Live Abroad (Switzerland), Egypt, Greece, Thailand, Elephant/Camel Ride, Pompeii, Khan El-Khalili, Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Nile River
Okay, so it has been way too long since I have written in my blog. So, I am going to have to knock out some huge life goals I have accomplished recently...I will try to keep it short and sweet. :)
Let me start with saying that living abroad in Switzerland was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It is such an international city...and I loved the fact that I was one of the few Americans that I met...don't get me wrong I love my fellow Americans but it was wonderful to be in such a diverse environment!
My top memories of Switzerland are 1) the people, and 2) the FOOD. Chocolate, cheese, and bread...what else can I say?
Egypt was one of my favorite places I have ever been. I loved seeing the ancient sites and hope to go back soon to see the ones I missed. I have to say that the people there are what made it particularly special...late nights at the Khan with new, dear friends...learning how to belly dance from our friends at the hotel...these were the things that made that trip memorable. Riding a camel while listening to gorgeous music and seeing the pyramids shrouded in mystery from a distance was pretty fun too. :)
Pompeii was an incredible experience...especially the fact that I got rained on the ENTIRE TIME. Dang. I don't know what it is with me and Italian rain. Italian farmers should pay me to be a tourist there...but in any case, even bad weather couldn't ruin the Pompeii experience. That place was amazing and I spent hours wandering the stone streets of these ancient ruins. Just me and my IPOD and a random stranger I met from Romania. And the bad weather made it a little easier to imagine the ash clouds of Vesuvius...so my attitude toward the bad weather is it made for a more AUTHENTIC Pompeii experience. Yeahhhhhhhhh.
Greece was similarly amazing...again, amazing monuments. I read a book on Greek mythology on my Kindle (thanks Mom!) and that made the Greek experience much more meaningful. Looking at a gazillion Greek statues, they can all start to look the same...unless you actually know why Athena, or Vulcan, or whatever mythological figure was important. Side note: reading Greek mythology also makes movies like "Clash of the Titans" (which apparently is getting terrible reviews) much, much more entertaining. I was entertained!!!
Seeing the Delphi area (the famous Delphi oracle) was probably my favorite thing I did while there, although it was RAINING horribly. My friend Erin and I spent our nights at the Plaka eating the best baklava you can imagine with people we met there...including our Albanian friend who wore this huge Canadian flag earring...thereby earning himself the nickname "Canada". Honestly I can't even remember what his REAL name is!
Thailand was beautiful. If I hadn't gotten eaten by mosquitoes the whole time (and especially at the end) it would have been perfect. The mosquitoes bothered me more than the Red Shirts rioting that was going on (which got much worse literally the day we flew out of Bangkok...we missed the rioting getting violent). I have to say that my Thai cooking is better than the food I had there (for the most part). Any of you who don't believe this to be true have yet to experience my Thai food.
While in Thailand we rode an elephant...making sure we went to a place where they treat their elephants well. Those elephants were so dang cute! They have those things trained to dance, play the harmonica, and beat the drums. So cute, so cute! As an added bonus we rode a WATER BUFFALO. And I made sure to sing my own rendition of the VeggieTales "Water Buffalo" song...of course...
Also, I visited Phang Na which had some of the most interesting landscapes I have ever seen. Also known as James Bond Island, it has the famous rock seen in the film "The Man with the Golden Gun" ... I made some New Zealander friends. These guys were awesome, I had so much fun hanging out with them that day...dodging the humongous JELLYFISH that we didn't know were in the waters the tour guides told us were safe to swim in. GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bangkok was the HOTTEST place I have ever been and SO HUMID. Phuket, the beach resort area we went to, was much more temperate thank goodness.
So each of these countries deserves a blog entry of their own, but I obviously have let myself get way too behind. I will try to do better next time I go on a three-month world traveling extravaganza... :)
Let me start with saying that living abroad in Switzerland was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It is such an international city...and I loved the fact that I was one of the few Americans that I met...don't get me wrong I love my fellow Americans but it was wonderful to be in such a diverse environment!
My top memories of Switzerland are 1) the people, and 2) the FOOD. Chocolate, cheese, and bread...what else can I say?
Egypt was one of my favorite places I have ever been. I loved seeing the ancient sites and hope to go back soon to see the ones I missed. I have to say that the people there are what made it particularly special...late nights at the Khan with new, dear friends...learning how to belly dance from our friends at the hotel...these were the things that made that trip memorable. Riding a camel while listening to gorgeous music and seeing the pyramids shrouded in mystery from a distance was pretty fun too. :)
Pompeii was an incredible experience...especially the fact that I got rained on the ENTIRE TIME. Dang. I don't know what it is with me and Italian rain. Italian farmers should pay me to be a tourist there...but in any case, even bad weather couldn't ruin the Pompeii experience. That place was amazing and I spent hours wandering the stone streets of these ancient ruins. Just me and my IPOD and a random stranger I met from Romania. And the bad weather made it a little easier to imagine the ash clouds of Vesuvius...so my attitude toward the bad weather is it made for a more AUTHENTIC Pompeii experience. Yeahhhhhhhhh.
Greece was similarly amazing...again, amazing monuments. I read a book on Greek mythology on my Kindle (thanks Mom!) and that made the Greek experience much more meaningful. Looking at a gazillion Greek statues, they can all start to look the same...unless you actually know why Athena, or Vulcan, or whatever mythological figure was important. Side note: reading Greek mythology also makes movies like "Clash of the Titans" (which apparently is getting terrible reviews) much, much more entertaining. I was entertained!!!
Seeing the Delphi area (the famous Delphi oracle) was probably my favorite thing I did while there, although it was RAINING horribly. My friend Erin and I spent our nights at the Plaka eating the best baklava you can imagine with people we met there...including our Albanian friend who wore this huge Canadian flag earring...thereby earning himself the nickname "Canada". Honestly I can't even remember what his REAL name is!
Thailand was beautiful. If I hadn't gotten eaten by mosquitoes the whole time (and especially at the end) it would have been perfect. The mosquitoes bothered me more than the Red Shirts rioting that was going on (which got much worse literally the day we flew out of Bangkok...we missed the rioting getting violent). I have to say that my Thai cooking is better than the food I had there (for the most part). Any of you who don't believe this to be true have yet to experience my Thai food.
While in Thailand we rode an elephant...making sure we went to a place where they treat their elephants well. Those elephants were so dang cute! They have those things trained to dance, play the harmonica, and beat the drums. So cute, so cute! As an added bonus we rode a WATER BUFFALO. And I made sure to sing my own rendition of the VeggieTales "Water Buffalo" song...of course...
Also, I visited Phang Na which had some of the most interesting landscapes I have ever seen. Also known as James Bond Island, it has the famous rock seen in the film "The Man with the Golden Gun" ... I made some New Zealander friends. These guys were awesome, I had so much fun hanging out with them that day...dodging the humongous JELLYFISH that we didn't know were in the waters the tour guides told us were safe to swim in. GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bangkok was the HOTTEST place I have ever been and SO HUMID. Phuket, the beach resort area we went to, was much more temperate thank goodness.
So each of these countries deserves a blog entry of their own, but I obviously have let myself get way too behind. I will try to do better next time I go on a three-month world traveling extravaganza... :)
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