Home Sweet Sweet Home

Tomorrow night I will be back in the good SLC... I cant wait! I am so excited to hug my mom and dad... then my friends... then eat sushi. I am going home about 2.5 weeks early, but I dont even care. I am so exhausted. I have been traveling for 2.5 months and I am tired... Its hard just getting settled somewhere... making friends.. then having to pack up and travel all day to another strange place. Thats also of course part of the excitement... venturing into the unknown.. but after a while it started to wear on me... I just kept thinking about all the things I want and need to do at home. Like get on track for nursing school, get a job, save more money for another adventure in Asia and India, and I really miss my family and friends. I guess one of the most important things I have learned on this trip is that nomatter where you go in the world.. when you get down to it...everybody is pretty much the same. Even each place I have gone to is the same in a way.. the architecture may be different, but in essence it is the same... and not entirely different than the US. I think I was trying to escape from American culture...which kind of annoys me.. the superficiality, materialism, ''Hollywood'', ignorance... but I have learned that it is everywhere.... even where you think and hope it wouldnt be... and I have learned that it is not necessarily the US that created this. So my hostility and bitterness toward the States has been subdued a bit.. I think the key is each person is different and you surround yourself with good people with good hearts... I think that is the most important thing. And then I realized that all those good people are back home... and also in London, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, and all over the world... they are sometimes hard to find but when you do its wonderful... but I guess I realized how lucky I am to have what I have back home. I definately plan on living in another country when I am a nurse for a few years... I very much want to do volunteer work all over the world. I met the coolest guy on the shuttle to Malpensa Airport in Milan who was going to the Ukraine to do volunteer work with homeless children. I got the information and maybe that will be my next thing. We had an amazing conversation.. one I will never forget... about life, happiness, Buddhism, books, volunteering.. oh and he was from Siena, Italy! We talked a lot of about Siena as well... Its little random encounters like that that have made my adventure so memorable.. it hasnt been seeing a famous painting... or the Red Light District in Amsterdam... or anything like that... it has by far been the people I have met and will never forget... I have learned so much.. about myself and the world... and I am so excited to go home!

Slovenia, Venice, Monselice, and Milan

I am now in Milan. Yesterday I went to Venice and then to Monselice, Italy from Slovenia... Venice was pretty cool to see. I was debating on whether to skip going there entirely because it is such a tourist trap and I heard it is stinky... but it really wasnt too bad. I am happy I got to see it. Monselice is about 40 minutes outside of Venice and I slept there for the night in a private room.. no shared room for me this time. hahah... I really liked this town. It was really small...and clean...and cozy... there was a big castle up on a hill in the middle of the town that was really beautiful. I ate a very nice dinner in a fancy restaurant... I had pasta with clams with a butter garlic sauce. It was incredible! and very cheap. It was £7 which is like $10.00... so delicious... and my waiter was gorgeous....then when I walked to the main square to get gelato there was some festival going on.. there was music and booths set up with merchandise. As I was eating my gelato I saw a man dressed as a clown on a bicycle and he was very friendly. He made some lady take a photo of me and him with my camera and he tied balloons for kids. Then this street band encircled me and handed me a tamborine... so I jammed with them for about 10 minutes... we had a rather large crowd around us.. it was cool man... I watched some old men playing chess until I finished my gelato .. then I went home... Brandon called me and it was nice to talk to him! I miss my friends!!! Today I woke up early and caught a train to Milan. I met a boy from Padua, Italy that loves Americans.. he asked for my email after we had talked for a while. He was nice...Then I got to Milan... my hostel was kind of hard to find and my bag is pretty heavy.. so that sucked.. but I finally got there and the lady at the front desk was so nice and helpful. She told me how to get on the metro and go to a nice part of Milan where the youngsters like me hang out. So here I am on the internet and soon I am going to go eat something and drink beer and read my book.... Tomorrow I wake up early and go to Malpensa airport to hop on a plane to Santorini... After thinking about going to Turkey, Croatia, and Montengro.. I have decided to meet up with the girls in Switzerland (Zurich) for the street festival and a soccer game for a few days of fun... then some of their friends are going to Budapest to a huge musical festival that is cheaper than Rock Werchter and has more bands.. or... I will meet up with Kent in Italy.. but to be honest I am sick of Italy. I love love love it.. but there is only so much of it you can see.... and I want my last days in Europe to be incredible.... I cant wait to go home and give my mom a huge hug though. .I miss her... and Craigers... so much...

Budapest is the best

So... now I have a little time on my hands and FREE internet... where did I leave off? Well, I left Interlaken about a week ago and met up with Tom who I met at Rock Werchter in Budapest. I loved Budapest... absolutely incredible... the culture is so great... so good... it is the perfect mix between communism and capitalism... the revolution was just in 1989... so people still have this idea of I am not better than you and no one is trying to show off anything... you can buy beer or food and take it in almost any place. They pretty much let u do anything. The atmosphere is so laid back and the people are lovely... everyone was so sweet. The food! Oh man... it was incredible... Goulash soup, beef stew and noodles, steak medallions hungarian style, stuffed cabbage...mmmm
Chess is big in Budapest. When Tom and I went to the Turkish baths there were old men huddled around their chess boards for hours... there were chess boards everywhere... in the park.. in the train station... keleti... We saw the castle and the parliament. The architecture was astonishing... the Danube river was huge and beautiful.. the mighty Danube... The last night we were there Tom and I went to our favorite place called the Godor club... its a club, music venue in a park and they have live bands every night... good beer.. the place is always packed with young locals.. who are very good looking... and have this style that is somewhat Grungy shiek and Bohemian Arsty.. its rad... we met a boy named David who is from Hungary and we talked to him about politics and everything Hungarian. He said he knows Americans that live there and teach English and make great money.... just a thought... he also showed us the coolest place i have ever been to. I have remember the name but it was a club.. but unlike any club I have ever seen.. it was in an old run down building but it was decadent!!! there were bikes chained everywhere because that is the trainsportation there mainly... there was a room with retro tv's hanging all over the wall playing matrix type images... the music was good... not American at all... it. I wish I could even begin to describe it but I could never do it justice... its the coolest most original and beautiful place I have ever seen.... and the culture... so good.... so good....... I left my heart in Budapest.
Interlaken was also beautiful. I met these wonderful girls living in Zurich. They invited me to come back and stay with them Aug 8- 11 for a street festival... there were a ton of americans in Interlaken though and I really found that annoying...
Now I am in Ljubjana, Slovenia which is gorgeous.. this is a very rich country... everything is so clean and organized... the city I am in is very small and you can walk everywhere. I took a bus t Lake Bled today which has an island in the middle with a castle... its incredible... I took lots of pics hopefully i can upload them soon... Slovenia is very greeeeen... so greeeenn... its incredible.. I have one more night here and then I go to Milano for a night and of to Santorini...more to come...

Switzerland

Amsterdam

Rock Werchter

Blown away by a little place called Frankfurt

So I didnt have many expectations for Frankfurt... probably because I didnt know much about it and I came here on a whim... but I LOVE IT! Our hostel is kind of in a ghetto area, but I have never felt unsafe. Last night I went with my other roomies (a traveling nurse from Australia living in Saudi Arabia doing nursing, a boy named Christian from Colombia studying in Italia, and the girl in my hostel from Amsterdam.) We walked down to this river where all the locals hang out and drink beer and watch the sunset. There are old gothic churches and the skyline was beautiful. The people were really nice and I had a delicious Hefeweisen and great conversations about traveling and nursing, etc.. etc... I saw lots of beautiful German folk. One boy was playing his acoustic guitar and a girl was singing along.. it was beautiful. Then we all went and got some Turkish food. There are a lot of Turkish people here... Anyway, I am about to hop the train to Switzerland... and I didnt take any pics of Frankfurt river.. i am so sad...but I got some of this crazy building. Those coming soon.... all my love...

Lost in Translation

Amsterdam was beginning to feel like the Bermuda Triangle of Europe to me and I had to get OUT! So I hopped on a train with one of my roomies and we are now in Frankfurt which is much better...
I was trying to reserve a seat on the night train for Switzerland and the lady told me there was a 5 hour wait and that she knew NOTHING... hahaha... so anyway... peace out Amsterdam
I am feeling a little better today. My cold is letting up a bit.. but I am coughing tons.. which sucks..
I hope clean Swiss air will cure me. Then I get to meet up with Kyle as well!
I recieved an email from a boy I roomed with in Cinque Terre and it about made me cry so I hope he doesnt mind if I post it because it was awesome! Here it is....

Hello Natasha,

i wanted to say thanks for hanging out with us and showing us around in chinqen terre. we really were very lucky to have met you. generally if a guy complements a girl like this he's cuase he wants to hook up with her, but don't worry that's not my intention, i'm just happy that we had the chance to meet.

i think that you are a lovly woman. i don't use that word often to describe people. you turned out to be a beatiful person both inside and out. i was kind of surprised you were very content just to hangout with us and show us the things you had already seen in the cities. alot of times i thought people would say some dumb things, but you never made fun of them or rolled your eyes you just continued to be kind.

we attend a christian college that prides itself on the genuiness, patience, and kindess of its students. but i thing it would still be rare to find a girl like you even amount them.

anyway, thanks again so much for showing us around, i really enjoyed meeting you. i hope that the rest of your travels are safe and that you meet some other people to share it with. if your ever in west michigan and need anything give us a shout. bye

-Jon

I thought it was really cool of him to say that.... anyway... gotta go.. I am hungryyyyy.....

Rock Werchter and Amsterdam

I successfully made it to Brussels last week from Cinque Terre, Italy and I cant tell you how good that felt to navigate Europe trains and planes with no bumps or bruises... I feel very independent and self sufficient these days... so good...
I had a nice hot shower the night before Rock Werchter started in my hotel. It was really nice.. the more North you head in Europe the more high tech/futuristic things are... the trains are also very nice and ORGANIZED... Italy is sooo not organized.. but that is just the culture.
The morning or RW I hopped on the shuttle where I met 2 girls from London... they asked if I was alone and I said yes and they invited me to camp with them. I was so relieved!!!
There were soooo many people lined up for the buses.. it was like an ocean of people.. I think something like 100,000 people attended this festival. I ended up having to go to the box office to trade my paper ticket for a camping ticket.. so I ended up losing the girls.. met a boy named Andy in line (from Boston) and he ended up palling around with us the rest of the time.. and his friend Lisa from Texas... But I left him in the line to go find the girls and I was really nervous because there were so many people in the campground and my cell wasnt working when I called them. I ended up asking a group of Aussies how you call a UK number from a cell and they helped me and told me to pitch up my tent there.. They pretty much pitched it for me and told me I was a part of the family... There was about 15-20 of them.. girls and guys.. They were amazing people.. truly amazing.. I ended up sticking with them the rest of the time and met some really cool people.. Tom was one of my favorites... me and him rocked the dance floor and he is a funny fella... but they were all so cool. We found Andy again... and then we gained some more friends from London... Scott and his friends... we had a huge group... and we drank lots of Stella but they were in little cups. I never got wasted.. just buzzed... it was perfect... I danced soooo much.. I dont think I have ever danced that much in my life. I saw NEIL YOUNG! 2 of the Aussies were die hard fans like me so we pushed our way to the front. AMAZING! He is so old and he rocked out! Some of my other favorites were Vampire Weekend, JayZ, MGMT, Sigur Ros, Deus, The Kooks, Kings of Leon, ... there were SO many bands!!!!!! all incredible...
The last night we went in a German beer tent and drank beer and sang songs... it was packed with people from all over the world.. it was incredible.. everyone singing together!
At the end of the festival I hopped the train to Amsterdam and here I am... paying for really expensive internet.. but I have a bit of a cold and stuffy nose so I am taking it easy tonight. Last night I went to the Red Light District with 2 girls in my hostel room. We went prostitute gazing and walked around a lot.. I watched some guy buy a box of mushrooms... that was crazy... and everyone is smoking pot... it really is NO big deal at all. I havent really felt like smoking though...
I went shopping today and ate some pizza. I found a little street and every store has a 50% off sale. I bought some sandals for 19 Euro, and some boots that I have been looking allll over for... and a sweater because its freezing here. It has been raining.... a little sunshine today though.. tomorrow I will go to the Van Gough museum and take photos... I miss my Australians... and my dancing partner Tom.... but hopefully we will meet up later because he is traveling for a few weeks as well.... Life is good.. I miss my family and friends though!!!!!!!

5 Terre