Things to Come

So those of you who are actually reading this blog are most likely thinking “This is so great, Kelsey, hearing about all your wonderful trips and activities. It’s really filling my life with such joy.” I’m very happy to imagine you all thinking this but I also know you are probably thinking, “But what is to come of Kelsey next?? She is such a bad bogger and I can’t wait for another blog update to know where she is and what she’s doing!” I can commiserate with this so I’ll just give a life update because I’m just not sure when I’ll get around to blogging about it all.

Okay so next:

Rome for New years with my friend Christine followed by Spain with her and a bit of Portugal. Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!

From there I am off to Istanbul, Turkey for 3 months to be an Au Pair. Very exciting indeed! I’ll be with a family that has 2 kids, a 5-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy. Their parents want to expose their kids to English mostly so I just get to play with them after school and be American in hopes of transferring some useful language skills.

Berlin and Prague

I am bad at blogging. It’s been almost a month since my last trip and I will now tell about it. I went to Berlin to visit my friend Nathan and then we went to Prague for 2 days. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time. Berlin was a great city and I managed to see all the important sites. On the first day I just followed Nathan around aimlessly and he directed my attention to buildings of importance and gave interesting facts and figures like all good tour guides should. Ooo we also went to great German Christmas markets. They had so many exciting snacks. Most having to do with sausages but quite a few having to do with candy and sweets which made me happy. Nathan and I both tried our first roasted chestnuts and I have to say I approve and would gladly indulge in such a snack again. The most exciting snack of the day would have to be the fresh waffle with nutella. It was great. You just get to walk around with it on this little cardboard thing and eat it. I ended up with a lot of powder sugar on my scarf but some sacrifices need to me made for delicious things.

We randomly ran into some American- we’ll say “friends” – that Nathan knew at this monument. We ended up meeting them out for a drink that night. The place that we went to was really great. I guess one of the things Berlin is known for is the living room style bars it has. There was a lot of comfy couches and tables and chairs etc. We ate dinner there as well, which was really good. They did this buffet style homemade dinner. It was potato lasagna, which I never had but it was really good. I think I’m going to make my mom attempt that at some point in the future (thanks mom, ahead of time).

The next day we set off for Prague. We did a carpool thing on the way down to Dresden. We went on the autobahn- very fast. It was enjoyable taking a car ride with stranger, in the not being abducted kind of way of course. Everyone spoke German so I just looked out the window and slept, not at the same time though. From Dresden we got a train to Prague. The train was very exciting indeed. We got our own compartment and could even open the windows and stick our heads out. I was thoroughly entertained.

Prague was really good. There were lots of great old things to look at- cathedrals, the astronomical clock, synagogues etc. It was really pretty especially at night. We found this hotel that had a rooftop bar so we snuck up there twice to get wonderful views of the city. They were putting up all their Christmas decorations while we were there as well so it was really pretty. There was a big Christmas tree in the center of the main square area, which was nice. That first night we went to this really neat bar. It had lots of different levels and underground parts- catacomb style. They had such good beer. I never thought I’d be one to really like beer a lot but I did enjoy the wonderful Czech beers we had. The next day we took a guided tour of the city so we got to see more old things and hear about the history of Prague, which was really interesting. It really is a beautiful city with fascinating history. We also went up to the castle that evening. The views from the castle were really good and the cathedral within the castle was beautiful. We got a train back to Dresden that night but before we did we spent the rest of our Czech money on chocolate. Definitely a good idea and it made for an entertaining time while waiting for the train.

In Dresden we met up with one of Nathan’s friends, Andy, that also went to UW-Madison and just toured around the city. We spent the day being led around the city by a couple that Nathan’s family is friends with. They were very nice and had lived in the Dresden area most of their lives so were very informative. Dresden is a really beautiful city as well and it is amazing how it recovered from the all the fire bombings of WWII. It was also very interesting and insightful hearing about communist Germany from the perspective of people who lived within it. We then had thanksgiving at Andy’s house with quite a few other Germans. It was a really good Thanksgiving with all the necessary food items, well minus pecan pie. Apparently you can’t really find pecans anywhere- I checked. It was nice to celebrate with a few fellow Americans and lost of people around. We then headed back to Berlin. It was Nathans birthday that day as well so we met up with some of his friends drank and did some cake. I was excited about learning German so I practiced saying, probably over one hundred times, “Nathan, it’s your geburtstag!!” It was a good time and Nathan managed not to get too annoyed with my novel German language skills.

The next day we went to this really wonderful Turkish market. I get very excited about street markets and new snacks- there were plenty there. There was a lot of food and fun things being sold so it was enjoyable. Oo we also went to a few second hand stores, which are another thing that excite me, and I got this wonderful German hat that was most likely owned by and old German man before me. We also went to the longest stretch of the Berlin wall still standing. It was really good to see. Thinking about a wall separating two completely different ways of life and being aware that life was so different just on the other side of a barricade is an intense idea. We also went to a shtazi prison camp just outside of Berlin that day. It was one of my favorite things that we saw. It was so interesting and enlightening to hear about the things that went on. Not being a history buff and relatively unaware of life outside of my own word it was intense to learn about these things that were still going on in the 1980’s and to be more aware that these things still go on all over the world. It made me feel like a bit of a jerk walking around with a communist Mao messenger bag. Especially after being called out for it.

Dear world,

I am not a Maoist. I find the bag ironic, it says 'Serve the People'.

Sincerely,

Kelsey Hawkins

Before going to the prison we went to this really great East Berlin restaurant. There were just a few old people there and then Nathan and I. When the old ladies left they said auf wiedersehen to me, I felt very special. The last night we went shopping with Nathan’s wonderful friend Phillip and he showed us all the great things about the German consumer culture. One thing of importance to note- there were signs on the escalators that showed crocs crossed out and read ‘no crocs’. Apparently they are a hazard on escalators. The next day I headed for the airport and that ended my wonderful German-Czech escapade. I really had a terrific time.

Between now and then I’ve just been gallivanting around Dundee Scotland with Erin and our wonderful British friends, who I am going to miss! Nathan came to visit Scotland on his way out of Europe so it was really fun getting to be a Scottish tour guide. It was my first time having a friend here so it was a splendid experience being able to share the joys of Scotland with others. Erin left for the US for Christmas and I realized I’m going to miss her a lot. It was really nice having a fun fellow American to live with and tell secrets to, of course. I went and hung out at my Grandmas on the west coast of Scotland for pre-christmas-ness and went to my cousins in Glasgow for a big family fun Christmas dinner with lots of children and yummy things to eat. It was a nice time but different than what I am used to at Christmas so I missed home and my family a bit. I am now back in Dundee getting ready to embark on my next few trip! So hooray for life and European things.

London and Bath

So I went to London and Bath about 2 weeks ago now so I should probably write about them...

Both trips were really great. I saw all of the necessary sights in London and got all the pictures that everyone else has that has been to L

ondon. I can now check that off the list. I really enjoyed the city. It seemed like a really great place. I walked most places and I really liked seeing different parts of the city. The parliament building was one of my favorites. It was really nice. Also West Minster Abby was beautiful. I stayed in London for about 3 full days so I was trying to squeeze in as much sight seeing as possible. I think I succeeded despite the horrible amount of rain for two of the days that I was there. One of the good things about the rain though was the resulting clouds that were pretty amazing. I enjoy sky things and it made for more interesting pictures. A lot of walking happened and quite frequently I wanted to rip off my feet. I will never overestimate the power of a good pair of walking shoes ever again.

The people that I met at my hostel were great as well. It was a really fun group. I

met 2 girls that were also traveling by themselves so I got to hear a lot of stories and ask questions. The best part is that the one girl who has been traveling the longest recommended wearing a ring on your ring finger of your left hand in order to deter some creepers. So basically I get to go buy some form of a band and start telling people I'm married! I think some really great fake stories could come from that so that makes me happy. Soon soon.

Also there were several french boys at our hostel who were all really nice. They cooked for us the first night that I was there and I decided it may be in my best interest to marry a french man. I enjoy food. Mmm.

From there I traveled to Bath. I was really excited to go because it is where my mom grew up and I have always wanted to go and see where my mom was a little kid. I've heard lots of stories about it so it seems nice to know some of the stuff my mom talks about now! The city was beautiful. Old buildings, historical roman baths, etc. It was a nice smaller sized town so everything was very close which was a nice change from London. My favorite part was the Roman Baths. They were very impressive. Those Romans sure knew how to construct things. Bath has the only natural hot spring in the UK and the Romans put it to good use. It was crazy because all of the original plumbing things were still working to keep the main pool full. That is a very long time to still be functioning. Way to go Romans. They also thought the hot spring was there because of one of their gods so they would throw things in it that they wanted to the goddess to have. I really liked that people wrote curses on metal pieces for thieves that stole their things and then crumbled them up and threw them in the water. There were some great curses for people who stole cloaks, gloves, etc. from others at the baths.

Both of my trips were very nice and I'm glad I got the chance to explore england more! Hooray.

Halloween- Newcastle and Sunderland

This past weekend I spent in England. I stayed in Sunderland with Erin at her boyfriend's house. It was an enjoyable time. We visited Newcastle on the first day that we were there and it was pretty great. It was a very nice city with a lot of museums and things of that sort to look at. We wandered around with one of Erin's friends, Sam. He took us to this vintage store and we tried lots of things on. I realized I really like high-collar old lady dresses. I want one. In black. I bought a green barrette instead. The Baltic art museum was really nice. We went there and looked at stuff. There were activities for little kids like pumpkin carving. I was really excited about it but they didn't let us carve things with small children. I was sad.

When we were back in Sunderland we went to this park that had a walrus statue. I really like walruses so we

sat on it and took a

bunch of pictures. I think

it was one of the

high lights of Sunderland. Erin also showed me the school where she studied at 2 years ago and I got to see the dorms and the studios and I got to hear about all the shinanigans her and Corey got up to back in the day.

The following night we worked on our wonderful Halloween costumes and then we went to a Halloween party of one of Gary's friends. I was a dead scuba diver! It was pretty great. I really liked it because I made all of it. Scuba tanks, flippers, weight belt and all. Erin assisted Gary with gluing on extra facial hair. She was being a good girlfriend. He was being one of his friends for Halloween and Erin was a sailor doll. The party was really fun and everyone had really good costumes. Drinking with English people was fun. One boy was Alladin and Erin and I kept following him around and singing to him all night. The songs and motions got more entertaining as the night and drinking went on. We ended up ordering pizza once we got home and were very very disappointed with the speediness of the delivery service. It wasn't, and that

was the problem. We also tried toffee apples at the beginning of the night that we were very excited for. They were red and candy looking but weren't nearly as exciting as they looked. I just wanted them to be caramel apples but they definitely were not.

So yeah that was about it. It was a really fun time and Halloween is my favorite holiday so I was very happy to spend it with fun people in a foreign country. Yep.

Poland things.

I spent last weekend in Poznan, Poland so I think I should probably write about it...

Visiting Poland was a really great experience and it was also my first solo traveling experience so it made it that much more exciting. Poznan was decided on mostly based on the fact that it was very last minute and flights were reasonable. I also heard that Polish people are very friendly and I've never been to poland so it seemed like a good place to go. Poznan is located on the middle western side of poland and was once the capital so it had a lot of good old things to see. Before I left I managed to learn several key polish phrases such as 'do u speak english?', 'how much does it cost?', 'thank you' and 'hello'. They worked surprisingly well. The most difficult part was getting to my hostel from the airport. Signs were in Polish and unfortunately I didn't get it. After finding some young people to pester in English I managed to get a bus then a tram to my hostel. I stayed at Frolic Goats hostel and it was really nice. Plus I really like goats so I was fond of the name.

I saw a lot of old buildings and looked at several museums which were nice. The town is very into goats because I believe there is an old story about how these two goats saved the town. One of the main attractions was the city hall in the old market square or stary rynak.

At 12 everyday these two metal goats come out of the steeple part and bu

tt their heads together 12 times. It was enjoyable to see a town that likes goats as much as me. They have rectangular pupils, what's not to enjoy? I also saw several old churches that were really beautiful. There were also some nice gardens/ parks and a polish market that I visited. One of the really nice things was that flowers were sold everywhere. Even though it was cold out people were still walking around with bouquets of flowers. It seemed pretty great.

I made a friend at my hostel, Kamal, which

is probably one of the reasons I

had such a good time. He had been staying in Poznan for a few months and had a good Polish friend circle and was I was able to tag along and go out with him and his friends. I made it to some polish bars and clubs, which were fun. The main difference besides the whole language thing would probably be the amount of techno music. Two of Kamal's friends that I met, Magda and Alex, were really great and we hung out with them a few times. They were a lot of fun and their english was very good so that was nice. It was really random because Alex had actually lived in Minnesota for several years when he was younger, so it was interesting to meet someone that knew about WI and the midwest. On Sunday night I got to go to this arabic party and it was a really great time. There was a lot of arabic dancing, hookah smoking, and discussions which I gladly participated in. The dancing was a lot of fun and the polish/arabic girls were great and showed me all of the wonderful dance moves. All of the people there were so interesting and talking to them made for great conversations. The hookah smoking was wonderful as well as it made me think of summers in madison : )

On the last day I basically just wandered around parks and the city while eating baked goods. I needed to spend all my change so I ate Polish bakery till my tummy hurt. I enjoyed the treats though. As most should know, I am always up for trying new candy or bakery.

I really enjoyed my experiences in Poland and would recommend it to anyone. The people I met were very interesting and enjoyable and there was a lot of historical buildings and architecture to see. It was definitely a good first european trip and I had a wonderful time.

Kilcreggan and Glasgow

I spent this past week in Kilcreggan visiting my grandma. It is such a beautiful place which resulted in a plethora of landscape pictures. There was a lot of hills, clouds, sheep, water and sky which made for an amazing setting. Kilcreggan is on the river clyde but it's the estuary part where it enters the ocean so you can see the Isle of Arran from the beach. I took a long walk every evening either on the high road near her house which went past lots of fields and sheep with amazing views or down to the beach. The beach was really great with tons of big rocks to jump around on and small ones to attempt to skip. They were the most perfect skipping stones, all of them were smooth and flat but unfortunately this still didn't do me any good because I suck at skipping stones, shoot.

My grandma kept me pretty entertained. She took me out and about somewhere everyday AND she let me drive her car. It was very entertaining. I didn't injury anyone and just ran into the curb a few times. In my defense though, the streets are very narrow and anyone would get slightly nervous when an oncoming bus or truck is extremely close to you. Driving on the other side of the road and shifting with my left hand was pretty fun though.

Some of the interesting places we went to were Luss which is a cute small village on Loch Lomond and Inveraray which is this fishing village on Loch Long. The village and setting there was really pretty but unfortunately I think I got one of the first meals that I actually couldn't eat. Something to do with raw salmon and cream

cheese on white bread... Not my favorite thing I've ever tasted.

I met a lot of my grandma's friends and mostly hung out with a crowd that had a good 40 years on me or so. I made it

to church with my grandma AND a women's guild church meeting. I managed the life of an old person pretty well. All the people that I met were very interesting for the most part. They all had a lot of stories. Unfortunately I think my name and the way I said it confused 99% of them so I will forever be fondly thought of as 'Chelsea' to the old ladies of Kilcreggan.

After a week in Kilcreggan I went back to Glasgow to stay with my cousin Jacqui. It was her son Freddie's first birthday. There was lots of cake and little kids. It was really nice to spend time with all three of my cousins and all their kids. Emma, my cousin chris's daughter who is almost 3, likes me which is really fun. I think she likes me because I talk funny but either way she is always entertaining and makes me laugh. I'm beginning to be better at deciphering a 2 year old with a scottish accent so it makes things easier.

While I was in glasgow I also got in some sight seeing. I explored the west end more where my cousin lives and went to the botanic gardens, the Kelvingrove art museum and the city chambers. I really like just exploring the city and managing to get the right busses places makes me feel very competent.

Well that's all and I'm back in dundee. This weekend I hope to get a trip in so hopefully I will have something interesting to report upon soon!

Scotland things

So now that I have been gone for about 3 weeks it is probably time that I started a blog for friends and family to check up on my activities...

Recap of the last few weeks:

The day that I got into scotland was my cousin Christopher's wedding so I was able to

go to that. It was really great to be there and se

e my family-

my 3 cousins and my grandma. All my cousins recently had kids as well so it was so fun being able to meet them and hang out with a below 3 crowd. They are all really cute and great. The wedding party was all wearing kilts as well so it was a good way to feel

that I was in Scotland.

I spent 4 days in Glasgow and just looked around and saw the city a bit. The Glasgow cathedral was pretty good and it had a really interesting

old grave

yard. A lot of the graves were flat ones on the ground that had been grown over with grass so I kept

feeling like I was stepping on dead people. The architecture was really nice like most old cathedrals. I think some parts of the cathedral dated back to the 15th century. I guess it was built for Glasgow's patron saint, saint mungo, and his crypt is in the basement of the church. It just made me think of harry potter.

From there I went to Dundee to stay with Erin. Dundee is a nice University town. Erin is going to grad school

there for her masters of fine arts degree. The town has some pretty places such as dundee law, which is not a law school but a big hill. It's pretty great at sunset. One side of

Dundee is on the water so that makes it nice as well. On the first day I got there Erin and I went to St. Andrews with 2 of her friends from her program. It was nice to see all the old architecture, and being the golf

enthusiast that I am seeing the old course- where golf was apparently invented- was neato. We also later attempted to mix with the locals at

several gatherings in dundee which were entertaining.

I went to Edinburgh the following weekend to visit family friends. My mom use to live in Edinburgh back in her 20's and one of her best friends still lives there. They have a daughter who is my age, Stephanie, who I've known since I was about 2. She was my wonderful tour guide and we explored all the great things in Edinburgh. Edinburgh is an amazing city. It's really beautiful and has so many interesting aspects/segments to it. Each part of it really feels like a completely different small town. The old town and Dean village were particularly nice with so many cute old houses and cobbled streets. I also was able to go to pubs one night while I was there with steph and her friends. Bar time was pretty great with lots of people and random drunk girls stumbling over the cobbled streets.

From there I went back to Dundee for a few days and then off to my grandma's in Kilcreggan for a week which I will post about later. Sooooo that is what I have been doing! Done.