Finally, spring break

Thank god, I could use a break from all this stress. School, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Prague, it really wears you down mentally. Eh, not really, but it is spring break, so we're taking full advantage of the double-digit days off.

Tomorrow we fly to Barcelona for three days before Rome, Florence, Sorrento, Capri and whatever else we run into in Italy, including the blue grotto, one of the seven wonders of the world. As you can imagine, I'm pretty pumped.

We fly back Monday April 6, so don't expect any updates until then. And give me a day or two after that, as I'm sure there'll be a novel's worth to write about. Plus, I have a couple of presentations that week, so unfortunately those take priority over blogging. Trust me, if I had it my way, they wouldn't, either.

Subway wouldn't take my debit card

Think about that for a minute. I got a footlong (more than $5) and I had to go to the ATM around the corner to get cash to pay for it. What would Jared have to say about that?

Traveling tips for a good cause

If you're a frantic, last-minute traveler -- like myself, and pretty much every college student abroad -- I've found the perfect site for you: Hotelscombined.com

Chloe, a representative from Hotels Combined told me in an email that:

"Hotels Combined is a leading price comparison system used by over 25 million people every year. We aggregate and compare accommodation prices from all major sources such as Hotels.com, Travelocity.com, Priceline.com and many more. We are a free research tool helping users find the best priced accommodation option. If required, the reservation is made directly on the compared websites (Hotels.com, Travelocity.com, Priceline etc..)"

Just by mentioning its site on this blog, Hotels Combined is donating $20 to a charity of my choice, which will be the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Apparently my writing has paid (literally) off.

So if you're traveling in the near future, be sure to check out Hotelscombined.com!

Day trip to Pilsen

To be quite honest, my expectations for Pilsen were rather low; it’s a Czech city about an hour northwest of Prague, but I felt obligated to go. Good thing.

Tyler and I (and the rest of the group of about 20, no one else from my apartment) had to get up at 8:00. The highlight of the trip was supposed to be the Pilsner beer factory and quite frankly, we had just seen the biggest beer factory in the world nine days prior, so we weren’t all that enthused.

Well, sometimes it’s better not to expect greatness, which ended up being the case yesterday. As Tyler put it midway through the day: “This shits on the Guinness Factory.” The girls cringed at the expression, but he was right, the Pilsner tour put the Irish version to shame because the Guinness Factory was a self-guided tour through what was essentially a museum of the Irish stout. Pilsner was a guided tour of the actual factory, where we got to see bottles being manufactured and saw videos of how the pride of Pilsen was created.

The trip was paid for by CEA (originally paid by us, but still) and we got a “free” 3-course meal at the factory as well. Then the historical part of the trip began.

I’ve never been much of a history buff, but yesterday afternoon was pretty cool. We went to the Big Synagogue of Pilsen (apparently they didn’t feel like being creative during the naming process; or it doesn’t translate properly). It’s the second-biggest synagogue in all of Europe (the biggest is in Budapest, Hungary). It was taken over by the Nazis in WWII, but was liberated by the American troops at the end of the war. There’s a big memorial in the center of town saying, “Thank you America!” which is located at the top of America Street. The synagogue survived not only WWII, but the Cold War as well, as it was then part of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. Pretty humbling to be in a building with such historical importance.

Before we left Pilsen, we climbed 301 steep, narrow, winding stairs to the top of a cathedral in the middle of town. The lookout tower was 102 meters high and had a great view of the city and landscape surrounding it. Good closure for very fun, enlightening, worthwhile day trip. And I sacrificed some March Madness viewing to go, with no regrets. Who would’ve thought?

Switzerland sights

Paddy's weekend winners

Chamonix shots

Prague pics (LONG overdue)

Random notes from Prague

Don't really feel like writing coherent paragraphs, so...

The girls from Top Secret Cafe (where I'm currently sitting) said they missed me, since I haven't been here in a month because our Internet actually started working in Templova, which I explained to them. It's nice to be missed.

Nick left this morning. We had a blast with the Framingham girls in Prague, who left yesterday morning. I'd say they enjoyed themselves. It's exhausting playing tour guide.

Haven't been to the grocery store before Dublin. That, along with a plummeting exchange rate (now less than 20 crowns per dollar), isn't helping the checkbook. Thank god we're not on the Euro. Great decision.

Had my first exam Thursday in Econ 320 (Economic and Business Policies of the EU). Not too bad. Not exactly a Madison-difficulty test.

Nick wasn't a big fan of Czech food. But then again, he has a tough time finishing a bagel and cream cheese, so he isn't exactly an impartial judge.

Before Thursday, I knew of one bar that played ESPN America on a regular basis. Now that the NCAA Tournament started (which airs on that station here), you can find it in several bars. Apparently they know the deal.

Cleveland States really screwed up my bracket last night. But I had UConn (who lost to San Diego in the first round a year ago) in the Final Four last year and I still won my pool. So all hope is not lost.

I have a couple of exams and a presentation this coming week, so it should be mellow before spring break a week from now.

Next trip on tap (literally): Pilsen, Czech Republic tomorrow, where they brew Pilsner beer. I wonder how it compares to the Guinness factory. It's a free trip through CEA, so a bunch of us are going.

Next international trip: Spring break, starting Friday: Barcalona, Rome, Florence, trip along the Amalfi Coast.

I know, tough life I'm living out here. I'm not taking it for granted, though. That's got to count for something. Until next time...

Madison, Framingham invade Dublin

The myth is true: Guinness actually does flow through the streets of Dublin. You can get on your knees and slurp it up along the riverbeds.

Not really, but the Guinness in Dublin tastes much better than the Guinness in the States because they know how to take care of it properly. It honestly tastes more like a milkshake than a beer. And it’s everywhere; again, no myth.

The weekend went entirely as planned. There were close to 20 of us staying at Flannagan’s house (my friend from Madison, for those of you who don’t know). Yeah, it was a bit crowded, but well-worth the trip. Kids came from their cities abroad, plus Madison (spring break) to stay at Casa de Flano – which was a lovely house, just not built for 20 college kids; but we made do, with very minimal damage.

Thursday Tyler, Max and I got there and met the five that arrived early. We checked into Hotel Flanster, then went straight to the local pub to relive Flano’s childhood. Seven rounds of Guinness made for some interesting conversations that night. Welcome to Dublin.

Friday the rest of the Delta Upsilon crew came from Chicago, upping to total to about 20. Nick Kynoch flew in from Boston and after a genius Facebook wall post by me, a few emails from Mom and a Skype convo with his dad, I found Nick just blocks from Flano’s, no cell phone usage needed. Honestly, it was a miracle.

A group of us then went on a bus tour of the city, highlighted by a tour of the Guinness factory, which I’m told is the biggest brewery in the world. It was pretty cool. The Gravity Bar on the 7^th floor had a sweet, 360-degree view of the city and the surrounding mountains. Not much to see around the outskirts of Dublin, to tell you the truth, but it was cool, nonetheless.

(Not-so-quick aside: Dublin is on the east coast of Ireland and although it is rarely sunny and warm – although we had an unexpected amount of sunshine during our stay – it does have a beach-town feel to it. Believe it or not, there are a fair amount of palm trees and Nick kept saying it had a Nantucket feel to it, which I agreed.

Very quick aside: Little kids speaking in Irish accents are hilarious. British kids, too.)

Friday night we went to the Temple Bar area and went to a bar where they were playing traditional Irish songs. It was dripping with Americans wanting to celebrate Paddy’s Day – many of whom I knew – but there were plenty of real Dubliners there, too. Probably one of the most fun nights in recent (though sometimes foggy) memory.

Saturday, Ireland played Scotland in the Six Nations Cup, made up of those two, plus England, France, Wales and Italy. So we went back to Kiely’s Pub to watch the Irish beat the Scots in comeback fashion. They’re now 4-0, pending next week’s match against Wales, who is 3-1. Because of goal differential, Ireland has the Cup all but locked up but a perfect 5-0 tournament (they call it a Grand Slam) is a big deal, so of course this weekend will be interesting. Plenty of Guinnesses (Guinni, perhaps?) during the 5:30 match quickly transitioned into another eventful night in town. Nick ended up trying to put his license and his student ID in the ATM machine. Enough said.

Sunday, it was Framingham’s turn to invade Dublin. Nick and I met Tessa, Missy, Erica and Bridget – who were visiting Sam – at their nearby hotel. It was still Paddy’s Day weekend and they were chomping at the bit, so we took them into town as if we knew where the hell we were going. But we managed to do all right, grab some fish and chips, some more Guinness mixed with a handful of Jamison and gingers (had to keep it local). Another fun night in town; still plenty of people festively celebrating Patrick’s sainthood. Yesterday (Monday) we flew back to Prague, where the girls will meet us tomorrow.

Not exactly a trip filled with cultural, sightseeing experiences, but I wasn’t expecting that, given the situation. It was St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Dublin, Ireland. Honestly, what were you expecting? I think Barcelona and Italy in two weekends will be more of the touristy variety.

[More pictures coming (relatively) soon (hopefully). People blog, requested by Uncle Eric, coming later, too; plus probably some more random notes, as usual.]

Crazy Czech climate

Upon my arrival in Madison 2 1/2 years ago, all I heard about was the "wacky Wisconsin weather," mostly from my new Oconomowoc friends. Well, let me tell you: it doesn't compare to here.

Yesterday I woke up to a sunny day, walked home from class with dark clouds overhead, watched a 2-minute hailstorm from my apartment and went out in the rain.

Today seems to be following a similar pattern: woke up to sun, then cloudy, then hail, brief sun, now dark, ominous clouds at 2:30. I'm waiting for this afternoon's tornado.

Yellow light innovations

In the States, you wait at a red light, then suddenly, out of nowhere it turns green and you go. If you're not paying attention, you might miss the switch. Then it turns yellow, so you can anticipate the next red.

In Europe, the yellow light is used both from green to red and from red to green. So when you're sitting at a red light, you can prepare for the upcoming green. It makes so much sense.

Weekend in Chamonix

Skiing isn’t like basketball, football or soccer; it’s completely dependent on one thing: weather. Mediocre mountains become spectacular with a foot of fresh snow and the best resorts in the world become pedestrian if Mother Nature isn’t cooperating. New England skiers are all too familiar with this concept, as annual January thaws cripple the Northeast ski industry. Sometimes it’s rain or sleet, wind or ice. Other times the visibility is simply too poor to make confident turns. That’s what happened for the first two days of Drew’s and my (I never know how to properly say that) three-day trip to Chamonix, France. Then came Saturday. We’ll get there.

Wednesday I left class a bit early to make my 4:30 flight (a bit more conventional than driving to the Alps, like last week) to Geneva, Switzerland. I took the metro then the bus to the airport. It took about an hour and a half to get from Templova to Praha-Ruzne International Airport. For once in my life (as many of you know), my flights were actually on time. Unfortunately, this was the one time that I could have afforded to be significantly late, because Drew’s plane from Barcelona landed four hours after mine. It was fine, though. I had a nice Swiss meal, practiced some French and watched “Step Brothers” on my laptop in the meantime. I’m used to waiting in airports.

(Quick aside: I took French for seven years, and this weekend was the first time it was actually useful. Honestly, it was really rewarding. Now I can imagine what taking Spanish in say, Framingham is like.

Also, note to Switzerland: Ditch the whole eastside, German thing. French is much more pleasant to be around. Needless to say, Geneva is much more tolerable language-wise than Interlaken.)

Drew landed just after 10:00; we met our driver and by just after midnight, we checked into Mercure Chamonix les Bossons Hotel. (Perhaps I’m just unlucky in the States? Maybe it’s not about luck.) It was raining during the entire drive, which meant snow in the mountains and us, in turn, chomping at the bit.

Our hotel wasn’t exactly in Chamonix Centre. We had to walk about 10 minutes to the nearest bus stop which took us there. Easy enough. We quickly rented skis, boots and poles for only 30 euros a day. Great deal, considering we got top-of-the-line skis. It was snowing pretty steadily so we were psyched. We hopped on the bus to Les Grands Montets (Chamonix is the name of the village – which is very Aspen-like; there’s no peak named Chamonix). We soon realized what we were getting ourselves into. These mountains were extremely steep and wooded for about the first 1,000 meters, which for the most part, is unskiable. Then you hit the tree line. And above tree line + snowstorm = complete whiteout. At times, you could only see two chairs in front of you. We wanted to challenge ourselves and find some fun (I refuse to use “gnarley”) lines, but it was simply impossible. Trails are staked only with bamboo in the Alps; they rarely rope things off. So had we ventured outside the stakes, we theoretically could have found an 80-foot cliff – which would have been the case in Interlaken. We later found out that that wasn’t true at Chamonix, but at the time, we obviously couldn’t take any life-threatening chances.

We found a couple trails where we used trees for depth perception. The snow was great, about 8 fresh inches; you just couldn’t tell the difference between up and down, left and right. It was frustrating and exhausting. Thursday night we were asleep before 10:00. Dinnerless.

Day 2 was much of the same. We tried Le Tour instead of Les Grands Montets, but the results were very similar. Again we were above the tree line in a whiteout. There were some periods of (very) brief sun (being in back-to-back whiteouts, and being in Prague, for that matter, will really make you appreciate that big, fiery star of ours), which was nice, but for the most part, we were picking our way through visual pea soup with fluff underneath. Again, a bit frustrating, but we found our spots in the trees, made some tracks and had a fun, productive day. The highlights of the day were the meals, ordering deux croque monsieurs for lunch and great pizzas and desserts in the village for dinner. The French certainly know how to eat. Our waiter talked to most Americans (or Brits, and there were many) in English, but respected my French enough to talk to me in le francais. I guess that’s what you get for seven long years. Again: exhausted, out cold. Then came Saturday.

Saturday was one of the top six (very arbitrary number) coolest days of my life. The sun was out and there was about a foot of fresh snow. We went back to Les Grand Montets and it looked like a completely different world, and it was an entirely different experience. We had no idea what the previous whiteouts were hiding. The views were incredible and the skiing options were unlimited. It was like Vail’s back bowls times four. So much vertical and more vast than either of us could have imagined. The Alps really do put the Rockies to shame if (and that’s a big “if”) you get favorable weather and snow. Neither is close to a guarantee, but if you get both, like we did, you’re in for a treat. Saturday made are weekend and probably made my semester.

Somehow our 6:00 shuttle to Geneva was a half hour late, so when we strolled into the hotel at 6:35, it was still there waiting for us. Actually, the driver was trying to call me, but my phone was shut off inside. So we hopped in the shuttle, ski clothes still on, and went to Geneva Airport’s Holiday Inn. Drew had a 7:00 a.m. flight to Barcelona; I had a 10:00 flight to Zurich, then a 12:45 to Prague.

So my Alps adventure comes to an end. Six ski days in nine total days. Not bad. But the traveling is far from over. Off to Dublin on Thursday for a Framingham/Madison/DU reunion. Should be eventful.

Until then, enjoy the pictures.

Fun facts from Prague (with a grocery store theme)

1. Cashiers sit down instead of stand. Took me a while to realize the difference.

2. Most (all but one so far) are at least 50 years old.

3. You have to buy paper or plastic bags (about six crowns) and you have to bag your own groceries. You start to feel the pressure when there's a long line behind you, which usually is the case.

4. Most Czechs only buy a few things per trip. They must go every day.

5 (non-grocery store-themed). The metro lines are stacked on top of each other. To get to the bottom line (I forget which color that is), you have to take a massive escalator. I've been told that they're the longest escalators in the EU. I've also been told that they were built so deep during the Cold War in case of a nuclear war. So the metro here is basically a Czechoslovakian nuclear war shelter. Pretty cool.

Notes from Interlaken

1. Balmers claimed to have the best spring water in the world. That might just be accurate.

2. The chocolate in Switzerland was as advertised as well.

3. The autobahn was flooded with Beemers, Benzes and Audis; it's not a myth.

4. We drove through four countries along the way (in order): Czech Repulblic, Germany, Austria (for less than an hour) and Switzerland.

5. License plates in the EU are all the same; they all have the EU flag on the left side. What distinguishes the respective countries are the letters underneath the flag: "D" for Germany (Deutschland), "CH" for Switzerland (I don't know why, but Swiss Francs are listed as CHF, so at least that's synonymous) and "CZ" for Czech Republic.

6. For breakfast Josh and I had bacon and egg rolls, essentially breakfast sandwiches. Saturday morning they came with barbeque sauce; Sunday they didn't. Sunday they weren't the same. Sounds like an odd touch, but I'd suggest it. Definitely bringing that one home with me to the States.

7. Song of the trip: Pink's "So What?" (I'm gonna start a fight). For sure (even though Dana hated when we (I) sung/whistled/hummed it).

From Prague to Interlaken and back, with plenty of ausfahrts in between

“Ausfahrt” means “exit” in German. We laughed about that (in both directions) more times than Dembling lost a ski over the weekend. Mature, I know, but what do you expect from a bunch of 21-year-olds driving from the Czech Republic to Switzerland and back, none of whom know a word of German?

Before we start: Good news: I brought my camera. Bad news: It ran out of batteries almost instantly. Worse news: I forget my charger. Best news: Chris and Dana took plenty of pictures with me included. (Coming soon).

OK, time to begin the adventure, and it was nothing short of that:

At 5:00 p.m. (or 17.00, as they say here in Europa) Thursday, Chris, Dana and I went to go retrieve the rental cars. We were supposed to meet at the Hilton Hotel in Old Town. The guys from ASAP Rentals insisted they were at the only Hilton in Prague. There are two. So we left the cars there until we were ready for our departure. Doug and Austen had class until 9:15, so we waited to leave until after then. When it was time to leave, Dana and Chris got a bit lost (they swear it was the GPS’s fault) getting to our apartment from the Hilton. We were finally on the road at 11:00.

The drive was pretty straightforward, thanks to our GPS systems; amazing inventions. Think about it, we drove from Prague to Interlaken and back with no (accurate) paper directions, not being able to read the road signs. Driving on the autobahn (which is a system of roads in Germany, not just one highway, contrary to popular belief) was pretty cool. I hit 180 km/hr on the way home. I had to. The Germans are serious about their driving. They’ll flash at you if you’re in their way in the left lane, and they’ll scream by you if you’re doing any less than 130 km/hr. Some had to be pushing 200.

The drive took a bit longer than expected, about nine hours on the road. Josh and I couldn’t sleep in the car; that came back to bite us. The sun started to come up as we crossed the Swiss border. The Swiss Alps are a sight to be seen. And below them is a turquoise-colored lake; looks like a painting. After winding through the steep, narrow roads (thank god it wasn’t snowing), we finally made it to Balmers Hostel in Interlaken at about 8:30. We couldn’t check into our 10-person room (me, Dembo, Cohen, Henry, Dana, Chris, Anne, Ellie, Austen and Doug) until 4:00, so we immediately rented our equipment and off we went. On zero sleep.

Contrary to my prior beliefs, Interlaken is not a ski town. You can access good mountains from it, but calling it ski-on-ski-off would be like calling Madison mild in February. Of course we had no idea what we were doing transportation-wise, but we did what we were told. We hopped on the 10:30 bus, two trains later we were at the Kl. Scheidegg peak (one of three mountains accessible from our hostel). It was about noon and Josh and I were irritated and exhausted, but we still had a good day of skiing. The mountain wasn’t terribly challenging and it was spring conditions – heavy to moderately slushy – but we enjoyed the sun – something that Prague certainly lacks – at about 7,000 feet. The views were incredible (coming soon) and we skied until about 4:30. The ride back to Balmers (two trains and a bus) was equally as frustrating, especially having not closed my eyes in 40 hours. Dana (who slept during the entire drive and none of us will ever let her forget it) and Chris tried to cheer Josh and I up. Winning the lottery only could have done so much at that point. We got back just before 7:00. Out cold several minutes later, seconds after head-pillow contact.

After a full night’s sleep, Day 2 was much more enjoyable. Actually, it was one of the most enjoyable days I’ve had in recent memory. There were zero clouds in the sky and it had to be pushing 50 degrees Fahrenheit by mid-day. The highlight of the day came after lunch, when Josh and I skied two runs without our shirts on, screaming as we comfortably zoomed down the mountain. Locals were pointing, laughing in German and taking pictures of us. My goal is to find those photos on some random Swiss blog before I leave Prague. That morning, I took one of the hardest falls I’ve had in years. Double ejection (can’t remember the last time that happened and I had the bindings cranked to nine). One of my skis slid down the subsequent face about 300 yards, so I had to slide on my ass (at a pretty decent speed) down to get it. Good times.

Lunch was an unreal experience. We were tanning at mid-mountain, laid back with the most ridiculous view I’ve ever seen (again, coming soon). Unbelievable day. Not too challenging, but no loss in the fun department.

(Wow, this is going to be longer than most of my Herald columns)

That night was fun. We walked around town for a bit and went to Hooters for dinner. We wanted to get a feel of the Swiss culture, you know? They had the UConn-Notre Dame basketball game on, so I was happy. Balmers has a dance club/bar in the basement, so we took advantage of that for a while post-dinner. I ran into Whitney Gorovitz there, who was on the Bus2Alps trip from Florence. Small world. Still, one more day of skiing.

We decided to drive to the third mountain yesterday. Great decision. It was so much easier to drive than take the buses/trains. We made it to Stechelberg in 20 minutes, took the tram to the top of Gimmelwald peak (again, ridiculous cliffs, views). Unfortunately it was in the 30’s, so everything that had melted Saturday was frozen yesterday. The conditions weren’t ideal (flat light, bulletproof at points), but we were all about the experience. We skied three days in the Swiss Alps; how could we complain?

When we got back to Balmers it was time to head home. We loaded the cars and headed back to Prague. The high(low)light of the adventure back was Austen getting pulled over by a Czech cop because he drove into what was basically a parking lot via a one-way entrance. He kept Austen’s passport and license for at least a half hour before issuing him a bullshit 2,000 crown fine. He’s asking CEA what to do about that today.

So after a nice McDonald’s feast, we made it back to Prague at about 2:00 a.m. This morning I returned the cars, and that was that; eight college kids driving from Prague to Interlaken and back for three days of skiing in the Alps with no major mishaps. Not a bad story.

I’m sure I missed a bunch of details. You can ask me about it later, if you want. Now it’s time to shift gears. After all, I’ve got school for two days before heading to Chamonix Wednesday night.