Modra - The Wine Festival

Yesterday Steve, Kevin and I got on a bus and road to Modra. It is a small town about an hour outside of Bratislava. When I first got here I was told about a wine festival that Steve confirmed from one of his bike rides.

This wine festival featured wine which to my understanding has only gone through the first processes of becoming wine. It is not clear like normal wine and it is very very sweet. We're not sure about the alcohol content either but it was quite delicious. The festival was very much like a normal street fair. There was live music lots of food stalls all selling chicken or long kilbossas which you could watch get cooked right there. All of the food stalls had vats of the new wine in white and red varieties. There were also plenty of baked good stalls, and stalls with cheep plastic junk. Save the food stalls the most interesting things were the wood workers, many of whom were making their various goods on the spot. The three of us enjoyed a few glasses of our new wine while watching a man in traditional garb carve out a wooden bowl with hand tools. He did it in stages with these sharp curved tools with different radii of curvature. It was mesmerizing and after he finished one he took a beer break and we got a little nod of the glass.

All in all it was a very pleasant excursion, and it is a shame the new wine has no shelf life. So in spite of this we enjoyed as much of it as we could there.

Steve has a few pictures from our trip and I will try and get them from him when we have time.

I will write more soon.

Bad Things Happen

Alright first and fore most, sorry I haven't written in a while. I have good reasons though.

So I've been in Bratislava for a few days now. This town is very interesting, you can be walking down the street and there will be a grand and stately church, completely surrounded by old graffitied buildings that are falling apart and can easily be placed in the communist era. Steve, one of my fellow American students here, was placed in what he has deemed the matchbox because our rooms were still being renovated. Apparently this room was just big enough for the bed and his bike box to have all of his other things stacked on top of it. This is the housing for many students here. But on the other extreme, there is old town, which is easily the most picturesque area of the city. I wish I had my camera to show this but alas it has been stolen.

I've spent the last couple of days really just wandering around ordering random food, and hanging with my American friends. We have gotten small tours from various slovak students.

The former Slovak side atlantis students have done a good deal of showing us around and taking us to good places to eat. They also helped us get things like photos and sim cards.

The last two nights we've bought food and prepared it in our rooms. It's been a nice way to relax in the evenings considering the culture shock and getting ready for school to start. In general everything has just been nice and pleasant everyone has been very accommodating and helpful. And I just want to get all of this out there before I rant a little.

So the first night all of us American students were here together in Bratislava, we went out grabbed dinner and had a few drinks. We went back to our dorm and hung out for a while and you know bonded. This is really the first time we're all meeting one another outside of the initial oh you all would like to apply for the Atlantis program. We are almost the only ones in our hall way so for the better part of the night our doors were open and we were just in and out of our rooms, sharing stories, and celebrating a little. Around one we part ways, I go to bed and pass out. Sometime between one am and six am when I woke up. Someone broke into my room, and stole my passport, camera, laptop, ipod mini, calculator, and hard drive. In short they took off with approximately $1000 of stuff which was more or less all of my valuables and my connection to the outside world. Now stuff is stuff it can be replaced, however my gigabytes of music and photos can not. So at the moment I am computerless, cameraless and photoless and trying very hard to make the best of it. My classmates have been great and have been letting me borrow this that and the other, and hopefully I'll have a computer and maybe camera again of my own to be using relatively soon so I can get back to writing and documenting my trip easily.

I did get down to the embassy, I should have a new passport in about a week and whoever has my old one will at least be blocked from getting to the U.S.

I'm not going to let this ruin my experience here the town is great, the food is pretty good (I've eaten mushrooms and potatoes and enjoyed it so yeah...) the people save the thief have been helpful, accommodating and mostly full of smiles. So short of the thief returning my stuff there is really not to much more I could ask for.

I will write again soon, (just maybe not as soon as I would like).

Bratislava First Day

So today is my first real day in Bratislava.

I had a meeting with Prof. Magdolen this morning at 10. He asked how things were and passed on the fact that we'll be having a meeting on Monday for the Atlantis students to get all registered and settled in. I also learned that we're going to be required to take a Slovak language class. This is because the students last semester didn't do enough cultural things and failed their language class. I was a little surprised to learn this but I'm really looking forward to it. I think formally studding the language will actually put me at much greater ease. I aslo met one of his former students Peter who looking to do a PHD program in England. He's still waiting for his acceptance letter but it's very likely he will get the spot.

After my meeting Peter showed me the buffet downstairs. For 1,70€ I was able to get the main dish which consisted of something like giant couscous and a couple of thick slices of chicken in a very flavorful mushroom gravy. I actually really enjoyed it although my stomach and I are regretting the consumption of mushrooms. It was a huge portion but apparently was just the small. Peter stayed with me for lunch and then walked me over to the Radio Station (a Giant Upside Down Pyramid) which had a bank machine (ATM). So I could finally withdraw what I needed to pay for my room. My room is cheap, really cheap at 3,73€ a night. I might have to pay for the internet in it. But I won't be able to deal with that until October anyway. After the ATM we ran into a friend of his Abe, a fellow student and we went to the main shopping street and grabbed some coffee. We sat there and chatted for a bit. Abe is from Lebanon and speaks French, Slovak, English, and Arabic. We were joined by a few more of his friends. It was quite pleasant and they were all very friendly.

When Prof. Magdolen finally called we went back to the university to meet up with him and then walked back to my dorm. He helped me settle up with them for the first 15 day's rent. I have to go back around the first of each month and pay for that month. I might see if I can take care of at least through December with the next part of the stipend comes in. On our walk back to my dorm, Prof. Magdolen pointed out a few more bank machines, and also proceeded to tell me that unlike in many places it is perfectly legal to be drinking / drunk in public, but there was an absolute zero tolerance for guns and drugs. Peter said there is a wine festival going on in a town near here and there is a unfinished wine that is in its first stage of becoming a wine that I really should try; I will have to ask him again for the name of this type of wine again.

Anyway I think I'm going to head over to the university again now to actually post my stuff and see if I can get my pictures uploaded. Then it'll probably be time to find some food and go to bed. Steve is supposed to be getting back to night so I might try to meet up with him.

I'll write again soon.

    

Bratislava – I’ve Just Moved in

So after a very stressful journey spanning more waking hours than I care to think I got to the Bus Station and was kindly picked up by Prof. Magdolen. He has been incredibly helpful and kind both before arrival and getting here as well. I will need to get a mobile while here though it is just too difficult to not do so.

Anyway it is time for the poor quality picture tour of my room.

So this is my front door off the the left is part of my closet and to the right is the toilet.

This is the front door, the door the toilet, and a little bit of the shower and sink area.

This is the toilet. The Tile is a very weird green color.

This is the sink and shower area. The shower is bigger than many European showers I've been in. But the door seals magnetically and the handle was hard for me to find (In short the first time I used it I couldn't figure out how to get out) Anyway….

Here you can see the front door again and the closet. Then in the bedroom work area off to the left is the spare bed and to the right the night stand for my bed.

This is the bed that I have chosen to sleep in mostly because the door separating the bathroom area and the bedroom doesn't swing into it. The linnes were provided although my blue blanket is um a British Airways blanket that I accidentally took. It was nice having the two beds in here because I could take the pillows. The beds are very hard but the comforters and pillows are just right so it all works out.

So I have a tv apparently with satellite and English channels but I don't get a remote for it yet. It's got a pretty nice picture but without the remote all the programming was Slovak news so I don't think I'll be watching to much of it for the time being (Until maybe after I start my Slovak language class). Since these rooms are really meant for like foreign visitors to the university they're more like hotels the furniture is much nicer and there is more of it or so I've been told by a former student and Prof Magdolen. Anyway I think that explains the random table with two chairs.

This picture was taken at the same time as the rest of them so I'm not sure why it was so dark. But anyway there is the table and chairs as well as my desk and part of the extra bed. You can see I have my olive oil and Greek Sand. I feel my little things make me feel a lot better in here even if they were very recent acquirements. Too bad I don't' have a printer or I'd plaster the place with my Santorini pictures as well.

And here we have the end of my desk the extra night stand and the other bed missing most of its bedding.

Here is the fridge water boiler and what I'll probably use as my pantry.

So here is the last picture. The very far left is the shelving for the pantry the middle is part of the closet and on the right is my red front door again. Thus we've come full circle on the tour of what will be my home for the next few months. It's probably between the sizes of Laura's room and my room freshmen year in the dorms but I don't have to share it whoo hoo.

I'm all settled in here now save the fact that I desperately need to stock up on food and find a place to do laundry though that not as desperately.

I apologize for the terrible photo quality my camera is low on batteries so I've been avoiding using the flash -- besides these aren't the pictures that really count now are they.

Oia –> Fira –> Athinios –> Athens –> Budapest –> Prague –> Bratislava

I don't have any pictures of this part of my trip I apologize.

So on the 15^th of September I was required to leave my beautiful hostel and new found friends for a really long and incredibly stressful journey. I caught the bus from Oia to Fira without any problem in fact Xavier, Laura, and Aurelie were on the bus with me and it was nice. But I had to wait over an hour for the bus to Athinios (the main port on the island where the ferries come in and out of). It was hot and I couldn't really go anywhere because of that stupid suitcase, which has been a major pain in the rear end for my entire journey. When the bus finally does arrive I barely got a seat despite being one of the first people there again because of the suitcase and because unlike all the other busses they didn't bother to announce where this one was going. Go figure. However Silvia from the volcano tour was of the ferry at least to Paros which was nice because I was able to get up a couple of times without worrying about my backpack. She accidentally got off at Mykonos and had gotten all the way to the information station before learning she had gotten off at the wrong island. (Neither of us heard the announcement for what island we were at). Anyway I'm incredibly impressed that she made it back to the boat but she did and it for at me made for a good laugh and she'll have a great story out of it. Anyway the next top was Paros and she got off and I was alone again. I spent most of the time writing on my computer or trying to doze off unsuccessfully. When the boat reach Athens port it was dark and there were a million taxis all waiting right as you got off the ferry and it took a good 5 -10 minutes to wade through to a spot where I could pull out my map. (Also they were all trying to tell people that the buses weren't running it wasn't very nice) but I found the X96 bus and got on it to the airport. It was a long ride in which I ended up standing with my like 40 pound backpack on next to my suitcase because there wasn't a good place to put either. Once at the airport Which it's now I think 2am local time give or take an hour. I got on the internet for 45 minutes and talked to Laura. Their free wifi only lasts 45 minutes but you can't even buy more time you have to go to a terminal with horrible keyboards or just be without. I chose to use a terminal at least at least get in a good bye and short explanation of what happened.

Around 4am the lines for the check in finally opened. I was one the first inline but I had to rearrange my suitcase which only 6kilos over was going to cost me an extra 55euros to send that way, yeah no thank you, but rearranging did mean waiting in line again. By the time I had finished there was only 10 minutes or so to make the 4:30 boarding time requirement. So I hurried to the gate foolishly only to have to wait till like 5:20 before they got us on a bus to go to the airplane. Yeah that was an interesting experience. I got to get on one of the airplanes that had the stairs that fold down from them unfortunately no stair car :'(. It was an actual jet with turbine engines to Budapest. The flight was uneventful but the chairs were so uncomfortable I couldn't sleep. The top half of the chair actually was leaning forward so there was no way to relax at all. Only out of sheer exhaustion I must have slipped in and out of sleep long enough to miss the drink rounds.

The Budapest airport was very nice and had big comfortable chairs. I was able to doze off a little there. Again we had to take a bus to a plane. This plane was very odd looking. It's wings were really far back and above the plane and it had to propellers. When I saw it I thought to myself this might kill Laura. The plane was surprisingly quite and comfortable. I also didn't have anyone in the seat next to me so I think I might have actually conked out at least up until about 15 minutes before arrival because I remember seeing that they left me a roll and orange juice on the tray in the empty seat which I was very grateful for but it was only a few minutes later that they came by to take the trash so we could land. Once in the airport I had free internet so I check all the bus stuff and tried to figure out how to get there. I finally gave up and asked a lady at the info stand. (Oh they never stamped my passport despite being leaving the main area, nor did they stamp it when I entered Slovakia. It was very strange so as of now I only have a stamp for Greece). She told me to take bus 100 to the last stop and there would be the metro. So I go and withdraw 200CzK which I think is 26 is right about 1 euro, so it wasn't very much at all. I only needed like 39CZK but unfortunately 200 was the least I could withdraw, and Prof. Magdolen and my Lonely Planet guide said to avoid the Airport exchange stalls.

I bought my tickets and I ran out to catch the 100 bus I see pass by where it said to catch busses in the airport signs. I get on the bus and think all is well but the first stop is the terminus and the bus driver is like GET OFF. I go up to ask him for help and he opens the door to the driver seat steps out and indicates to get my stuff and follow. So I do and as soon as I do he hops back on and drives off. So now I'm totally lost in Prague near the airport. I wander around a little and find a bus stop for both the 100 and the 179 As I am approaching from the other side of the street I see the same 100 bus and driver going the direction that I guess I really wanted to go the first time. A little peeved I wait for another buss and the 179 comes and I realize I can take this further into the city. I take and the entire time while riding with my giant suitcase I was stared at by all the passengers. It took a really long time to get from the airport to the metro that I needed. The metro was easy but the signs didn't say which way the trains were headed thankfully when the next train came it had the terminus on the front and sides so I was able to figure out where it was headed. Like on the bus, I was stared at while on the metro. It was a bit Unnerving. When I got to my metro stop, I again ended up wander around the block before finding the buss station. At the bus station there was free wifi. I hoped to find my ticket e-mail waiting for me, but alas no luck so I try the reservation number at each of the various booths. They all tell me it's not for their company. So I ended up buying just another ticket. After getting my ticket it said I was going to a different bus station than the one I was originally intending to go to. This caused another minor freak out but I looked it up and quickly found out it was the same thing. The bus ride was uneventful. I dozed off for most of it which is unfortunate because every time I did stir and look out it was very very pretty, unfortunately my camera was not in easy reach. Once I got to the bus station I realized I had no idea who I was looking for and Prof. Magdolen was in the same boat. I did see someone who looked kind of professor in the same manner as Dr. Enikov and I guess I must have looked enough like an exhausted and terrified student, because this was Prof. Magdolen. He drove me to my dorm and I was finally able to get rid of that god awful suitcase and take of my backpack.

After dropping off my stuff and taking care of a few of the administrative things at the dorm we drove over to the university. The walking distance is really only a little bit further than my place in Sam Hughes to the Student Union at the U of A which is really nice. I won't have to deal with the trams or a car or anything. Anyway he drove me over to their main building and I walked back. Once back I nearly passed out from exhaustion but I managed to unpack and shower before I went to bed.

It was a very long and at times a bit terrifying journey but in the end I made here it safely with all my stuff.

I'll write more soon.

Oia Pictures Link

I for only linking but it is the easiest way to share pictures.

Oia

Oia Stanorini Two

Edit : a photo or two more to come soon.

So um yeah I apologize for not posting in a while. I'll give a tour now in hopefully a few mintues of writing what I spent so much time doing and not enough time writing it all down.

So the day I got here. I slept from 6 in the evening to 9 the following morning. I guess that's fair since I was up for 48 hours before because of the ferry and lack of an alarm clock. Whoops.

When I got up the next morning I had breakfast provided by the hostel which was a nice change from Athens. It consisted of sweet bread and three pieces of plain white bread orange juice and choice of coffee or tea not that there was really any decision to be made.

After breakfast I wondered around for a few hours taking more pictures than I thought possible. It was mostly walk a few steps oh must take a picture walk a few more, and the best part was there was no one around in the morning. I ran into maybe three locals all setting up there shops. So I had the place to my self. Once the shops were open I took care of my gift getting and headed back to the hostel to play with the pictures.

Later that afternoon I went to lunch had an amazing tiropita and absolutely afwul sandwich as well as a coke and frape. It was very plesant aI had a nice view of the ocean. It was just a very plesant lunch. Save the sandwich.

Later that evening I met Hire (I hope I spelled his name right) a Japanese student traveling on holiday. We chatted for a while and went to try and capture the sunset. When we got back is when I met my French traveling buddies. Xavier, Laura, and Aurelie. We enjoyed a few drinks from the bar and a very plesant evening.

The following morning I went on the Volcano tour. Where I met Silvia and Marissa two fellow Americans staying at the same hostel. It was nice to have a group to go with, becuase was able to relax about leaving my stuff. The tour was great the Valcano was a little anti climatic there was barely any smoke it wasn't much warmer than the surounding area and there was really no sulfer smells. However the views of the surounding islands were great. Then we went to the hotsprings which required jumping from the boat because there was no dock. So after jumping into 20 C water we swam to the hot spring which were very nice and warm. Unfortunately we didn't have very long there. When I come back becuase some day I will have to I want to charter a boat to just spend the better part of a day near the hotsprings. When they called us back we had to swim back into the cold water which was not a refreshing as it would have sounded because the hotsrpings were more like warm springs. Once everyone was back on the boat we were taken to a place for lunch it was alright but because all the places are ment for tourist they were overpriced.

We we got back from the tour I put my few pictures on my computer and then got ready for happy hour. Again I met with my friends and we enjoyed a few glasses of wine and converstaion before heading out to a well recomended resturant where I got the octopus. We shared a great bottle of white wine. When every one else had left the resturant we figured we probably should as well. Unfortunately no where else was open and we returned to the hostel. It was probably good becuase We agreed to meet the following morning for sunrise at 6.

The following morning I failed to get up ontime and I actually saw them turning the corner out my window. I gave chase barefooot which hurt quite about actually. But I caught them and they waited for me and we went up to the castle ruins to watch sunrise. It was a nice quite and serene moment. There was absolutely no one else around and the sun came up over the mountains and it was just absolutely beautiful.

After being up so late and getting up so early once the sun had risen we returned to the hostel for a few more hours of sleep. And we decided to go to the beach. We after much confusinon we did make it to the beach and enjoyed a nice day on the black sand. It was overcast so the sand was not incredibly hot. After the beach we stoped for a frape on the way back. We made it back just intime for another happy hour. It was nice and we ended up going back to Skala for dinner as it was the only place open. I had the octopus again and it was just so very plesant.

I'm running out of interent time and I need to check a few things so I promise to write more and fill in the details soon.

I leave today for Athens again and Slovakia the followign morning. Yay fun night in the airport.

Oia Santorini

Oia Santorini is the most beautiful place on earth!


Unfortunately the internet is expensive and I can not use my own computer therefore there will not be photo evidence of it's beauty for a little while. But I have over one hundred photos to look forward to.

Athens Day 3

So it's about 4pm local time. I spent the better part of the day wandering around lost again looking for this travel agency. I got my directions again form the Greek Lady but for some reason unbeknown to be I didn't bother to look up the address. So after wandering up and down the streets near where she said it was I gave in and made the trek back to the hostel. Although during trip over their the first time I stumbled upon a partially excavated roman bath in the middle of the city.

The agency was down in a similar area to the Acropolis and I'm going to guess it was also about two kilometers from the hostel. I did look up the address the second time and I'm quite glad I did, the agent was extremely helpful and saved me a ton of money. I was able to book my tickets to and from Santorini at 33.50 euro each direction as well as get a flight from Athens to Prague for less than 200 euros. The flight to me is the most amazing part because in all of my attempts at finding flights I couldn't find anything less than 400euros.

Anyway after putting in about eight km today I'm pretty beat. (also it was much warmer today than it has been). So I'm going to rest up at the hostel for a bit and try not to dwell on the shear amount of money I've spent.

I'll post again after dinner again the pictures will have to wait though I don't have much from today just the bath.


So I went and got a gyro from a local place tonight it was very pleasant and the meat was so much more flavorful than the ones back home. Beyond that not much more to say about the food. I'll write again after Santorini when I have Internet.

Athens Days 1-2

EDIT: I got all the pictures up for this particular post.

EDIT: pictures are going to have to wait. It's 2:30 in the morning and they're not uploading at all. I'll add them as soon as I am able.

Alrighty I finally have an internet connection if you could call it that. I vaguely remember dial up being faster. I will try to post as many pictures as I can, I have tons of them from day 2, but given the slow internet I may not get all my pictures up online for a while.

Day 1:

So I arrived alright in Athens although Finding my hostel was a completely different story. Let me just say the bus stops are entirely unlabeled and the street names are almost in the same situation. I did a lot of wandering before finally find my way here and promptly crashed after making me bed the first day. I did go out wandering that night for an hour or so and picked up some bread and water for my room. Other than that my first day wasn't to productive.

Day 2:
I got up around 9 today And wandered around Pangrati for an hour or so before heading back to the hostel in search of a good map. After my two wandering I recognise a few streets near by but a lot of the residential buildings look entirely the same in my area and again the street signs are impossible to see if and when they do exist.

When I got back to the hostel the kind Lady in the office gave me a map and we had a very broken (in my part) converstaion in Greek about how should go about getting to the Acropolis. She then was kind enough to make sure I got every thing my repeating her instructions in English. I was able to understand quite abit although relaying what I wanted to say was a bit more challenging.

With my map in hand I set out for the acropolis. I decided to walk and stop at a number of sites along the way recommended to my by the office lady. First on the list was the Olympic Stadium from the 1800's it was recently restored for the Athens Olympics and was quite stunning the 70,000 person stadium seats being entirely marble. After the stadium I passed by a large fountain infront of the Congress Hall and Exibition Center. There was also a nice park in and around there where I found a turtle. After the Congress Hall I continued on the Haden's Arch. Just past the arch I was able to glimpse the acropolis and it's various monuments proudly sitting ontop of it. To excited to try and find the entrance to the archeological area (which I had accidntally passed) I continued in the direction of the acropolis. I did accidentally pass the enterance though in my defense it wasn't marked. At the entrance I was informed that American students are well infiantly more disliked then all other students are my entrance fee was not free like all other students but half the normal fee. Granted I was still grateful to only have to pay six euros rather than twelve. Once I had my ticket I made sure to walk around the entire base of the acropolis before ascending to the Parthenon. The entire site was breathtaking to say the least despite all the scaffolding and other obstructions due to restoration efforts. After making sure to read all the signs and see everything I wandered down to the Ancient Agora (an ancient market area) There was a nice museum which I didn't enter as it wasn't part of my ticket for the acropolis, though outside the museum there were a number of partial marble statues and tablets. As well as a beautiful little church and another temple off a little further away. However I was feeling a little ill and after making it up to the temple I decided to head back to the hostel. And more or less turn in for the day. Tomorrow I plan on making use of the rest of my acropolis tickets and seeing what I missed today, as well as trying to arrange to get to Santorini.

Me in front of the Olympic stadium, the person taking my photo failed to notice the lens cover got stuck. Oh well.

Very random turtle I found in a park on my way to the Acropolis.
Fountain and Congress HallGiant mostly marble theater on slope of AcropolisMe trying to take a photo of my self in front of the gateway to the top of the Acropolis.My favorite building on top of the acropolis which is not the Parthenon.The Parthenon sadly covered in scaffolding and cranes sticking out the top. I tried to hide this as best I could.Rubble from previous incarnations of the temples used to rebuild the walls after a war.
Curch in the Ancient Agora area.
Stone tablet in ancient Greek. Outside of the Ancient Agora Museum.Another Temple in the Ancient Agora areaThe Acropolis after I descended. This was actually taken before I visited the Ancient Agora area, but I think this is a better picture to end on.

Kiling Time with a Vacation in Chicago

So Laura and I decided to spend Labor Day Weekend in Chicago to have some fun before I left.

Ghost Skyline

Laura and Mirror Laura at the Cloud Gate

Cloud Gate Mirror World

MMM turkey corn dogs by the river!

We also went on an awesome fireworks boat tour on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan but both of us were enjoying our selves to much and did not dig out the camera.

The following day we went to the Zoo. It was free which was nice and made up for the parking costs. It was a nice and surprisingly big zoo. My last state side supper will be Chicago Deep Dish Pizza for the first time.

Tomorrow I leave for Greece. I will try to post pictures any time I get the chance.

Last Great Act Before Leaving the States

So Laura asked me to build three reptile cages for Scout, Tucker, and Sue. The cages are finally finished making her living room look a little like a reptile shop.