mi casa

dublin. ireland.

oktoberfest

updates coming later tonight

i think i just decided something.....

... i don´t really like writing that much. so instead im gonna do more of a picture type blog. i´ll still write alil bit, once and awhile, maybe, but i think ill just let the photos do the talking. vale.

dublin. ireland.

oktoberfest was sick and classes starting was pretty chill with them being pretty easy. mondays and wednesday are a little rough with 4 classes but there is plenty of breaks between them.

the weekend after oktoberfest i headed to dublin to visit another one of my bros from soccer at nu, D Brack. the first day i was there he had to work so i went on a tour of the countryside. it was epic, everything was so green. and there was even a lake of guiness. other all it was a good day and then that night we went out and met up with Kilkenny and some more of their friends.

next day we woke up pretty late so we went to the guiness factory, saw a couple other areas of dublin real quick and then spent most the rest of the day seeing the inside of pubs. guiness goes down like water for some reason when you´re in ireland. then we went out to some club again that night and came home the perfect time for breakfast, took a two hour nap and then headed to the airport to head home.

being short here but i gotta get going to class.

end of backpacking. start of barcelona.

soooo yea its been a little while. the backpacking trip finished up great with stops in brussels belguim, lagos portugal, and another stop back in iceland. ill try to throw up some pics soon but as i dont have a computer at this time..... long story.... it might have to wait alil bit.

barcelona has been incrediable thus far. weather is amazing. city is amazing. the people are amazing. everything is sick. the first couple days were for orientation through our program which got us up to speed with barcelona and everything that would be going down here. moved into my homestay. im living with an older lady who speaks no english which is great as it helps me to learn the language more.

we´ve done a couple day trips to some places along the coast but most importantly went to my 1st barça game. got so hooked up with free tickets that were in the 3rd and 9th rows. crazy. 5 -2 win for barça of course.

what else what else. yea its pretty much just been a vacation since i´ve been here. clase de español from 930 to 12 and then the rest of the day is free. been spending a lot of time at the beach chillin with bocadillos and cervesas. tough life. also playing a good amount of futsal at the spot we found with some locals. surprisingly we can actually ball with them. have def won the majority of the games so we´re helping to give americanos a bit of a better name when it comes to our futbolíng abilities. they were quite surprised.

oh and yea. i love siesta´ing. so yea to sum it up.
siesta. bocadillos. beach. cervesas. sol. parties til 5 and 6 am.

classes start this coming monday so that may change buuuuuut probably not.

going to oktoberfest in munich tomorrow con mi amigo from germany who played with me at northeastern.

update you after that. if i can make it back.

Auschwitz death camp

Another part of my stay in Gliwice Polska was visiting the Nazi death
camp Auschwitz which I felt a strong need to visit. To be honest,
there are really no words to describe this place and what I saw. It is
still an understatement but I will say that it is the most horrific
place I have and will ever see in my lifetime.

Salzburg. Budapest. Krakow. Gliwice. Brussels.

Gonna do a quick recap to get caught up.

Salzburg. Austria.
This was marissa's and I last stop together. The day we got in we hit
up the steigl brewery which was quick huge and had some real solid
brews. While I was there a German guy came up to me because and asked
me if I was going to "the games". It was because I was wearing a
hockey jersey and there just so happened to be a hockey tourney
starting the next day. I of course could not miss this chance so I
found out all the info I could and planned on it for the next day. The
next day I went to eisreisenwelt which is the largest ice cave in the
world. It was pretty epic. Crazy how outside it was pushing mid 90s
and then as soon as you stepped in the cave it was at freezing temps.
After this came the hockey. Such a cool experience as there were fan
sections much like you would expect at a soccer match. OK level of
hockey, it was the top club teams in Europe but it was still no NHL.
Oh and yes, the hooligans from Zurich did start trying to hit Salzburg
fans with their metal flagpoles. No big deal.

Budapest. Hungary.
This was definitely the 1st time I actually felt like I was in a real
eastern European city. Spent the day walking around and napping on an
island in the Danube river. I really enjoyed this city and will have
to go back again.

Krakow. Poland.
Almost got kicked off the train in the way here for not having the
right ticket but worked it out. Met some great people on the train.
One of which was a guy named Mateu from the Spanish island of Mallorca
whom I spent the day with in krakow as we were both traveling alone.
Had quite a good time seeing the city, trying some local foods, and of
course drinking beers.

Gliwice. Poland.
This was so great. Gliwice is the hometown of my good friend Lukasz.
He set everything up for me so that I could stay with and hangout with
his friends and grandmother. I stayed in an extra room at his
grandmothers whom was amazing to me, such a great lady. It was quite
the experience because she didn't speak a word of English but it was
nice because it really showed me that no matter how different the
language is you can really still understand and communicate with
anyone if you try. Most of the time I knew exactly what she was saying
or asking. Had great food prepared by both his grandmother and his
best friend's family, so so good. Saw the town and went out the last
night for drinks with Lukasz best friend Mariusz, his wife Anna, and
Mariusz's parents. Such great people and I can't wait to go back and
visit again.

Brussels. Belgium.
It is kind of strange that I even ended up here but I was quite happy
I got to. I landed in London and missed the flight to Lagos which I
had thought I would buy a ticket to after landing in London. I didn't
feel like waiting around in London so I looked at other options. Ended
up finding a good flight from Brussels to Lagos the next day so I went
and hopped on the train. I got in pretty late having a absolutly no
information on the city or hostels or anything. So I just decided to
get on the metro and got off at a random stop. From that random stop
and some help from a concierge I stummbled upon one of the few hostels
in the city but it was closed. So I was standing there for a few
minutes trying to decide where the best street or park would be to
sleep on when I guy opened the hostel door asking ne what I was doing.
I explained and he told me that he was the owner and had seen me
standing there and looking around on one of his cameras but more
importantly that he had only one bed left but it was mine if I wanted
it. I of course accepted, got settled and then went walking around for
some food and beer. To make this story even weirder, the next morning
I walked down to the lobby and ran into this girl Annik who had been
in my room at my hostel in Munich. Small world. So we talked a bit, I
then ran around the city seeing most of the sites and getting
chocolate, and then we went to the airport as we were both flying out
around the same time.

Can't wait

Redbullssalute.com

Found out from some random dude at the brewery today.

TOMMY VANEK AND THE COOLEST URINAL TOY EVER

Yes there was a picture of the buffalo sabres thomas vanek on the door
of our hostel in Vienna. So cool.

Lil bit of vienna in pics

Vienna. Austria.

Vienna was quick so I'm gonna keep this one quick. Sorry for the
disapointment. But yea the best part about Vienna was this girl from
Israel who we met named Maya. Marissa ran into her on the platform and
we ended up sitting and talking on the train. We have the same
birthday so im pretty sure there is a lil fate involved there. We then
pretty much spent the whole time in Vienna hanging with her seeing the
city and such. Vienna is quite a big city with a lot of amazing
looking building. We stumbled upon their city hall and made the
mistake of thinking it was a palace. We also went to one cathedral
where we went on a tour or their catacombs. It was pretty cool. A lil
creepy but still cool. We saw inside rooms where people had been
buried over 600 years ago and now there was just piles of bones
everywhere. One room was even full of people who passed because of the
black plague which i may or may not have now. Had some dinner and of
course more beer then called it a night. Definitely going to try and
make it to Israel some point this semester now. Conquering Salzburg
next.

Prague. Czech Republic.

Prague was a fun fun time. Went around the first day a lil bit but
then started chillin with some guys in my room of the hostel. Ended up
going out with a bunch of us and had a pretty ridiculous time. Don't
think I was in bed until about 6 or so. The next morning, by some
miracle I was able to get out of bed and we went on another free tour
only whereas the one in Berlin was awesome, the tour guide for Prague
ruined it. Must have been the most annoying person to listen to speak
in the world. But it was free so I'll shutup. After that we met up
with our friend Phil and then went to a couch surfing meetup where we
had some more people come along with us to chill and get dinner before
going to radiohead. Been meeting some many people so many different
ways this trip. It's pretty cool. And everyone is always so down to
chill and met someone else new. Radiohead was pretty cool but I think
I had way too high of expectations for them so I was personally a bit
disappointed. Next day was our last day. Saw a few remaining sites.
One of which was the most disapointing clock ever. People huddle
around this thing every hour to watch it go off and it lasts about 20
seconds and does nothing cool. If you ever go to Prague please promise
me that you will not go to see this. Thanks. Then I spent most of the
day eating cause I'm fat and like food along with a few beers with
some kids from the hostel again. It's been real real Prague but you
have way too many tourists. Vienna time. Peace.

few more Prague pics

couple Prague pics

Berlin. Germany.

Berlin was such an enjoyable city to visit. It was really the history
that did it for me. It's really quite intense seeing some of the sites
around there and constantly being reminded of the war and what
happened there. The craziest feeling which I can't really describe was
when we were on this free tour thing and we were standing on the
random grass path next to a parking lot for some appartment buildings.
We were standing less the 10 meters from where Hitler killed himself.
It was really quite chilling. Like you could still feel the evil
there. But yea we travelled all over the city an got a great feel for
it. We also got a pleasant surprise when my friend, Kevin Tkatchuk,
from highschool saw my facebook status and let me know that he was now
in Berlin working at the US embassy. So we got to see him and get a
quick tour of the non confidential area of the embassy. Pretty cool
experience. Also met this guy at or hostel named Phil from Quebec.
Chilled with him a bit and then traveled to Prague with him. He also
informed us of the radiohead concert so we got tickets and made plans
to meet up again in Prague. But ummm yea I'm pretty tired and need to
sleep so that's all for now. Peaceeeee.

@the berlin wall

Some Munich pics

Munich. Germany.

So this was my first time spending any real time in Germany and well
it didn't disappoint. I really liked it the feel of Munich and it's
people and most certainly the beer. I never thought I would just be
putting down liters of beer so easily. A true life accomplishment. The
day we got in we hit up a palace, a church where we climbed up the
tower to get a good view over the whole city, walked around a bit and
then went to the famous haufbrauhaus which I may have just spelled
wrong? The beer was great. The 2nd liter I ordered was a mix of the
hef beer with lemonade and let's just say that I now have a new drink
of choice. Our 2nd day we went to the deuches museum which was a huge
tech museum and was right up my alley compared to most other museums.
Also one of the rare times i got to be proud of rochester there was
rochester kodak stuff everywhere. After that we went over to the
olympic center which was pretty cool to see the stadium and such over
there. Pretty crazy to think about the history there and all around
this city. BMW headquarters was also over in this area so we went and
checked that out which was real cool. I want their now hydrogen car
now. That took up most the day so we got back to the hostel and went
to the augustiner brewery for dinner and of course more beer. Just a
tip for anyone who ends up going there, you may think the pretzals on
the table are free, they're not. The wombats hostel we were staying at
has a pretty solid bar and hangout area so we went back and while
Marissa was responsible and went to bed, I drank more beer. It was a
great time. Met a lot of cool people. But now I'm on the train to
Berlin hungover and that sucks. I guess I'll just need to get a beer
in Berlin asap. Later.

Zurich, Switzerland

The city of banks. We got in around noon, dropped our stuff off at the
hostel and headed downtown. We explored aroundfor a while. Saw two
churches with sick stained glass windows. Napped by the waterfront of
the Llmat river. Yes we nap a lot. Traveling is tiring. When then
checked my email at mcdonalds because Brindley, a friend of mine had a
family friend who actually lives in Zurich and had offered to help us
out with a place to stay and possiblyshowing us around too. We had a
response from her, her name is Giannina, and we arranged for her to
pick us up downtown after going back and getting our stuff from the
hostel. I can't really say enough good things about Giannina and her
son Kristof. They were amazing to us and a can't thank them enough. We
stayed at their house in a suburb of zurich called Zomikon for two
nights and had great meals and times with them. The full day we spent
with them we headed to a mountain town called Arosa which involved
taking a twisting road of some 300 or more turns to get there. We had
lunch there and went on about a 2 hour hike seeing more of the
beautiful alps. We headed backandwent downtownfor dinner and a beer.
It was such a pleasure getting to know both of them and I def feel I
have some new friends whom I will be sure to stay in contact with.
Can't wait to pay all the help and kindness I have recieved lately in
my life forward. On to Munich for some beer and brats. Later.

Interlaken, Switzerland

Sorryyyy but I'm gonna keep this one short even though it probably
shouldn't be cause it was sick. The first day e wandered around the
town and explored it a bit, it isn very big so it was quite easy to
do. We took a nap in their central park area where all the paragliders
land and then hope a bomb pizza dinner. The 2nd day we hopped a train
to Grindlewald and went hiking from there through the alps to a peak
called first. The views were amazing, when we looked across the valley
you could see these other two valleys filled with glaciers. Saw a ton
of cows as we got higher with the traditional cow bells on. Got to hug
one which was sweet haha. I wonder if those cows realize how good they
have it for being cows even though just eating grass all the time must
suck. From first we took what must have been the most expensive
gondola in the world back down to grindlewald to catch a train back to
interlaken. The 3rd and final day we went canyoning. This was so
baller. Bucking ourselves off cliffs into pools, repelling down the
middle of waterfalls, and sliding down rock walls into pools all in
this amazing canyon. I'll try to get some pics up later. That pretty
much sums up interlaken. Off to Zurich. Peace out.

Ibiza

We flew to Ibiza on aug 9th but had about a 9 hour layover in Madrid
so we left the airport and went into the city to roam for a few hours.
Nothing too exciting, had some bomb empinadas for lunch and got a
Spanish sim card for my phone. We landed in Ibiza late night but got
to the hotel and met up with Marissa's friend Jess for some drinks.
The next day I got my first experience swimming in the mediterranean
sea which was pretty sick at a beach called cala bassa. The water was
an epic bright greenish blue and all the topless girls didn't really
ruin the expierence either. That night we went to the famous club
amnesia. I don't really know what to say about this other than it was
an incredible experience. The djs were dubfire and Sven vath for their
cocoon night which has now been running for 10 years. The atmosphere
was nuts and can't really put it into words. Great night. The rest of
our stay there was spent pretty relaxed, saw a real nice sunset at
cafe del mar and roamed around Ibiza town and their walled city for
awhile. The last night we also ended up in this one club called es
paradis which is another one of the pretty big clubs on the island.
One thing before I tell this that you need to k ow is that the area we
were staying in is called sant Antoni and is apparently a mecca of
sorts for British partiers. They're everywhere and pretty much take
over the place. So we went in to this club after a baller night at
amnesia and this place is playing nothing but terrible club mixes with
a couple fat British mcs who once and a while would actually try to
sing themselves and yea it would have been better to have me singing,
which I guess doesn't say much since I do have a magnificent voice.
But the thing that makes this all so terrible is that all the Brits in
the place were going insane and loving it. We stayed for about 30 min
for some laughs and then went on our way. Ibiza was a good stop
because of club amnesia but I'm def happy to be moving on now. Later.

Stockholm, Sweden

Got in and met my friend Hanna at the train station. She brought us
back to her parents house were we stayed, a real cool apartment on the
sodermalm island. If you don't know which I didn't Stockholm is made
up of a bunch of islands. It's quite a cool city. We had an a pretty
awesome lunch which was Swedish meatballs with a berry jam (I couldn't
believe it was good but it really was) and then this awesome cheese
and bread which became a staple during our stay there. Hanna and her
friends had planned a picnic for that night so we got to meet a bunch
of her friends and chill out, eat, and of course drink. Lot of fun.
Then we went out to a club for a lil bit and headed home.
Next day we toured the city on bicycles which was goodtimes and saw
all the big sites. Took a free boat ride to some other smaller island
cause hanna's friend worked on the boat and then went back home. Right
after getting home we headed back out to met up with some of hanna's
friends who were at this sweet tapas bar down the street. Drank and
ate some more then spent the rest of the night on the roof of one of
their apartments. With more awesome cheese and some good new music.
Then it was home for another early flight to Madrid. Stockholm didn't
dissapoint and I wish I had had atleast a few more days there.

Iceland

Landed in rekjavik late night on the aug 5th and pretty much just went
straight to bed. Next day, my only day there ended up being a busy
one. Started with eating hot dogs at some famous hot dog stand that
the great bill clinton has been to before so you know they're good.
And well they were pretty damn good. We then met up with Marissa and
her friend Jess whom had already been there for two days. We hit up a
place called the blue lagoon which is basically a huge volcanic hot
spring and was quite enjoyable. Petur and his friend Robbie then took
me a tour of a few popular spots which make up this thing called the
golden circle. It isn't spelled with a b but I don't have to character
on the keyboard so I'll use it cause it sounds that way sorta,
bingvillier (spot of first Viking parlament), golfuss falls(golden
falls) and geysir(a spot with a few geysirs.
We rushed home and had an amazing meal cooked by his mother Lola and
then went to watch his teams football game which Petur couldn't play
in cause of injury. They spanked em 4 to 1. Went out for a few beers
and headed home early cause of an early flight to Stockholm. Iceland
is sweet and like the movie the mighty ducks says it is very nice and
not full of ice. Unfortunately never got to meet Gunnar Stall. May hit
it up again at the end of my trip.

Roadtrip back east

Sooo yea I ended up not blogging on the roadtrip home but no worries
as it was pretty amazing and so much fun. My friend natalie joined for
the whole way and my brother was on for a part and there were numerous
other guest appearances. Just to give a quick run down of where the
route ended up being and then on to Europe.
Seattle. Portland. Redwood national forest. Hwy 1. San Francisco.
Yosemite. Los Angeles. Santa Barbara. Los Angeles. Las Vegas.
Havasupai (grand canyon). South Rim (grand canyon). Moab UT. Denver.
Estes park. 30 hours in the car to Philadelphia skipping all the
worthless places. Oswego. Home.

Met a ton of cool people and got some good stories but just ask me
cause it's too much to put on this now.

the end..... for now

so its been an awesome trip but it is officially over. just dropped matt off at the airport and i'm getting pretty settled in my new home.

its pretty crazy to think back over the trip.

over 4250 miles.

16 states/provinces.

2 countries.

2 times in canada.

over 20 cities.

and through all that we hit no bad weather and pretty much had blue skies the entire way there. we also didn't have one issue with herbie.

everything really went pretty great.

a thanks to everyone and anyone we met along the way or chilled with.

this is the end of this blog until about 7 months from now when i do it all over again to come home. should be a little different as i think i might be driving down the coast to san diego first and then carving my way back up to boston or home.

i'm also starting a new blog about my time in seattle since i had so much fun with this one.

if you want to check it out it is living in the emerald city and its at http://whywontyourunintherainandplay.blogspot.com/

til next trip, later

duty free and free from the canadians

sweet basket

that sucks

#1 duty free shop in the world

joys of duty free