The End.

7 months later. 28 cities later. 12 countries later. 7 classes later. 5845 pictures later. Too many memories to count later. This day has finally arrived. I'm sitting here in my packed room, with my baren walls and empty shelves, reflecting on the past 7 months. Where did the time go?

Traveling.   Studying.   Living.

I've met so many amazing people along the way, and I think it's only fair to acknowledge them. Being happy in life is not only about where you are but also about who you are with. The people I've met, be it in Hamburg or in foreign cities, have made all the difference. It's hard not knowing when I'll see these people, my friends, again. But I'm honored to have met each and every one of them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me into your lives. And thank you to Kaitlyn and Daniela - this experience would not have been the same without you.

I was flipping through my agenda book last night looking back on everything I've done and everywhere I've been. My planner is my life - everything from flights, to excursions, to dinners, to nights on the Reeperbahn, to homework assignments, to test dates are marked in it. To pay tribute to the best of the best, I've compiled a list of my "Top 3":

Top 3 Favorite Cities:
1) Hamburg, Germany
2) London, England
3) Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Top 3 Favorite Excursions:
1) Paragliding over the Swiss Alps
2) Walking along the Cliffs of Moher
3) Hiking in the Swiss Alps

Top 3 Favorite Classes:
1) Public Choice (the economics of politics)
2) Media Representation of Climate Change
3) Energy & Climate Policy

Top 3 Favorite Travel Mishaps:
1) Drunkenly sprinting through the Amsterdam airport trying not to miss our flight
2) Getting lost in the München airport looking for the ticket counter
3) Accidentally walking 1 hour in the wrong direction while sightseeing in -20C weather in Prague

Top 3 Favorite Drinks:
1) Orangey Cosmopolitans in London
2) Girly, frozen cocktails in Barcelona
3) 50 cent Mexikaner shots at Lucky Star on Hamburger Berg

Top 3 Nights on the Reeperbahn:
1) 1.6.12: Our first night (aka the night we fell in love with Hamburg)
2) 7.28.12: Our last night (aka the night a crazy Albanian man chased Kaitlyn and I down the Reeperbahn)
3) 2.10.12: Tequila Night 1.0 (aka the night all hell broke loose)

Top 3 Unexpected Events:
1) Meeting a random British guy at a bar in Amsterdam and visiting him in London
2) Learning to effectively communicate in a language I barely speak
3) Discovering my sense of self

They told us before we left that the next seven months would be the best ones of our lives. They told us we would have the time of our lives. Well it's true. They really were, and we really did. But now it's time to say goodbye. I choose not to morn over the fact that this is the end. Because it's not the end. It's just the closing period on this chapter of my life. I choose to remember the good times. I choose to remember the memories I've made. You only live once. And who knows, perhaps the next chapter of my life will be just as memorable. There's no need to cry. It's just a new beginning. Goodbye Hamburg. Goodbye Germany. Goodbye Europe. I will be back. You mark my words.

Love always,
Nicole

Day Trip to the Nordsee

After a rainy and cool start to July, summer finally arrived in Hamburg last week. For the first time since last summer, I experienced temperatures above 90F. Even though I have enjoyed the few days of warm weather, I dread returning to the smoldering Oklahoma heat. I'm one of those weird people who prefer cool, rainy summers over hot, sunny ones. To escape the hot subways and sweltering city, Kaitlyn and I took a day trip to the Nordsee (North Sea) on Thursday. After a "short" 3.5 hour train ride, we arrived in St. Peter Ording. Even though it was long, it was a really enjoyable ride through fields filled with wind farms and solar panels. I wish the US would put as much effort into renewable energy as Germany does. As an added bonus, we got to see tons of sheep and cows. Apparently sheep are a really big deal in northern Germany...who knew?

The beach at St. Peter Ording was enormous. I have never seen a beach this large in my whole life. It stretched on and on and on. And it wasn't just the length that was shocking - the beach itself was over 1km wide. At one point, I looked behind me and saw a desert-like mirage in all directions. To get to the beach, we had to walk over this really long wooden bridge that stretched across a nature preserve. The experience of getting to the beach was an adventure in and of itself.

Walking over the Nature Preserve to get to the beach.

The Nature Preserve 

See, I wasn't kidding...the beach was ridiculously wide.

North Sea

The water was surprisingly warm. After seeing how cold the Mediterranean was in Barcelona, I was expecting the North Sea to be unbearable. But much to my surprise, it was really comfortable. The water was actually more enjoyable then the air. We chose an extremely windy day to go to the beach, so we were pretty chilly sitting on the sand. Kaitlyn and I ended up bobbing around in the waves for a bit to warm up. Speaking of waves, I'm not sure if it was just because of the wind or if it's always like this, but the water was really choppy. The waves definitely knocked me on my bum a couple of times. The difference between high and low tide is also really extreme. We had to get out of the water multiple times to move our stuff further up the beach.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of the beach, I actually had a really fun time. While Kaitlyn read her book, I built a shoddy sand castle, ran around pretending I was on Baywatch, and tried/failed to do cartwheels. My inner child definitely made an appearance that day on the beach.

My sand castle before the tide came in...

...and after the tide came in.

Kaitlyn and me at the beach (yes, she has a bathing suit on)

"I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world."

Sand shadows

After a relaxing day on the beach, we returned to town to feast on ice cream, fish and chips, and currywurst before heading back to Hamburg. All around it was a fantastic day at the Nordsee. Tschüss!

The Top Five Craziest, Most Psychotic Germans I've Had the Pleasure of Meeting

I've met a lot of really cool, interesting, unique, awesome, fantastic people since moving to Germany...but I've also met a lot of crazy, psychotic, mentally insane weirdos. As my time here draws to a close, I would like take a moment to pay tribute to the top five strangest/most hilarious people I've met since moving to Germany. I hope this post gives you a good laugh at my expense.

#5: The Librarian Who Made Me Cry
Do you have a personality trait that is both positive and negative and can serve as a massive asset or a huge liability? Well I do - stubbornness - aka my unwillingness to give in. Unfortunately, it's impossible to be stubborn and hold your ground when you're arguing in a language you barely speak. Four days before Spring Break, my teacher assigned a very large term project. In order to complete the project, I needed access to an online media database. The only way I could access this database was by getting a library card and logging in via the university passcode. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong! After class, I went down to the library, walked up to the desk, and said in broken German "Ich möchte ein Bibliothekskarte" (I would like a library card). The woman pointed to a computer and told me to fill out a form online and then come back. No problem! I went over, filled out the form, got back in line, got to the front, gave her my passport and student id...and then she started rambling on in German. Oh shit, what's she saying? "Um. Entschuldigung. Sprechen Sie Englisch?" (Sorry. Do you speak English). Her English skills were on par with my German skills, so it made for a very interesting conversation. Anyways, to make a long story short, I finally figured out that she needed another form - some city or university document that contained a bunch of personal information. I tried to ask her where I could get this form, but she very rudely informed me she that she didn't know and it wasn't her job to know. To this day, I still have no idea what form she was talking about. After a few minutes of talking to this lady, she looked me dead in the eye and told me to step away from her desk that she could not and would not help me any longer. She then turned, called to the next person in line, and left me standing there helpless, clueless, and library-cardless. I was completely shocked! Did I really just get turned away from the library? Suddenly, my eyes welled up with tears and my nose started to run. Yes, it is true. The mean German librarian not only stopped me from doing my research, but she also put a damper on my stubborn personality and made me cry in the middle of the university library. It was a steller day for ol' Nicole.

#4: Puff Daddy
I turn my attention now to the most awkward man I've ever had the pleasure of "meeting" in a bar. I employ the use of quotation marks because I never actually met him..or talked to him...or danced with him...or interacted with him. A few months ago, Kaitlyn and I were hanging out at our favorite bar listening to the live band. All of a sudden this guy, who we nicknamed Puff Daddy, came up behind Kaitlyn and started staring at me. He was an older man (50s maybe?) with a well developed beer belly and one lone puff of hair on the top of his head. I smiled awkwardly, not knowing what else to do, and then turned back to talk with Kaitlyn. I figured he would get the picture that I wasn't interested and go away, but he didn't! He just kept staring. So I grabbed Kaitlyn's arm and dragged her to a different part of the bar. Five minutes later, he was back, silently staring at me. It didn't matter where we were or who we were talking to - he would just appear out of thin air and stare at me. The crazy part was, we never actually saw him move...one minute we were alone, and then the next minute he would be there. It was pretty funny at first but got really old, really fast. At one point I threw my arms around Kaitlyn's shoulders and told her to pretend we were lesbian lovers. Even that didn't deter him! He literally just stood there staring at me for the better part of an hour. I finally pulled the plug and told Kaitlyn we had to leave. I couldn't stand it anymore - he gave me the creeps big time...

#3: Personal Bubble
I was sitting in the meteorology library studying for my Energy and Climate Policy final when I noticed this guy peering at me from behind the stacks. I glanced up, gave him a quizzical look, and then returned to my notes on nuclear fission. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him approach the table. I figured he was going to ask me a question, so I took my headphones out and looked up. Instead of talking to me, he walked up, stood about 6" from my body, and stared over my shoulders at my notes. I was really unsure of what to do, so I make eye contact with the guy sitting across to me. He gives me a "Do you know this guy?" look, and I respond with my best "Uh. No. So this is kind of awkward..." look. All of a sudden, the creeper starts asking me questions (in english mind you) about nuclear reactions. So not only is this guy invading my personal space, but he is also interrupting my study time and bombarding me with random questions. After hesitantly answering his questions, he starts asking me where I'm from. He then asks me which country in the US I'm from. I try to explain to him that the US is a country and Massachusetts is a state, but he doesn't believe me!! Thankfully, he finally turns around and walks away. This should have been the end of it, but noooo, of course not! He's back! Once again, he stands really close to me and starts staring at me. Now I'm getting freaked out. Is there a massive booger on my face that I don't know about? Suddenly, he thrusts a sheet of green paper in my face and points to a name. He then tells me it's a small village in Canada and asks if I've heard of it. Obviously I have no idea, so I just say no. He then points to another word and goes "This is a lake in Canada. Do you know where this is?" NO! Leave me alone!! Does he leave me alone? Nooo, of course not! He then starts asking me what the population of my home city is. At this point I'm so annoyed that I just put my headphones back in and ignore him. Thankfully, he got the picture and walked away. Meanwhile, the guy sitting across from me is cracking up and enjoying the show - the little tard didn't help me at all!

#2: The Sins of Speaking English
Daniela and I were on the subway home one afternoon, when this woman turned around and started talking to Daniela. We could tell that she was annoyed, but we had no idea what she was babbling on about. She then made a super sarcastic gesture motioning to Daniela to be quiet. Neither Daniela nor I were talking particularly loudly, nor were we talking about anything inappropriate, so we just kind of laughed and continued our discussion. About two minutes later, the woman turns around and goes bat-shit crazy on me. She starts yelling and gesturing and completely freaking out. My first reaction was to laugh, which I'm sure just egged her on. Every single person on the train stopped what they were doing and started watching us. Finally, a woman sitting across the aisle from her spoke up on our behalf - I didn't understand everything she said, but it was along the lines of "They're not doing anything wrong. Just calm down." It's surprisingly just how many Germans have yelled at us for talking English in public places.

#1: The Umbrella Lady
I already told this story many blogs ago, but it's my personal favorite so I'm going to tell it again. My all time favorite encounter with a crazy German person happened in January when my friend from Massachusetts came to visit. I took her to the Reeperbahn during the day to show her what it was like, and of course we ran into all sorts of craziness. When we got off the train, this deranged old lady started yelling at us for no apparent reason. She was even brazen enough to push my friend with the edge of her umbrella. We tried to cross the street, but she stood in front of us screaming and holding out her umbrella. When I tried to walk around her, she reached out and grabbed my arm. Personal bubble, people! Personal bubble!! As we started to walk away from her, she stuck out her umbrella and stabbed me in the butt! I kid you not!! Apparently she's never heard the old wives' tale "Never prod a sleeping bear." My patience with her was already declining, and getting poked with an umbrella did not help the matter. Needless to say, a bucketload of unladylike phrases came spewing out of my mouth.

Born on the 4th of July

23 Years Young

Sharing my birthday with America has its perks. For starters, Independence Day is a federally-recognized holiday, so everyone gets the day off from work. All over America, people are hosting cookouts, marching in parades, watching fireworks, and proudly displaying their American patriotism. Unfortunately, Germany doesn't recognize the 4th of July as a valid holiday (shocker), so for the first time in my life I experienced a "business as usual" birthday. Rather then the usual holiday festivities, I got to sit through a 3 hour economics class and stress over my finals which start on Monday. My parents always told me that I would never have to work on my birthday. I have officially put this statement in the same category as: "Of course Santa is real."  Damn parents - always lying to their kids! ;)

Fear not though!! I actually had a really great birthday. In the afternoon, I headed over to Daniela's apartment to feast on a delicious, homemade birthday cake. Afterwards, we met up with some meteorology friends for an impromptu cookout in the park. While a normal 4th of July cookout consists of chicken, steak, and wieners, I figured that when in Germany do as the Germans do - so I chowed down on freshly grilled sausage, aka brautwurst. Waddup Deutschland!

My 4th of July themed birthday cake courtesy of Miss Daniela.

After stuffing my face with sausage and chips, Kaitlyn, Daniela, and I made our way to the Reeperbahn. Christina Perri was playing a concert in Hamburg that evening, and we had tickets to go. We got to the Reeperbahn a bit early so we passed the time by drinking pre-concert cocktail at a nearby bar. The cocktails ended up being reallllly intense. I could barely finish mine, and we had to play the finger game (a game we learned in London) to get through Daniela's. Kaitlyn kept saying that the point of a cocktail was to have a delicious tasting drink...so we all agreed that the bartender failed at making girly drinks. Thankfully, the Reeperbahn provided us with a few hilarious encounters to distract us from the awful taste. Distraction #1: a transvestite deciding that the street was his dressing room. Distraction #2: a homeless man making weird music for us in a paper cup. Distraction #3: my complete domination of the finger game (which in turn saved me from having to drink the drink)

The red, white, and blue colored Reeperbahn stop.

Jamming with the Beatles before the concert.

Beat boxing into a cup at the top of his lungs.
The bartender ended up coming out and yelling
at him to step away from the restaurant.

After struggling through Daniela's drink, we meandered over to the concert venue. The room was super cramped, and it had absolutely no air ventilation. We kept fanning ourselves with the tickets hoping it would help, but as I learned from Dr. Kloesel during my sophomore year, fanning yourself only makes you hotter. Christina kept commenting on the heat and mentioned multiple times that it was the hottest concert she'd ever played. Despite the heat, the concert was really good! She played a nice mix of original songs and even threw in a few classics. I had a great time, and I think Kaitlyn and Daniela really enjoyed it too. So even though I didn't get to see the usual fireworks display or watch Pop Goes the Fourth, I still managed to have a really lovely evening.

Photo courtesy of Radio Hamburg

At the concert

After the concert, we paid a visit to our favorite bar in Hamburg. Because my birthday fell on a Wednesday, the bar was completely empty. And when I say completely empty, I literally mean we were the only people in the bar. It was kind of fitting though. An acoustic guitarist was on stage playing sweet, soulful music, and we were sitting at the bar talking about how much had changed over the past year. We haven't even left Hamburg, and we're already reminiscing about the memories we've made. It's incredible for me to think back on the last year of my life. So much had to happen for me to be here right now - and when I say "here," I'm speaking of both the physical and emotional "here." I am a completely different person then I was a year ago, and it's moments like these that I remember why I believe everything happens for a reason. But enough with the sentimentals - here's to another fantastic year - may it be even better then the last!

Tschüss

Bitchfest 101 - The Woes of Student Housing

At the end of March, Kaitlyn, Daniela, and I moved into a new apartment closer to downtown Hamburg. I really enjoyed it for the first two months, but then things seemed to go downhill in a hurry...

* The No-Water, No-Bathroom Saga: Sometime last month, I returned from the gym hot, sweaty, and ready to shower. I went into the bathroom, put my stuff down, turned on the water...and there was no water. So I went back to my room and checked my sink - no water. I went into the kitchen - no water. Huh? We knew that construction was taking place in the building, and we were aware that we might lose water for a few hours, but what they failed to tell us was that we would have no water for three days. Thanks for the heads up! So I got to sit in my room for 8 hours smoldering in my own sweat only to find out that the water wasn't coming back on. Boy was I a happy camper! Skipping ahead one month...I finally have water, but now I have no bathroom. The brilliant people at university housing decided it would be a great idea to redo our bathroom right before finals. So our hall has been bathroom-less for two weeks. Construction is "supposed" to be finished by the end of this week, but when does construction ever finish on time? Not only are we bathroom-less, but I get woken up every morning between 7-8am by saws, drills, and machinery. And to top it off, it's completely impossible to successfully study in my room during the day because of the loud music and non-stop talking. Finals are stressful enough without the added expense of living in a construction zone.

* The No-Subway Saga: Beginning on June 7th, the subway that ran past my apartment was closed for construction. So what used to be a 9 minute commute to the university is now a 30 minute commute complete with a bus replacement service. Construction on the subway won't end until August, so unfortunately I will never again reep the benefits of living next to a subway. It now takes me the same amount of time to get to school as it did from my old apartment (completely negating the purpose of switching apartments in the first place).

* The Fly Infestation Saga: When I returned home from Spring Break, I found our kitchen, hallway, and bathroom to be completely infested with flies. Big, black, nasty house flies. One of the things I inherited from my mom was the need for a clean house (not to the same extent, but it's definitely in my blood), so this completely grossed me out. I had no idea where they all came from, and I had no idea how to get rid of them. And let me tell you - when I say infested, I literally mean that there was over 100 flies in our kitchen. It was the nastiest thing ever. Every time you walked into the kitchen they swarmed at your head. And every time you cooked food you had to hover over it and swat away the persistent ones. After one week of living with the problem, I took matters into my own hands. I found a fly swatter and went on a massive fly killing rampage. In the course of 1 hour, I killed over 80 flies. Some of my most memorable kills include killing two flies mid-mating, killing a fly in mid air with my bare hands (Karate Kid style!), and watching as a fly bee-lined into my soup and drowned to death. I had a grand ol' time digging him out. There are still a lot of flies in the apartment, but I've given up trying to kill them all. Plus, the fly swatter randomly disappeared and no one knows where it went.

There's not a whole lot I can do about these unfortunate events other then grin and bear it, but I find it quite humorous that they all happened at once. So in the course of one week not only did I lose my bathroom and my subway, but I also tripled my commute time and had to deal with an infestation of flies. And to cap off the wonderful month of June, I ended up getting food poisoning from chicken and have spent the past 24 hours curled up in pain...not having a bathroom close by posed an even larger annoyance then usual ;-). Tschüss!

"The British are coming!"

Two weeks ago, some of my friends from Reading came to visit me in Hamburg. These are the same friends I visited during my first trip to England back in January. Unfortunately, the weather in Hamburg was somewhat temperamental, so most of their stay was shrouded in rain. I suppose they were used to it though coming from the UK. It was such a blast showing them around Hamburg and watching them experience traditional German cuisine for the first time. We had a lot of laughs about a certain little British ditty that bathroom attendants sing to get guys to buy their cologne. It reminded me of this one particular night in Dublin when I was stupid enough to accept nasty smelling perfume from a random bathroom attendant in a bar. Unfortunately, she didn't sing me a dirty little jingle to get me to use it. That silly song was stuck in my head for days.

In front of the River Elbe

Surprisingly, the Queen Elizabeth was in port that week. I had
 absolutely no idea, so I was shocked to find myself staring
up at her during a boat tour of the harbor.

The one request my friends had during their time in Hamburg was to party on the Reeperbahn. The night did not disappoint, and I think it's safe to assume that the infamous street once again lived up to its reputation. After four days in London and four days with my UK friends, I found myself going through a massive British accent withdrawal after they left. I tried to cope by drowning myself in BBC television shows, but it only took the edge off.

This picture was taken around 4am after a night of partying
on the Reeperbahn.  The subways in Hamburg shut down on
weeknights, so we had to wait for them to reopen before we
could head home.

Another exciting thing that's happened since my last update is the start of the EUFA European Football Championship. It's no surprise to those of you who went to college with me that football (American style) is not my favorite sport. I very rarely sit down and willingly turn on an American football game. Thus, I was shocked to find that I actually enjoy watching European football (aka soccer). It's way more action packed, they don't stop the game every 10 seconds, and it's over in 2 hours. As an added bonus, you get to watch incredibly fit men run around for 90 minutes. Germany won all three games in the first round, so they'll continue on to the next round. The next game is on Friday, and I'm actually really excited to watch it. My goodness, Europe has changed me in more ways then one!

Deutschland colored Lei and...bunny ears?

Watching Deutschland vs Dänemark with a group of
meteorology friends

I thought it was cool how they put the final score up on the
subway display.

Tschüss!

An American in London

Fourth and Final Destination: London, England

On Thursday afternoon, Kaitlyn and I boarded a plane to our final destination: London, England. Kaitlyn has a cousin who lives in London, and they were nice enough to let us stay at their place. It is normally my responsibility to get us where we need to go, but this time Kaitlyn wanted to prove that she could make it from the airport to their house without my help. Not surprisingly, she ended up having to ask directions from a random man on the street. Kaitlyn is really good at reading street signs from far away, but I will always and forever be the one with the sense of direction.

We'd both been to London before, but neither of us had seen the ceremonial Changing of the Guards. So we woke up early Friday morning and made out way to Buckingham Palace. I was always slightly obsessed with the city of London and the Royal Family growing up, so finally being able to see the red coated men in their funny black hats marching around playing music felt like a dream come true.

Changing the Guards at Buckingham Palace

Afterwards we went for a stroll through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. On the way to the park we passed a very strange man who was carrying two ferrets in the hood of his sweatshirt. At one point, one of the ferrets fell out of the hood and was just dangling down his back. The whole thing was quite bizzarre. The most mesmerizing part of Hyde Park was the Rose Garden. I will always and forever be a girlie girl when it comes to roses, and being completely surrounded by their scent made my heart skip a beat. There are very few things in this world that I find more romantic then roses - I guess that explains why my favorite perfume is called "Rose the One." After spending some time smelling the flowers, we finally made our way through the rest of the park to Kensington Palace.

Nothing comes between a man and his ferrets

The Rose Garden in Hyde Park

Roses make my heart melt.

I really wanted a picture with the swans in Hyde Park, but
Kaitlyn would not take it. She was convinced that I would
scare the swan and it would come flying at her. I literally
had to follow this swan around for 30 seconds before she
would snap the photo. 

"So come with me, where dreams are born, and
time is never planned. Just think of happy
things, and your heart will fly on wings,
forever, in Never Never Land!" - Peter Pan

In front of Kensington Palace

After a quick bite to eat at the famous Nando's peri-peri chicken restaurant, Kaitlyn and I met up with Andy for a few drinks. Before I can continue with the story, I feel as though I should take a step back and offer an explanation since 95% of the people reading this blog have no idea who "Andy" is. If you remember back to my Amsterdam blog, you might recall me mentioning someone named "The Best Man." Well, the Best Man has a name, and his name is Andy. We've stayed in touch since then, and about a month ago he asked me to come visit him in London. There was absolutely no way I was going alone though. I mean, what if he turned out to be a psychopathic liar who was actually plotting my murder (don't worry, he wasn't)! So Kaitlyn and I rearranged our Spring Break in order to spend the last weekend in London. A few beers and one very pink cider later, Kaitlyn and I went back to change and Andy left to meet up with his friend.

Friday night was, for lack of a better term, amazing. After a quick bite to eat, Kaitlyn and I met back up with Andy and his friend James, aka "Bulldog," at a bar in downtown London. The second we walked in I could feel my heart beat faster. I honestly felt like I was walking into my dream bar. There was a large, two story glass wall behind the bar with iron boxes displaying countless bottles of liquor, and a large iron and glass staircase ran up the side wall leading to the second floor. Not only did this bar look impressive, but their drinks were fantastic. When I first ordered a Cosmo, Andy and I watched in confusion as the bartender rubbed a fresh orange peel over the glass before pouring the alcohol in. We had no idea what he was doing, but when I tried it I found that I really enjoyed the subtle orange flavor. It was honestly the most unique Cosmo I've ever had. A couple of drinks, a lot of laughs, and a bucketload of memorable moments later, we hopped in a cab and went to an 80's dance club. I know a lot of people don't enjoy 80's dance clubs, but I had a blast. Everyone knows I'm a sucker for Summer Loving and Greased Lightning, so I was giddy and excited when they started to play a Grease montage. At this point in the evening, neither Kaitlyn nor I had any idea where in the city we are since we took a cab there. You can imagine my surprise when I exited the bar and found myself staring face to face with St. Paul's Cathedral. From there we once again hopped in a cab to an undetermined bar recommended to us by the cab driver. Even though we didn't spend much time in the last bar, we were there just long enough to have a drunk man awkwardly dance for us in front of the couch. Fortunately, the dancing stopped when Andy returned from the bar. It was an extremely awkward moment for both Kaitlyn and I since neither of us are accustomed to "dance serenades" from incredibly intoxicated men. 

View of St. Paul's Cathedral from the 80's bar

Random dance serenade.

Andy and me

Resting our feet at the last bar after a night out in London

Kaitlyn and I decided to sleep in on Saturday and have a relaxing morning around the house. We sat on the couch, watched tv, read magazines, and reminisced about our trip. Being back in a house with normal, everyday furniture made me realize just how much I miss curling up in a ball on the couch! After a leisurely morning, we finally headed back into the city to eat fish and chips and visit Camden Market. Camden Market is a large market filled with über short dresses, hilarious t-shirts, and pointless nicknacks that just scream London. To be perfectly honestly with you, I actually bought my first tacky-tourist souvenir since arriving in Europe. I am officially the proud owner of an "I <3 London" keychain. After walking around the market for a while, Kaitlyn and I passed a Piña Colada stand. At the time we thought it was a fantastic idea. Unfortunately, something in the drink didn't agree with us and we instantly felt sick. It seriously felt like a massive hand was trying to push out of my diaphragm and bust through my skin. Neither of us could finish our drinks, and they left us feeling pretty ill for the rest of the evening. Word to the wise: never buy Piña Coladas from a random street vendor in London.

Tacky tourist souvenirs for the win!

Oh, how sweet. It was love at first knit.

That evening, Kaitlyn's cousins took us to a local pub that was tucked away in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The pub was really small and quaint, and it was entirely filled with locals. The menu changes every evening, so even the regulars don't get sick of the food. Unfortunately, I was still feeling somewhat ill from the Piña Colada, so I wasn't able to take full advantage of the genuine pub food. But what I was able to eat lived up to my expectations. When Sunday morning finally rolled around, I awoke to the sound of rain. It was a very fitting end to our time in London since neither Kaitlyn nor I wanted to leave. Out of all the cities I've visited, Hamburg and London take the top two spots for "European cities I could see myself living in." For those of you who have never visited London, you're making a huge mistake. It honestly and truthfully lives up to all the hype.

Tschüss!

Estonia and Finland

Second Stop: Tallinn, Estonia

Estonia? I know, it sounds crazy. Who's even heard of Estonia? The only reason we actually went to Estonia was because it was super cheap to fly to from Stockholm. I knew so little about Estonia before I arrived, that I didn't even know what time zone they were in until the flight attendant told us. As luck would have it, Estonia turned out to be fantastic. We got super freaked flying into Tallinn because it looked like a tornado had gone through and destroyed the city. Everything was run down and dilapidated - Kaitlyn and I immediately had the same thought: "Oh my god. What have we gotten ourselves into." You can only imagine how surprised we were when we arrived in the Old Town and found ourselves staring face to face with this gigantic medieval town that looked like it was part of a Disney theme park. Not a lot of people have heard of Tallinn, so the town didn't reek of tourist traps or overpriced goods like most European cities. Instead, the opposite was true and Tallinn turned out to be the cheapest city we've visited in Europe. 

This picture is in honor of our last Ryan Air flight ever.
The plane was super empty, so we were able to say a proper
 goodbye. We salute you, Ryan Air!

Main entrance into Old Town.

Tallinn is located on the north coast of Estonia, or the
south coast of the Baltic Sea. 

View of Old Town from the top of St. Olav's Church. 

Alexander Nevsky's Orthodox Cathedral - the most
impressive building in Old Town.

These creepy dolls were all over the city, so
naturally I had to get a picture with one! 

This super cool street vendor taught me how to
brand a coin. It was so much fun, and now I
have a random handmade coin from Tallinn.  

A typical street in Tallinn. What a stunning city.

Not only was the city of Tallinn really spectacular, but our hostel was pretty freaking neat. According to Kaitlyn, it was known as the party hostel of Tallinn, and after staying there two nights I can see why!  The people staying at the hostel were all super cool. Most of the guests had been traveling for a really long time. They had no plan, no worry, no stress. I admire people like that because I'm not sure I could just stop work and travel around Europe without knowing what my next step in life was going to be. I wish I had to guts to do it, but I'm too much of a planner to just uproot my life and travel around Europe.

Anyways, back to the hostel. Every night at 7pm, a crazy party breaks out in the common room. Beer is sold for 1 Euro during Happy Hour, so people tend to get drunk really fast. For 4 hours, the manager sits on the couch and teaches everyone how to play drinking games. They also have a table tennis and beer pong table for "friendly" matches. It was a really awesome scene to be a part of. Around 11pm, the manger then takes everyone on a free pub crawl through Old Town. The highlights from Monday night are as follows:

• The hostel had free computers to use, so after getting back from sightseeing I wanted to check my email, look at the forecast for the next day, and peruse Facebook for a few minutes. Apparently, the hostel has a rule that if you're caught on Facebook after 7:30pm, you've committed a Facebook Violation and have to do a shot of God knows what while lying on your back on the ground. No one told me about the rule, so before I knew it I was on the ground with a random hostel worker pouring a shot down my throat. Shout out to Kaitlyn for catching this beautiful moment on camera ;) 

Facebook Violation shot. One of my roommates got caught
breaking the Facebook Rule, and I guess her shot was made
of ketchup, mustard and mayonaise. Lucky for me mine
was 100% alcohol. 

• I was sitting at the table playing cards with a bunch of the other people from the hostel, and someone said their name was Ramsey. I was immediately blown away because I've never met anyone with the first name Ramsey. Ramsey then told me that there's another guy staying in the hostel who's nickname was Ramsey. It was an instant bond - Ramsey 1.0 (first name Ramsey), Ramsey 2.0 (nickname Ramsey), and Ramsey 3.0 (last name Ramsey - me) hung out all night. Kaitlyn kept getting mad at us because she couldn't partake in our Ramsey group. No name, no membership! This got way freakier though when we started playing a game. Everyone at the table was dealt 4 cards, but no one was aware of anyone else's cards. At the end of the game, you had to name your cards and flip them over. Out of two decks of cards, Ramsey 1.0 and me had the same four cards: 8, J, 5, and 6. Whoa...freaky, right? Skipping ahead a few hours, the first bar we went to had karaoke and after downing 1 Euro beers for 4 hours I was feeling pretty good. So, the Ramsey clan went up and sang Backstreet Boys. I'm pretty sure it brought tears to people's eyes...

Ramsey 2.0, Ramsey 3.0, Ramsey 1.0 seconds before karaoke 

• Cocaine Shot: Contrary to its name, a cocaine shot is a shot made from absinthe, créme de menthe, and vodka that one of the bars in Tallinn is famous for. After you hear how the shot is done, you'll understand why our eyes were spinning in crazy directions afterwards. After 6 hours of drinking and failing to eat a proper dinner, Monday night went downhill real fast after the Cocaine Shots kicked in. It's after nights like these that you tell yourself: "I'm never drinking again." 
• Light the shot on fire and hold a glass over the shot until the fire goes out.
• Place a straw on the table and put the glass over it leaving the end of the straw sticking out.
• Drink the shot, but leave a tiny trace on the bottom - Pour what's left on top of the glass.
• Suck all the air out of the glass through the straw.
• Snort the remainder of the shot off the top of the glass.

I stole this picture from Kaitlyn to show you what the
Cocaine shots look like.

Tuesday was a very, very, very low key day. A bunch of us from the hostel went and tried these funky pancakes for breakfast. They were basically massive crepes filled with random food. Mine had salami, cheese, and pickles. I definitely did not understand why they thought pickles would go well in a pancake, but I went with it and gave it a try. Other people's had minced meat or seafood inside. Afterwards, Kaitlyn, myself, and an Air Force guy we met from Nebraska walked through the Old Town a bit more.

In the afternoon, we visited an old Soviet Union prison located on the banks of the Baltic Sea. This was easily one of the freakiest tours I've ever been on. Unlike the concentration camps which have been cleaned up and rebuilt for viewing purposes, the prison looked exactly how it did when it was abandoned. Most of the plumbing and electricity didn't work, the paint was peeling off the walls, and papers were strewn about all over the place. It was so eery walking around. Plus our guide told us they didn't have the key to most of the doors, so if we got ourselves locked in a room chances are it would take awhile to get us out. The freakiest room was the room where people were shot. The room was painted bright red so it was easier to clean after blood splattered on it. Another thing that added to the eeriness of the prison was the fact that it hasn't been out of use for all that long. The collapse of the Soviet Union happened in 1991, so the prison has only been abandoned for 20 years. Our guide was actually from Estonia, and a bunch of his family had spent time in the prison. The strangest part about the whole tour though is that the prison is now being used for raves and parties. Behind the prison is a little beach with a bar. On weekends, our tour guide acts as DJ for raves. Kaitlyn was flabbergasted and asked him whether it was weird hosting raves at a prison where his family members were once tortured. He merely responded that he thought it was a good use of space. So bizzarre.

Outside the old Soviet Union prison

The inside of this place really gave me the creeps. Paint was
peeling off the walls, and I was worried that someone was
going to jump out of nowhere and murder us.

The barrocks. Our tour guide taught us a lot about the
hierarchy among inmates and the physical/sexual
abuse that took place in these rooms.

The "Outdoor Space" which was actually
just a small room without a ceiling.

There are two more things I want to say about Tallinn, then I promise I'll shut up and move on to Helsinki. The first is about a medieval tavern called Ill Draakon. The restaurant only serves two dishes: Minced Meat Pie and Elk Soup. Upon entering the tavern, you find yourself in a dark, cave like room with two woman standing in front of a large wood burning stove and a massive vat of soup. Small wooden tables and chairs are scattered throughout the room, and there's a bed that you can rent for sleeping in the corner. Did I mention that everything in this restaurant is 1 Euro?! That's right. 1 Minced Meat Pie = 1 Euro. 1 bowl of Elk Soup = 1 Euro. So you can literally stuff your face for 5 Euros. I told you Estonia was cheap!

1 Euro Minced Meat Pie and Elk Soup. I'd recommend the
Minced Meat Pie over  the soup, but that's just my opinion.

Finally, although Monday night was a crazy shit show for me, Tuesday night was significantly more tame. Thank god. 

• The thought of beer was still somewhat unsettling to me come Tuesday at 7pm, so I definitely took it easy on the second night. One of the guys staying at our hostel was from Canada, and he taught us how to play a game called Peanuts. What you do is you form 2 relay teams. Everyone has a glass of beer and a peanut. The first person drops their peanut into the beer, and as soon as it floats back up to the top they chug the beer, slam the cup, and the next person goes. First team to finish their beer wins. 
• A Scottish guy from our hostel made a bet with me about who the lead actor was in the original (key word) version of "Oklahoma." I tried to explain to him that I lived in Oklahoma, had seen the movie a thousand, and was positive that Huge Jackman was not the lead actor. But he was insistent on making the bet anyways. Needless to say, he lost.
• At one of the bars we went to I met a girl who grew up in Wisconsin but now lived in Boston. We hit it off right away and had a blast together! By the end of the night, I think we had done 6 Cocaine Shots together. Even with these shots, Tuesday night went much better then Monday. Curse the 1 Euro beer!

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Third Destination: Helsinki, Finland

On Wednesday, we took a short two hour cruise across the Baltic Sea to the Finnish city of Helsinki. I don't want to spend too much time talking about Helsinki though. I found the city to be obnoxiously modern and somewhat boring. Our hostel in Helsinki was really creepy. It was located in the backside of the 1952 Olympic Stadium, and it reminded me far too much of an insane asylum. The corridor was lined with heavy steel doors and the place just reeked of cleaning products. I'm not sure why it smelled of cleaning products, because it was definitely not the cleanest hostel I've ever stayed at. Thankfully we only had to stay there one night. As we were leaving the hostel, Kaitlyn stopped by the vending machine to buy a Snicker's bar. I wasn't watching too closely, but all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I saw her entire arm disappear into the retrieval tray. Suddenly she stands up and goes "I can't find it. I swear it dropped. This is tripping me out big time!" So I walk over there, stick my hand in, and immediately grab the Snicker's bar. After two nights of partying and getting very little sleep, this "incident" sent us into a fit of giggles. I haven't laughed that hard in a really long time, and I'm sure the worker behind the desk thought we were mental!

Our cruise ship!

1952 Helsinki Olympic Stadium - aka home sweet home
for 24 hours

Story: We were walking along the banks of
the lake when we happened across these ducks.
At first everything seemed normal, but then
two of the male ducks started chasing the
female duck. Duck rape anyone? At one point,
the female duck literally started flying at our
heads so Kaitlyn and I screeched and took cover.

Parliament Building...I think...

A typical street in Helsinki. Street cars and industrial
looking buildings were everywhere.

The Cathedral - from the outside it looks really nice, but the
inside is definitely disappointing. It's just this big open church
painted light blue and white. There was very little ornamentation
and the only impressive object was a chandelier hanging in the
center of the aisle. 

Locks of Love. I'm beginning to think every European city
has one of these bridges. I need to go look for Hamburg's.

Uspensky Cathedral at Katajanokka

One really neat thing about staying in Helsinki was having to opportunity to experience nearly 24 hours of daylight. The sun "sets" at 10:30pm (but it doesn't really get dark until sometime after midnight) and by 2am a faint glow is already visible in the sky. It was a really weird feeling waking up at 4am to a sun bathed room. I'm convinced that it messed with my sleep schedule that night.

We had a few hours to kill on Thursday before our flight to London, so Kaitlyn and I visited the Helsinki zoo. The zoo was actually really neat because it was located on an island. As soon as you walked across the bridge, you were completely surrounded by fields of animals. Although I really like visiting zoos, they kind of make me sad. The birds are trapped in these tiny cages, and the animals only have a small area to walk around. If I was trapped in a cage I'd go crazy!

A cheetah chowing down on a hunk of raw meat.

The camels were kind of gross. They had this double skin
thing going on and they smelled pretty bad.

A male peacock  

I have no idea what this little guy was, but isn't he adorable?

The dilapidated bus we took back to the city. It puffed out a cloud
of black smoke when it started up, a bunch of the windows were
painted out, and a big chunk was missing out of the back.

So as it stands now we are 7 days into the trip, have visited 3 countries, and have been on 2 plane rides, 2 boat rides, and 6 bus rides, and yet find ourselves surprisingly chipper, alert, and ready to take on London.

Resting our feet on the way to the airport.