Sunday 27 December 2009

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.

Tuesday 1 December 2009

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.