Taylor Anderson's Euroblog http://tma90.posterous.com journal of a college student posterous.com Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:37:48 -0700 Fun times in the Balkans (Written 7/25/11) http://tma90.posterous.com/64067019 http://tma90.posterous.com/64067019

Ok, I know this is right on the heels of that last post, but this is one I wrote before leaving Sarajevo that I never got around to posting. It covers some of the more interesting/fun parts of the trip:

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It has been brought to my attention that I have neglected to reflect on my social adventures over the last few months so I figured I could make a post dedicated to fun moments I've had so far. I know I previously spoke to the fact that while in Ireland it was only prudent that we go out every night on pub crawls and the like. I mean, its Ireland...its just what you do. Ireland was, however, before the actual study abroad trip started and we did not have meetings and assignments to work on. So naturally, when we arrived in Kosovo and had to begin said meetings and assignments...nothing changed. We still managed to go out almost every night while in Kosovo, which was an incredible experience in itself. I'll get back to that in a minute. After Kosovo we traveled to the Adriatic paradise of Dubrovnik for our mini "vacation" before heading to Bosnia, so as you can imagine not much changed there either. I'd say things only really started to slow down once we reached Sarajevo and started to have to get paper research done in preparation for our time in Vienna. Anyway, I'll try to hit some highlights now.

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As I said before, arriving in Kosovo was a bit of a culture shock and I didn't really know what to expect. I certainly didn't expect to have much of a nightlife there, especially after just spending several nights in Ireland. I couldn't have been more wrong. First of all, the Kosovar population loves Americans (generalization, but surprisingly prevalent) and that bodes well for mingling with the locals. Second, everything was so inexpensive. I believe I pointed out in my first Kosovo post that I could have a full lunch including a beer for less than 4 euro, and that is a sit down meal. In Vienna I can maybe get some cheap Asian takeout or a big mac for around the same price, certainly not a beer too. For these reasons we were able to go out to clubs, usually with a friendly Kosovar "tour-guide" we would meet earlier in the day, and have a blast for next to no money. There were exceptions of course, as somehow no matter where we went one of the guys would find a way to spend 50 euros.

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The above pictures were taken at some of the clubs we went to in Pristina: Platon, Peppermint and Duplex. On another night when we weren't going out to the clubs we found out the Albanian national soccer team was playing against Argentina. Our teaching assistant Besir Ceka, a native Macedonian, told us about it and said he wanted to take us to a pub to watch the match. Myself and some of the guys had the brilliant idea to buy Albanian soccer jerseys from a street vendor, making that night much more memorable. The locals loved it. It didn't seem to matter that Albania was defeated 4-0 that night, we still had a blast. Check out some of the pictures below:

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Moving on to Dubrovnik, we quickly found that since the city is a major tourist/vacation spot it was prohibitively expensive to go out to bars and clubs. Luckily for us we thought ahead and bought alcohol for cheap before we left Kosovo, and then brought it into Dubrovnik. That way we could just party at the hotel, which turned out to be an excellent idea. I can't (or won't) say I have any pictures but we obtained the key to the spa one night and had our own private party at the indoor pool and spa area, which turned out to be one of the better nights on the trip.

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Next we have Sarajevo. Now for those of you paying attention to my travels you know I skipped Mostar and Banja Luca. To be honest we were a little scared to leave the hotel in those cities so we just stayed in and hung out there. Nothing too exciting. Anyway...being a capital city we knew Sarajevo would have fun things to do, but we also had some work. This toned us down some but we still went out a couple nights. We celebrated the 4th of July at an English pub (score another one for America), hung out at a Turkish hookah bar one night, received VIP status at the clubs one night and then almost got thrown out of the clubs on another night. Besir also had the great idea of starting a group poker tournament so we scoured the town, finally finding a set of poker chips and cards. We played our first two Texas hold'em tournaments in Sarajevo, sadly I won neither of them. To cap off our time in the city, a large group of us went to an awesome restaurant in the top of the tallest (only?) skyscraper in Sarajevo for dinner on our last night there. The beauty of it was that it was our last night in Bosnia so we all needed to use up the remainder of our currency anyway. The Konvertible Mark (KM) wouldn't be used anywhere else for the rest of the trip so we could either spend what we had left or pay to convert them all to euros. By choosing the former we were able to have a nice full course meal including several bottles of wine, appetizers and dessert.

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Finally we reach Vienna, where I am currently situated. We have only gone out a couple nights so far, once to a Cuban Salsa bar and then once we went to this pretty awesome, high end bar called Sky Bar. We have also continued the Texas hold'em tournaments, having so far held three tournaments in Vienna, one of which I finally won! The salsa bar was really neat but I have no idea how to salsa dance (something I'll have to work on for the future) and the drinks were really expensive. For Sky Bar a couple nights later we knew what we were getting into, (pricey, high class establishment) but we just wanted to have an awesome night. We succeeded. The name Sky Bar comes from it's position on the seventh (top) floor of a building overlooking the most central square of Vienna, Stephansplatz, home of the famous Stephansdom (St. Stephan's Cathedral). Cocktails were in the 9-15 euro range each which wasn't terrible but was more than we had been paying at other places. Myself and two other guys drank Manhattans and White Russians all night, which was well worth the price. After a few of these drinks it became increasingly funny to drink the White Russians with our mustaches (see pictures below).

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Alright I hope this was a more fun update than some of the academic stuff, even without incriminating myself too much! You can expect more posts like it once my study abroad program ends next weekend (the 30th) and I begin my 3 week post-trip through Germany, Italy and Spain. For one last laugh go to the Sky Bar website and listen to the theme song they wrote for themselves, it'll start playing after the page loads. Its hilarious. I have provided the link here: http://www.skybar.at/index_webpage.html

- Taylor

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:35:00 -0700 Quick Update http://tma90.posterous.com/quick-update http://tma90.posterous.com/quick-update

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(The stache is gone, but the memory remains)

Long overdue but to be honest I write blog posts and then don't post them because I don't have time to find pictures for them. Maybe I should stop being so picky. Thats why I'll do this quick update of what I'm doing now and then retroactively post some of the posts I wrote over a week ago when I get a chance to find pictures.

Right now I am on a train from München (Munich) to Füssen, Germany for a quick day trip to see one of the most famous Castles in Europe. Over the last 7 days a lot has happened. I finished my 20 page research paper last Thursday night (28th) and took my final exam on Friday (29th). Everyone on the program went to a winery outside of Vienna for our final group dinner, which was really great. Only thing was I had to be on a train at 5:50 the next morning (Saturday 30th). Five of us were supposed to get on that train...only 2 of us (yes I made it) did. The rest came later, but thats a different story. The train was 10 hours long and took us from Vienna to Berlin.

I spent the next several days in Berlin before heading to Nürnberg (Nuremberg) for a day and a night on Tuesday (the 2nd). On Wednesday (3rd) we left Nürnberg for München and arrived in the early evening. I spent the 4th in Innsbruck, an amazing Austrian town in the middle of the Alps and now as I said I am heading to Füssen for the day today (5th). I know that was confusing and yes I have been on 6 trains in 3 days. Its been quite a ride.

The exciting news is that tonight, after getting back to München from Füssen, I will be leaving on an overnight train to Florence, Italy which will arrive at 6:15 tomorrow morning (6th). Germany has been great for the last week but I've always wanted to go to Italy, so I'm very excited to finally get there. Anyway, thats all for my quick update. I hope I'll have internet on the overnight train tonight, which would give me plenty of time to get pictures and other updates posted.

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Mon, 18 Jul 2011 05:12:53 -0700 Vienna http://tma90.posterous.com/61228595 http://tma90.posterous.com/61228595

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Day 9 in Vienna and I'm finally getting around to a post...oh well. My time in Vienna is different from all the Balkan travels for a number of reasons. First and foremost, its not the Balkans. It is is a very international city that is much more modern than any place we've been so far. In fact the only other place I've been that is even close would have to be Sarajevo (where the picture above was taken), but even that doesn't do Vienna much justice. It'd be like comparing Charlotte to New York City. The other reason it's different this time is because I'm really having to work hard now. Throughout the Balkans we had meetings throughout the week with international organizations and instruments of the various governments. Basically a lot of note taking and a crash course on Balkan politics. Now that we're in Vienna I have class lectures from my professor from 9-1 monday through wednesday and a briefing on Thursday (this week was with the UN HQ in Vienna). For the rest of my time I have to concentrate on writing my thesis paper which is the main graded portion of my course. I have to write a 15-20 page research paper on a topic of my choice relating to the Balkan conflict (has to be approved by my professor of course) and to be honest the grade I receive on the paper will be the grade I get in the course. With that being said, I'm putting a lot of effort into getting the paper finished this week so I can enjoy the next two weeks. I'll still have class of course but I'm in Vienna until the 30th, so there would be a good amount of free time if I can finish up early (woo incentives).

Anyway...Vienna. Its pretty awesome. I'm staying at the Diplomatic Academy (http://www.da-vienna.ac.at/) just outside the city center and their happens to be a metro stop directly next to the building. We all have our own dorm-style rooms here complete with a desk to help get that aformentioned paper finished. Lunch is free during the week which is nice for saving us a little cash. Otherwise we typically go out for dinner to something cheap nearby. There are a ton of little asian restaurants which I find amusing but they are surprisingly good. I must also point out that I finally cracked and had my first McDonalds Big Mac in Europe yesterday and it was pretty amazing. Their also happens to be a Subway nearby, so my craving for a foot long Italian sub was finally taken care of.

Like I said before I haven't had the chance to do too much around town yet because of this research assignment but I did have the opportunity to visit Schonbrunn Palace on my first day here. It was the first Palace I've ever been to and I have to say I was pretty impressed. The grounds of the palace by itself were amazing but seeing the inside rooms was definitely worth the 9 euros.

Anyway, I have to get back to my paper today because my friend Joe is coming in from Budapest tomorrow to stay with me for a night or two. We are going to do some sightseeing and exploring aorund town (since I have yet to really do so myself), so hopefully I'll have an update with more pictures soon.

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:13:00 -0700 Sarajevo http://tma90.posterous.com/sarajevo http://tma90.posterous.com/sarajevo

 

Sarajevo
I'm currently a couple days into my week living in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the workload for my study abroad program has really picked up. We had to turn in our topic ideas for our thesis paper (15-20 page essay due July 29th) on Saturday night and we have a series of meetings this week with the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, the US Embassy and various speakers from NGOs. This last week in Bosnia-Herzegovina is focused on giving us final exposure to these “front-line” organizations before we head to Vienna, Austria next week to settle down for 3 weeks. We spend about 4-5 hours a day in briefings with these organizations throughout the morning and afternoon, and then head back to the hotel to get some personal research done and then relax in the evenings.

Our hotel is in the middle of a pretty neat part of town consisting of several blocks of walking streets with shops, restaurants and bars lining them. There's also a sort of “supermarket” down the street, so we have about everything we could need. Last night several of us students and our TA held a poker tournament in the basement of the hotel and I believe we're going to a Turkish hookah bar down the street tonight. Also in our vicinity is the very bridge that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on (which, and I apologize if you already know, is referred to as the spark that started WWI) so I thought that was pretty awesome. The history in this city is pretty incredible, as it holds a mixed heritage of Ottoman and Hapsburg (Austrian) rule. This provides some great architecture to look at, as well as one of the oldest cable car systems in the world (a trial for the one that would be implemented in Vienna years later).

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Speaking of the cable cars, we were supposed to ride them to our first meeting today but found out they were closed. Why? Because the Prime Minister of Serbia was coming into Sarajevo for a meeting and they were closing down the streets. This was neat a) because we now got to take cabs and b) the motorcade drove past us in the opposite direction as we were driving. The 4-5 lane road was cleared and their were motorcycle police in the front, several blacked out SUVs in the middle and police cars and an ambulance in the back. In an ethnically charged place such as Bosnia, you can never be too careful I suppose.

Anyway, Sarajevo is pretty neat but I'm really anxious to arrive in Vienna on Saturday afternoon. I'll be living there for 3 weeks so hopefully but the end of it I wont need to look at a map anymore! As far as a change of location goes I'm ready for some different food as well. Sarajevo has had pretty good food but its all the same everywhere. Hopefully since Vienna is such an international city they will have more variety. I even hear they have Subway...

(Disclaimer: Yes I know there are only two photos in this post but my internet is painfully slow. When Its better I'll go back and insert some pictures)

- Taylor

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:36:00 -0700 Sarajevo http://tma90.posterous.com/60013002 http://tma90.posterous.com/60013002

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I'm currently a couple days into my week living in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the workload for my study abroad program has really picked up. We had to turn in our topic ideas for our thesis paper (15-20 page essay due July 29th) on Saturday night and we have a series of meetings this week with the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, the US Embassy and various speakers from NGOs. This last week in Bosnia-Herzegovina is focused on giving us final exposure to these “front-line” organizations before we head to Vienna, Austria next week to settle down for 3 weeks. We spend about 4-5 hours a day in briefings with these organizations throughout the morning and afternoon, and then head back to the hotel to get some personal research done and then relax in the evenings.

Our hotel is in the middle of a pretty neat part of town consisting of several blocks of walking streets with shops, restaurants and bars lining them. There's also a sort of “supermarket” down the street, so we have about everything we could need. Last night several of us students and our TA held a poker tournament in the basement of the hotel and I believe we're going to a Turkish hookah bar down the street tonight. Also in our vicinity is the very bridge that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on (which, and I apologize if you already know, is referred to as the spark that started WWI) so I thought that was pretty awesome. The history in this city is pretty incredible, as it holds a mixed heritage of Ottoman and Hapsburg (Austrian) rule. This provides some great architecture to look at, as well as one of the oldest cable car systems in the world (a trial for the one that would be implemented in Vienna years later).

Speaking of the cable cars, we were supposed to ride them to our first meeting today but found out they were closed. Why? Because the Prime Minister of Serbia was coming into Sarajevo for a meeting and they were closing down the streets. This was neat a) because we now got to take cabs and b) the motorcade drove past us in the opposite direction as we were driving. The 4-5 lane road was cleared and their were motorcycle police in the front, several blacked out SUVs in the middle and police cars and an ambulance in the back. In an ethnically charged place such as Bosnia, you can never be too careful I suppose.

Anyway, Sarajevo is pretty neat but I'm really anxious to arrive in Vienna on Saturday afternoon. I'll be living there for 3 weeks so hopefully but the end of it I wont need to look at a map anymore! As far as a change of location goes I'm ready for some different food as well. Sarajevo has had pretty good food but its all the same everywhere. Hopefully since Vienna is such an international city they will have more variety. I even hear they have Subway...

(Disclaimer: Yes I know there is only one photo in this post but my internet is painfully slow. When Its better I'll go back and insert some pictures)

- Taylor

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:47:00 -0700 Time to catch up... http://tma90.posterous.com/time-to-catch-up http://tma90.posterous.com/time-to-catch-up

Greetings from Banja Luca, Bosnia! I keep falling way behind so I'm going to try and sum up the last week and a half in this post. I'll have solid internet starting this weekend so I should be able to keep up from now on (I've said that before). Anyway I ended the last post by saying I was in Pristina, Kosovo. Here we go...

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While in Pristina we met with various international organizations including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the International Civilian Office (ICO), the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Kosovo Force (KFOR) and several other smaller groups. We received a crash course on the situation in Kosovo today and a little history of how it got there. The region is secure at this time except for the northern region, especially the city of Mitrovica, which we visited for an afternoon. Slideshow of some of the Organizations we visited

I'm going through pretty quick and vague but I'll revisit the academic stuff at a later time. As for the fun part in Kosovo...first off it was ridiculously cheap. You could buy a beer and a pizza for less than 4 euros (yes they're on the Euro). Needless to say we ate and drank like kings for a week and had a great time with the local nightlife. It helped that myself and my roommate somehow ended up with the VIP suite at the hotel. We became the hangout room by default.

Culturally the place was like no other I'd ever been. A large part of the Albanians living there are muslim so there are mosques all over the place. Hearing the prayer call throughout the city several times a day was pretty awesome. The people are all really nice, espcially to Americans. That was something I learned quickly upon arriving in Kosovo. Bill Clinton is worshipped in Kosovo for helping to establish them as a state so naturally all Americans receive great treatment. I mean...we may have told people we were his grandchildren...

Alright say goodbye Kosovo...off we go to Macedonia and Montenegro. We went to Macedonia last week to eat dinner with our Teaching Assistant's parents and family. He is from a town called Tetova, Macedonia and honestly I didn't know what to expect. Turns out it was really neat place and we walked around for an hour or so before dinner to explore. This amazing mosque was the highlight:

After Tetova we went back to Pristina to sleep for the night. The next morning we set off for Dubrovnik, Croatia via the country of Montenegro in a charter bus. 13 hours later we arrived at our destination. It was supposed to be 8 hours max. If you haven't spent 13 hours on a bus before, don't. Ever. Cabin fever sets in after about 6 so you can imagine how we felt by the end. At least the scenery was good...

While driving through the mountains was pretty awesome, nothing could prepare me for the beauty of Dubrovnik. Now don't get me wrong I definitely knew what I was getting into. As a matter of fact Dubrovnik has been the background on my computer since I found out I was going in March. Still, it was amazing. The hotel we stayed in was 4-star resort on the water so my balcony view was incredible. We jumped off rocks and cliffs, went SCUBA diving and explored the old walled city of Dubrovnik (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubrovnik). We spent two nights there and while we didn't go out to clubs and bars (super expensive) we did manage to get our hands on a key to the indoor pool and spa that normally closes at 9pm. Good times.

We left Dubrovnik on Tuesday this week (28th) and arrived in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina. I'm now in Banja Luca, Bosnia & Herzegovina and will be leaving for the capital of Sarajevo tomorrow afternoon, where I will stay until late next week. I'll have a post up about Bosnia in a few days but I wanted to make sure I got caught up with this post. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

- Taylor

 

 

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:36:03 -0700 Beer, Jager & Little Green Men http://tma90.posterous.com/57781863 http://tma90.posterous.com/57781863

So over the last week I finished up in London, went to Ireland, came back from Ireland (sort of..) and then landed in Pristina (pronounced Prishtina), Kosovo yesterday to begin my study abroad program. Infrequent internet access has been to blame for the infrequent posting but I'll attempt to make up for it now that I have a steady connection.

First off, Ireland rocks. We went to Dublin last Tuesday (the 14th) and spent three nights there. I really have no complaints at all about the place. When I say we I am referring to myself and my friends Brady, Elizabeth and Gabrielle. We did a week pre-trip together before the study abroad program. Now that I am in Pristina "we" will most likely refer to the larger group of 18 of us that are now together. But I'll get back to that soon. Anyway...Ireland.

We did a free walking tour (www.neweuropetours.com), which was pretty cool because the guide was just a little older than us. He showed us around town while swearing profusely and fighting a mean hangover. This would become a recurring theme in Ireland.

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After the tour we regrouped and then set out for the hostel pub crawl. Several of the hostels in Dublin collaborate every night (yes, every night) and have pub crawls led by guides throughout the Temple Bar area. It was an awesome way to meet other people traveling through. We barhopped with three other American guys, a large contingent of German girls, several others from various European locations and our Irish tour guide. We went to a couple pubs, one with especially good live music, and then ended the night at a club a couple blocks from the hostel. Good times.

Other than pub crawling every night we also saw some cool things. One of our better excursions was in going to the Guinness factory. They have a self-guided tour where you get to see the brewing process for Guinness and learn a little history along the way. You work your way up the building and end up with an awesome 360 degree view at the rooftop bar. You also receive a complementary pint of Guinness. Brilliant! We had a lot of good times just walking around the city and exploring on our own. In fact, leaving Dublin was quite an adventure in itself.

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On Friday morning (the 17th) we were supposed to be a the docks to get on the ferry back to England at 8am. Well, we woke up at 10:30. It's probably worth mentioning that we went on yet another pub crawling adventure on Thursday night. Looking back it was totally worth it. Anyway, we set off for the port to catch the next ferry, as was listed on the ferry company's website. We had an awesome cab driver named Frederick McKnight who talked mostly about how awesome Rory McIlroy is, but who also proceeded to tell us how dangerous the Balkans (our next destination) were. When we told him we were heading to Kosovo, his response was simply “Well, that'll be fuckin interesting.” I love the Irish.

We arrive at the station in about 15 minutes but run into a problem. The website was wrong, that ferry wasn't running today. The only ferry for the next 5 hours was leaving in 40 minutes. Sounds good right? Not so fast. It was at the OTHER port. Why they have 2 different ferry ports I don't know but I think it was specifically done to make our lives difficult. I jump back into the cab and tell old Freddy we have to gun it and we don't care what it costs, we just have to make that ferry.

The problem is that if we don't get on a ferry until 5 there's no guarantee that we can make a connecting train from the English port in Holyhead to London for the night. This in itself wouldn't be a big deal to stay in Holyhead for the night and continue on to London in the morning, except we had a flight from London to Pristina leaving at 10am the next morning. Basically by missing the 8am ferry this next one was do or die. Thankfully Frederick drives twice the speed limit for the majority of the 20 minute drive and we make it to the port as they are shutting the gate and are the last people on. Let me say it again, I love the Irish.

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The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful besides the rough seas for the ferry, which made our hangovers much less tolerable. We caught a train and got into London at a pretty decent hour. We checked into our hostel and went to bed around 12. The next morning we made the flight and arrived in Pristina, Kosovo around 2:30. It turned out we were lucky to be in Europe already, because almost everyone else in the group had flight issues leaving the States. Several were delayed, causing them to miss connections in Vienna, Munich and Frankfurt. I was glad we didn't have to face that headache by taking our direct flight from Gatwick to Pristina.

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I have much more to right on Pristina, but I'll let this post digest for a day or so before I put it up. I already feel like I've written a novel, but then again its been almost 2 weeks since my last post.

 

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Sat, 11 Jun 2011 00:54:00 -0700 The Hostel Life http://tma90.posterous.com/the-hostel-life http://tma90.posterous.com/the-hostel-life

Staying in a Hostel by myself for a night was certainly an experience. I had 4 roommates (only 4 beds total...) and none of them spoke English. Upon arriving at the Hostel I knew I had at least 1 roommate because some of his clothes were drying on his bed, which just so happened to be the bunk above mine. I discovered the other roommates later on. I was taking a nap to recover from jetlag when i heard the door open. In walk three French girls somewhere around my age.

Now I'm just waking up so I'm trying to process this situation and the first thing that comes to mind is that there is only 1 set of bunks left. Figuring they must have the wrong room we begin some sort of primitive conversation with lots of hand gestures. I point to the top bunk and say "one" then the bottom and say "two" and then I said "three?". They smiled and pointed to one girl and then the top bunk saying "one" and then the other two pointed to themselves and the bottom bunk. We all started laughing and you'll understand why. Examine the pictures below and you'll see how crazy this seemed to me. The beds are tiny and are only an arms length apart.

Soon after "meeting" the girls, I say it like that because as of now we still haven't had any sort of communication since I definitely don't speak French and their English is terrible, I went back out into Central London to explore. When I came back later that night to go to bed the girls were in there but still not the guy in the bed above me. As I'm walking out to take a shower he finally walks in. I'd guess he was about 25-28 and definitely German, also speaking zero English. All he said the entire time was good night and then good morning today. He also snored and slept-talked all night, much to the amusement of myself and the French girls.

Amazingly the bed was actually pretty comfortable and I slept pretty well, even with the random outbursts of German sleep-talk. I got up and had breakfast this morning and one of my trip companions, Elizabeth just arrived here so I think we're going to head out into London and do some more exploring.

- Taylor

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:01:00 -0700 A Rough Start http://tma90.posterous.com/a-rough-start http://tma90.posterous.com/a-rough-start

Preface: Long Post, I apologize in advance.

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Well something had to go wrong now didn't it? Of course.

My parents dropped me off at RDU at 1:30 yesterday to catch my 3:30 flight to Boston. Everything was going well until we taxied out onto the runway. Its 3:45 and we are heading for the strip when the plane stops. The pilot comes on and tells us there has been a "groundstop" for all traffic heading into Boston. He doesn't know if this will take 15 minutes or an hour to clear up. So we sit put.

45 minutes later the plane heads back to the terminal and they proceed to drop us off and say "sorry, the flight has been cancelled." You can imagine the panic this caused considering I was one of about 15 people on this flight with a connection in Boston leaving at 6:40 for London. Everyone immediately swarmed the ticket counter upon re-entering the terminal so I was lucky in two ways.

1) I did not stand in line for said ticket counter and 2) I was traveling alone

Instead of standing in line I went and sat down and called Delta International's customer service number and told them what had happened. I said that I didn't care where I had to go through or how they did it but I wanted to be in London the next day. She searched around and happened to find that there was an American Airlines direct flight from RDU to London Heathrow leaving in one hour. Get this, it was in the same terminal, just a few gates down. I said that'd be great and she placed me on the flight while i ran down the terminal to check-in at the counter.

The ladies at the counter looked at me like I was crazy when I said I was just added to their flight. They claimed it was way overbooked (here we go again...) but by some miracle they looked it up and sure enough I was on the flight. After spending 5 and a half hours in the airport I finally was able to board for London. It is worth mentioning that this aircraft I boarded was generations older than the nice Delta jet I had reserved. I had also purchased an upgrade to economy comfort which, yep you guessed it, does not transfer between airlines. Instead I was crammed in the window seat of the second to last row on the whole plane with non-existant leg room.

I'll try to stop complaining about the flight since I did in fact make it to London. Speaking of London, the customs officials are way more strict than they are in the US. I've flown in and out of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and had the typical "business or pleasure?" question and perhaps a followup and that is all. This guy wasn't having it. It was "business or pleasure?" and when I replied "pleasure" he said "no, really. why are you here?" This caught me off guard and I had to resist a smart ass comment which in hindsight may have landed me in a cell for the day.

After explaining what I was doing, stopping in London for a week and then heading to Kosovo, he asked if I could prove it. I didn't have my documentation printed out for my flight next week so I actually could not prove this. I said well its a study abroad program for my University and he asked for documentation on that. Well shit. I didn't have that either. He was obviously irritated with me but after some sweet talking I was let through.

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It is clear that British Police do not mess around.

 

Luckily that was the end of my troubles. I befriended an Australian man on the 30 minute metro train into London and then hung out at a cafe for about an hour before walking around for some sight-seeing in central London. I have some good pictures to upload later since I somehow stumbled upon the changing of the Royal Horse Guard, which was pretty neat. Also, in a strange coincidence I decided to have lunch at a place called the Red Lion and congressman McIntyre was sitting at the table next to me. I thought that was neat.

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Alright I'll wrap up this marathon post now. I just awoke from a 2 hour nap in my dorm room and I'm about to go out and explore some more. I'll try to post some pictures later and you can expect another update post tomorrow. By the way its 7:00pm here for all of you confused about the time difference.

-Taylor

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:22:16 -0700 Here we go... http://tma90.posterous.com/here-we-go http://tma90.posterous.com/here-we-go

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The day is finally here, i just got dropped off at RDU and am awaiting my connection flight to Boston before heading to London.

Ill arrive in London around 1:30am EST, which just so happens to be 6:30 am in London. For this reason i really need to sleep on the plane, otherwise ill have effectively gone through a 40+ hour day. Kinda reminds me of finals week...

Anyway ive attached a picture of my companion, which i will no doubt name at a later time. Ive already grown fond of this little backpack. Considering everything i own for the next 10 weeks will be carried in it, most likely on my back for hours each day, it has a very special role.

Thats all for now but expect my next post to come from London assuming i dont miss my connection in Boston (at which time it would be best not to speak to me at all).

*Message posted from my beloved droid. Unfortunately Droid does[nt] work in Europe (way to go motorola) and will be powered off for the duration of the trip. See you in August little guy.

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Sat, 04 Jun 2011 14:36:00 -0700 What I'll miss about home... http://tma90.posterous.com/55663340 http://tma90.posterous.com/55663340

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Can you really blame me for spending most of my last week in town at wrightsville beach?

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:56:00 -0700 6 days until departure... http://tma90.posterous.com/6-days-until-departure http://tma90.posterous.com/6-days-until-departure

After a grueling 6 hour shopping day I now appreciate how much planning must go into these types of trips. My stubborn decision to travel all 10 weeks with one carry-on size bag has made things much more difficult than they needed to be. All the clothes must be quick-dry and wrinkle-free (resistant) and somehow I have to try to keep the total weight under 30 lbs. I am close to being ready, however, and I cant wait to takeoff.

Anyways, now for some actual information. I'm flying Delta out of Raleigh-Durham airport to Heathrow in London with a quick stop at Logan International in Boston. I'll leave Thursday (the 9th) and arrive the morning of the 10th, where I'll be spending the day by myself in London. It should be good to get acclimated to the city while I wait for the rest of my group to arrive. I'm sure I'll be battling jet lag all day anyway.

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Sat, 28 May 2011 11:46:00 -0700 Early Morning Fishing http://tma90.posterous.com/early-morning-fishing http://tma90.posterous.com/early-morning-fishing

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Nothing like an early morning fishing to start off the day. Caught 7 bluefish and one spanish mackeral this morning with my dad and my soon-to-be brother in law Gage. An ominous storm came over the beach about an hour after we began trolling, forcing us to cut our morning short. Still, being the first day out fishing in almost a year it was a great time.

*Photo taken off of Wrightsville Beach inlet

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Sat, 28 May 2011 11:41:01 -0700 Early Morning Fishing http://tma90.posterous.com/early-morning-fishing http://tma90.posterous.com/early-morning-fishing
Img_20110528_082214

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson
Sat, 28 May 2011 11:15:00 -0700 New Blog http://tma90.posterous.com/new-blog http://tma90.posterous.com/new-blog

In preparation for this summer's traveling I've created this blog to post pictures and updates. Its meant for family and friends since not everyone has a facebook. The website should be easy to remember and I hope you'll all contribute with comments to help keep me engaged and posting. I'm not so sure if I'll enjoy the blogging experience but I'm giving it a shot.

For the next two weeks before I depart the blog will likely change frequently as I try out new styles and features of this website. More to come soon.

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1258074/taylorbarnes.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hcGgXhETo98cG Taylor Anderson Taylor Taylor Anderson