying in a park surrounded by old buildings soaking up sun and the atmosphere - amazing. At night all the exchange students went to see the opera, a weird experience which was slightly enjoyable. Since we were in the city we met up with Georgia again and she took us to an Austrian shisha bar, pretty cool. I'm so glad I got to see Georgia, even if it was only for a few hours, we've organised for her to come visit me and said that we would travel together in the future :)
Tag 7 - Samstag (21 Apr) - Hotel Frank Venedig = Vienna/Venice
Italy here we come!! This day was literally just travelling in the bus, i'd say it was about 8 hours - but it wasn't exactly boring as I was sitting next to Maxime discussing scout camps and such, and also drooling over the views of the Austrian Alps. We arrived in Venice late afternoon and just sorted out our rooms, unpacked and relaxed until dinner. So much food! First a serving of pasta, ok good. Then a meat dish with vegetables, ok. Then cake, ok my gosh sooo full. By the time we leave Italy i'm sure all the exchange students will have gained "Rotary kilos". Tonight Rotary actually had organised for us to go clubbing which seemed really awesome until we were out the front and heaps of 12 year olds walked in. So we bailed and Katie, Maxime, Dener (a Brazilian) and I went to an Italian bar and talked.
Tag 8 - Sonntag (22 Apr) - Hotel Frank Venedig = Venice
We got up pretty early today so get ready for a full day in the sinking city of Venice. After a bus trip and a boat trip we finally made it to the city. First up the group was split into buses, our bus had free time first. Maxime said he'd been here before and he knew some cool places so we naturally followed him, bad mistake. We were lost in Venice for about 2 hours (it was a good type of lost as I bought some leather shoes) just walking around the narrow streets, looking at canals, in touristy shops and just getting frustrated with eachother. To top it off it started raining, then more heaving rain, then it got faster then it started to hail. So we ran into a "tax free" Italian restaurant and had huge pizzas. After lunch we were worried we wouldn't make it back for the tour since we were lost, but it turned out that we weren't extremely far away. The tour consisted of riding with a water taxi to the entrance of Venice, it was gorgeous! Once there we walked all throughout Venice say many Italian balcony's, flags and bridges. By the end of the of the day my feet we destroyed. We got back to the hotel at 6.30pm, had dinner and I was almost ready for bed but Corey (an American friend) had some fire lanterns which he wanted to send off from the beach, so i joined him and the others. Sending the lit lanterns into the sky was so magical, and to top it off I was surrounded by the most amazing people, exchange students.
Tag 9 - Montag (23 Apr) - Hotel Pacific Rom = Venice/Rome
Today was my 3 month anniversary of exchange!! It started off really dull as we travelled again for 8 hours, with hardly any sleep, to get to Rome. Once we arrived there we celebrated with some Italian gelato, soaking up the Vatican buildings and then enjoying some wine with a small group of exchange students, amazing! My time in Rome started off really good as my cabin was perfect :) I was with Noora from Finland and Rachel from Taiwan (both extremely cute and nice).
Tag 10 - Dienstag (24 Apr) - Hotel Pacific Rom = Rome
The start of today was hectic, our leader, Kristin, fell over and broke her foot so everyone was running around like chickens without heads. But we found our way to the Spanish steps where we had yet again another tour which ventured around Rome including the Trevi Fountain - it went for 3 hours or so. More gelato was eaten and then we had free time of course. The regular group; Katie, Roy, Will, Corey, Bub (thai guy) and Yogi (indian guy) adventured together and found the Colosseum - very overrated, extemely touristy and busy but cool. After walking for ages we called it quits and went back to the hotel early to chill. When in the hotel I was surrounded by bogan Aussie accents and coincidentally there was a private school from Perth staying in our hotel also - after chatting with them for about half an hour, I realised how unfriendly and annoying a bogan accent is so I politely left leaving Roy making fun of their accents. At night we wanted to have a "when in Rome" experience and go to a gay bar but unfortunately with our curfew rule we couldn't make it back in time, so instead we ended up playing drinking games and chatting - very emotional night.
Tag 11 - Mittwoch (25 Apr) - Hotel Pacific Rom = Rome
Our third day in Rome first involved waiting in the boiling hot sun for 2 hours to see one old guy called the Pope. Over 5000 people did the same, so the atmosphere was pretty cool as we sang songs and tried not to die from the heat. Once I had a glimpse of the Pope I was ready to leave but no we had to wait for him to say the same speech and read the same verse in 10 different languages. After being in the front of the Vadican with Popey for 2 hours, I was about ready to cry. But I was saved once again by the Italian gelato which made everything better again. After revitalizing Will, Bub and I trekked it into the Vadican and saw the fantastic views of Rome, the Pope's house/garden (insane) and the Sistine Chapel - all were fantastic but really just showed how much money the Vadican has and really doesn't need. After an intense day and a last gelato, double scoop, we all headed back on the bus for a night drive to Innsbruck.
Tag 12 - Donnerstag (26 Apr) - Hotelanlage Edelweiss = Innsbruck
Once in the beautiful town of Innsbruck which overlooked the Austrian Alps, a small group and I decided we couldn't survive 7 more days without washing clothes, so we ventured to find a washroom in the city. Since in Austria they speech German we easily found one (in italy we had many problems of miss-communication). After being satisfied with our clean clothes we took to the streets and looked for lunch, half of the group craved doner kebab's and the other not so we split, unfortunately Roy and Katie disappeared. Oh how I had missed doner!! I think it was the best one I had ever had. Once we were all extremely happy with our lunch we wandered around perving on all the very attractive people (Innsbruck is a University town) and shopping a little bit. At night we wandered into the forest below the Alps and soaked up the atmosphere, amazing!
Tag 13 - Freitag (27 Apr) - Ferienhotel Alpspitz = Innsbruck/Nesselwang
On the bus again to the region of Bayern, Germany!! I felt a small feeling of relief once in Germany, it was bizarre that I felt comforted. After this small realisation of how much I already love Germany we arrived at a castle "Schloss Linderhof", one of King Ludwig II famous castles. The castles wasn't so amazing, as it was rather small but its grounds were fabulous as it was surrounded by the snow peaked Alps. When at the hotel the group was split, some were in a big hotel and some boys (our boys) were put in another about 5 mins walk away and close to soccer field/skate park which the boys overused. Tonight I was pooped so I had a "girls night in" with Noora my roomie.
Tag 14 - Samstag (28 Apr) - Ferienhotel Alpspitz = NesselwangToday we explored the Disney castle (literally Walt Disney got his ideas of the design from this castle) named "Schloss Neuschwanstein". It was sooooooooo magical, apart from half of it being under construction and covered in scaffolding :( For lunch we had a real German experience by eating Bratwurst and listening to a German pipe band who wore lederhose. In the afternoon we trekked it up the Alps and had a massive snowball fight, so fantastic! Then we went tobogganing down the mountain, amazing! and of course at the bottom we treated ourselves with ice cream - but it wasn't as good as the italian gelatio. At night we partied at the boys cabin and I taught everyone the Australian drinking game "Kings cup", they all loved it and we had loads of fun.
Tag 15 - Sonntag (29 Apr) - Jugendherberge Regensburg = Munich/Regensburg
We left the Alps and headed towards the heart of Bayern, MUNICH!! It was such a shame that we were only in Munich for 4 hours, but we still achieved a little bit like visiting BMW world and the Olympic station, we also bumped into other exchange students on our small walk. One exchange student was Alana, an Australian girl in my host district who lives in Munich, it was so amazing to see her and have a little catch up. At night we soaked up eachothers awesomeness, that is all.
Tag 16 - Montag (30 Apr) - Jugendherberge Regensburg = Regensburg
Today we visited the viking museum called "Walhalla" with its beautiful views. Then we had a tour of the small city and of course had free time. So we walked around and found a place to have lunch which turned out to be a Mexican restaurant, we were there for about 2 hours, it was amazing just talking with awesome people and enjoy the sun. At night we sat by the Regensburg river with a large group and enjoyed the night together, naturally listening to the spanish guys singing.
Tag 17 - Dienstag (1 Mai) - A&O Hostel Berlin = Regensburg/Berlin
After waiting about 3 hours beside the river on the road for Kristin (injured leader) who went to the hospital, we were finally on our way to the heart of Germany, BERLIN! We got to Berlin in the afternoon, then we attended a "goodbye" party with the Berlin head rotary guy and the oldies (old exchange students) got certificates, pretty boring. After the dinner, we all wanted to stay together but naturally we didn't.. a group of about 20 went to the Brandenburg gate and chilled. When it got to about 11pm people started to head back to the hostel, but Felipe (Chilean), Christine (American) and Trish (Canadian) decided to party on as this would be our last night in Berlin which we could. We ended up in "matrix" club where we met two guys, an Aussie and a Kiwi, on a Contiki Europe tour - it was really fun. Near the end of the night/morning we also met some guys from Denmark so we partied with them a little longer. An exhausting travel later we made it back to the hostel and out the front we found Jonah (the guy that was sent home) with some exchange students talking. I literally tackled him, i was so glad to see him - I made a really good friendship with him in the short time he was with us. So the rest for the morning we were just talking and falling asleep in one of our rooms.
Tag 18 - Mittwoch (2 Mai) - A&O Hostel Berlin = Berlin (LAST NIGHT)
Today we walked around, went to a Jewish museum and then had free time. So my group went and got doner, chilled and did a little bit of shopping. At night all the exchange students went to "Tiergarten" - a really beautiful park facing a river - and just soaked up all the time we had together.. even some other exchang students from other organisations came, it was amazing!!!
Tag 19 - Donnerstag (3 Mai) - GOING HOME :(
The saddest day ever, knowing that i wouldn't see almost every exchange student ever again after spending the most amazing 19 days with them was horrible. I've never hugged anyone so hard before.. it was so intense. Since i had a group train ticket i had to leave Berlin in the morning with Roy, Katie and 3 other exchange students, it was an extremely quick goodbye. On the train we lost one exchange student and acquired his bag.... we still don't know what happened to him. Once at home I was literally depressed even though it was good to relax and sleep I just wanted to be with exchange students, the best people in the world.
THE FRICKEN END!
i'm not uploading photos as there are way too many, but just look at facebook if you are interested :)
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