Budapest

After a couple weeks of hanging out in the CPH it was time for another adventure. Probably the best set up trip of Europe so far and it started with me, Elliot and Andras, our Hungarian friend flying to Budapest for 4 days. As soon as we stepped outside of the airport I had to take off my jacket. We lucked out and had the most amazing weather the whole time in Budapest. Andras owns a flat in downtown Pest. Budapest is basically two cities separated by the Danube river. The flatter city center with all the bustle is Pest while Buda has amazing cliffs, hills, and sights. The first night, the 3 of us bar hopped through Pest and ended up at a bar with live music. We waited for about 20 minutes before the band started. This isn't an exaggeration but they were THE worst band I've ever heard. Some kind of weird british emo. We left to find the Parliament building. The building was magnificent at night. After we went home and passed out because the next day 3 more of our flatmates were flying in. After picking up Jerome, Lisa, and Celine we went to find the "China" man. He sold the cheapest alcohol in the city. After stocking up we went home to eat dinner and start the night. The club we went to was crazy. Andras said it wasn't as crazy as usual but the club was packed for a Monday night. Unfortunately for me the club also had a karaoke room. My idea of a good karaoke song at the time was Gangster's Paradise by Coolio. I could barely keep up with the lyrics and basically made a fool of myself but it was fun and I could have cared less at the moment. After a long night of dancing, karaoke, and a random Foosball game we went searching for a late night falafel joint. Budapest has hundreds of amazing falafel places and we probably stopped in half of them. For about 2 dollars, a big falafel pita was as good a meal as any. Me and Elliot averaged 2 and a half a day or something crazy like that. This set the stage for a trip dominated by this wondrous Mediterranean dish. On our last day in Budapest, Elliot, Jerome and I went to the famous Turkish baths of the city. It was incredibly relaxing and cleansing (much needed after our nights out). After the baths, we hiked to the highest point in Budapest to see the sights from the Hungarian Statue of Liberty. Looking out over Pest was pretty breathtaking at dusk. The sun was setting over the hills and lit up the Parliament perfectly. All in all this was the best day of the trip. On returning to Andras's place we showered up and got ready for the biggest party we had seen in Budapest. Our 9 hour bus ride to Prague was at 8 the next morning but we wanted to live up our last night in the city. We went to a club called Moulin Rouge. It was humongous and looked as if they only let Hungarian models in. It was an amazing last night and luckily we didn't miss our bus the next morning. The bus to Prague was a little brutal but I slept most the way which shortened the trip significantly. The Prague and Berlin posts will be coming shortly.

Amsterdam

So after a quick 3 day turn around from London, my flatmate and I were off to Amsterdam. I didn't really know what to expect from Amsterdam. The only rumors of the city I'd heard were off the Red Light District, hookers, and coffeshops. We met up with Eddie, a fellow DU, and his friends at the airport. From there we walked the city in search of our hostel. It was my first hostel experience and I wasn't expecting much. We got a very good price for the night which made me even more suspicious. Despite my worries the hostel was much better than expected. Our little group set out into the night to find some good ol' Amsterdam fun. We met up with another of Eddie's friend and bar hopped most the night. We had our first walk through the Red Light District which was pretty strange. The next day we had to move to another hostel for the remainder of the trip. Another pleasant surprise as this hostel had the BEST shower I've had in Europe. We went to the Anne Frank and Van Gogh museums, both of which were very interesting and generally a good time. I'm not a huge museum fan unless the exhibit is quite interactive or something different, but every museum we went to in Amsterdam left me satisfied. The free tour of the city was also something everyone should do. Our guide was Australian Amy and she was great. We left halfway through the 3 hour tour to grab some french fries. The vendors sell huge cones of fresh fried french fries and soak them in mayo and ketchup. Mayo sounded gross but I became mildly obsessed with them. We went on these very touristy but worth it bar crawls in both Leidseplein and the Red Light District. They were fairly inexpensive and you got into 5 or 6 bars/clubs without cover. They also succeed in showing you a good time as everyone was pretty drunk and lost by the time it ended. I never walked so much as I did in Amsterdam. On Saturday we went to the Sex Museum which was incredible. Maybe I'm just immature but the entire time I was laughing uncontrollably and taking pictures. There were some things you just couldn't make up. I stopped taking pictures when I realized no one else was taking pictures. Felt like a weirdo after that but I got some gems. Upon return to our lovely hostel, the Marnix, we found we had new roommates. They were these two guys from Mexico City. The one guy's suitcase had been lost by the airline for a week so he had been in his same clothes for a while. They brought two bottles of the best tequila I've ever tasted so we decided they were cool. That night was blurry (tequila, come on!) to say the least but another great time. The next day we went to the Heinekin Experience. This was the best museum/tour I've ever been on. It was very interactive and marketed Heinekin incredibly. We left and went directly to buy a Heinekin mini keg for the night. Unfortunately we couldn't read the Dutch instructions that said the keg needed to be chilled for 8 hours. We drank foam that night which was very disappointing. Our last day we hung out in our go-to coffeeshop and then walked through this great park. Everything was in bloom and it was 50 and sunny. In the end Amsterdam surpassed my expectations as a gorgeous city with much, much more to offer than hookers and weed. It was a great trip filled with french fries, falafels, museums, and good times. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all and to all a good night.

London

So it has been a month and a half since I updated. I apologize to the loyal fans of this exceptional blog site. I have done a ton in the days since I last posted so I will split it up into multiple posts. The third weekend in February I visited my good friend, Mark McDaid in London. Not having an international phone turned out to be a significant problem on this trip. From the airport to Mark's house I was instructed to take 2 trains and a bus, but he was going to meet me halfway at Clapham Junction, the busiest rail station in Britain. Since I didn't have a phone we set a time and hoped for the best. Unfortunately my plane was delayed about an hour and it took another hour to get through Gatwick's ridiculous customs. By the time I got to Clapham I couldn't find Mark so I took the next train. About an hour later I stumbled up to his address at 2 a.m. Too bad Mark was still at Clapham. It was a pretty exhausting adventure for the both of us but the next day was beautiful out and I was blown away by London. I expected a good time but just walking through the city and seeing the famous landmarks impressed me more than any city I've been to. Friday night got a little wild. Me, Mark, and 3 of his girlfriends pregamed in his house and 4 bottles later were on a train to On Anon. As soon as we got there the bouncer said Mark looked too drunk. We were all drunk but no one was in a bad state so we went to another couple clubs and danced all night. Coming home we got lost on a bus and wound up at Wimbledon at 6 am. A long taxi ride and we were finally home. The next day Mark didn't get out of bed until dinner time but we still rallied and had a fun night at local bars in Twickenham. On Sunday we went to Camden Market. The market was yet another awesome part of London. The only bad part was my choice of lunch for the day. We all decided on these amazing looking fajitas. The guy working the stand decided parmesan cheese was cool on a fajita. Uh no. They were terrible. Considering I didn't finish mine, I love fajitas, and I never ever don't finish a meal should put some perspective on how unappetizing they really were. That said, a bad fajita couldn't ruin this amazing weekend. My host couldn't have shown me a better time and the city was beautiful. The Tuesday after I returned from London was moving day. I decided to move into a shared flat with some people I had met. My other place was closer to school and living on my own I never had to be fully clothed but the building itself was dead and a little depressing. So far the decision has been a success. On Thursday I turned around and flew to Amsterdam with one of my new flatmates, but more about that trip later. 2 songs I've been lovin on are Your Touch by the Black Keys and Walking On A Dream by Empire of the Sun. Hope everyone reading this is doing well. Miss you all and enjoy St. Patty's day.

Switzerland/France (cheese, wine, chocolate)

By the time I get around to updating this I usually forget all the interesting details. Switzerland was the tits. Went with a New Zealander named Steve. We stayed at his friend Monique's house. And by house I mean her host family/ nazi slave driver's place. They were in Paris for the week and she had some horror stories about the kids and mom. She had decided to leave while they were on their vacation and move in with her Dad in Wales. Anyway before they left she said a friend would be painting the house all week and NO ONE was supposed to stay in the house. Of course Monique failed to mention this until we arrived. Between dodging the painter we took tours at CERN (biggest particle accelerator on the planet), the UN, and drove to the tallest peak in Europe, Mont Blanc. Our tour guide was a physicist named Bill Murray. Bill was a guy who probably couldn't tie his own shoes but new how to smash electrons together to try and find antimatter. I could tell he was running numbers in his head the whole time. The perfect tour guide for the occasion. On the tour some annoying Asian guy who thought he knew everything (he knew nothing) asked how far the other detection site was. Mr. Murray calmly answered 27 over pi kilometers away. It didn't register to me that he meant the circle was 27 km in circumference so the diameter was 27/pi (obvious right?). I thought he was talking about some town. After the tour we had a fondue dinner. I've never eaten so much melted cheese in my life. I paid dearly for this the next day but the dinner was well worth it. We rented a car but missed the bus to the airport to pick it up so we hitchhiked. I didn't think the 3 of us had a chance, but 5 minutes later we were sitting in a French girls car. It was my favorite part of the trip. We got the car and drove to Chamonix/Mont Blanc. Deciding it was a good idea to sleep in the car, a Fiat Panda, we went out in Chamonix and had a blast. Everyone was down to party and the bars were real cool. All three of us were pretty drunk when we realized it was 20 degrees and the car was the size of a microwave. Next time I'll pony up the cash and get a hostel but oh well. Anything for the adventure. The drive back in the morning was gorgeous. We drove through mountains for hours and along the coast of Lake Geneva. We stopped at a couple bakeries and chocolate shops along the way. I've never had so much good wine, chocolate, and cheese in my life. After we returned the car we spent some time in Geneva and saw the sites. We went in this fur coat shop and I thought it was a good idea to put on a 26,000 dollar fur coat. The owner of the place was about to call the cops so we bounced. Every store we went in to, the workers just stared us down until we left. For good reason I guess since everything was ridiculously pricey. Anyway me and Steve took a midnight bus to the airport and slept there until our flight at 5 a.m. Taxis were about 40 euro so we decided to skip it. Paid off since I spent the extra cash at the Duty Free shop on cheap Absolut and Swiss Chocolate. All in all it's good to be back in the CPH. Apologies for the book of a post.

Copenhagen Round 1

Well clearly this blog is a self fulfilling prophecy. I knew I wouldn't keep it updated often so apologies for all you people dying to know what's happening with me and my super interesting life. Copenhagen has been amazing so far. The people are awesome and as friendly as they come. The Danish class I am taking is also fun, but the language is impossible. They only pronounce half the letters in the words which makes learning the language hard. Not too mention the Chicago accent I'm told I have makes me sound ridiculous speaking Danish. I'm excited for real classes to start so a bunch of German kids can't snicker at me saying Hi my name is Patrick in Danish. Nah the kids in my class are awesome, we laugh so much it makes the lessons bearable. There are 3 Germans, a Russian, a New Zelander, a Canadian, a Lithuanian, a Polish girl, 5 Americans, and 2 Italians. Lots of different languages being spoken all the time but they all speak great English too. Last night was the first International party at the Student Bar and almost everyone went. It was awesome seeing all the shy kids in class let loose a little. I of course let loose a lot and succeeded in being the funny dancing American. Needless to say today's class smelled like a brewery. Everyone was useless and with our test a week away the teacher wasn't too pleased. We tried to explain to her that it was inevitable and in my case she was pretty darn lucky I made the trek to hear her babble for 3 hours. Stories are always a side effect of going out so here goes. I got super lost and wandered the streets of Copenhagen for about an hour last night. I actually enjoyed it until I realized how tired I was and I was probably walking farther away from my place. I lost all dignity and called a cab. The bar was awesome and as always I was a dancing fiend. I blew the Danes away with my dance moves. I left in search of fast food and realized 24 hour McD's are purely American. I just wanted a damn McChicken so bad. No wonder everyone in Denmark is in good shape. They can't gorge on fast food at 4 in the morning and they zoom around on bikes all the time. Unfortunately my favorite part of bikes, seeing insane bike accidents, rarely happens. Nothing is funnier then seeing a guy get trucked by an Asian girl flying to class in CU. Oh well you can't have everything. I have been putting off my homework for about 5 hours now so I'm going to have to get on that. Hope everyone enjoyed their X-mas breaks.

Copenhagen

I arrived in Copenhagen on the 1st not knowing where I was living or if anyone was meeting me at the airport. I didn't have a phone or any Danish money. Pretty well prepared otherwise. I had a terrible hangover and probably looked like a bum who hadn't shaved in a week. The night before me, Mark, and his two crazy girl cousins went to a club called Earth in Derry. We waited in the "cue" for about an hour before getting into the most crowded place I'd ever been. I was fairly sober and so was Mark. He had planned on not getting drunk because of the long ride we had at 5:30 in the morning the next day. Well I warned him that wouldn't last long and sure enough 4 or 5 Goldschlager shots later we were both feeling a lot better about the night. We lost his cousins immediately but found our Ulster Project friend Catherine and her friends. We basically took shots in between songs as we danced for 4 hours. Not a good idea when I was flying the next day but I slept the whole car ride with Eamonn (Mark's uncle) and Mark. Eventually on my own in the Dublin airport I felt completely lost. The place was a zoo because they had gotten like 2 millimeters of snow and had canceled tons of flights. 2 mm! It was a joke. Every worker in the airport was too hungover to be helpful and I waited in hours of lines but finally got on my flight. Again I slept the whole time and after I got my bags I went to leave and this girl was waiting for me with a sign with my name on it. Her name was Nina and was awesome. She had my key to the apartment that I had no clue was reserved for me until July. Once I unpacked and got my apartment set up I was once again lost. Still no phone, no internet, no money etc so I did what I do best, I slept. I slept from around 5:30 pm to 11:30 am the next day. I guess I needed it. Then I explored the city, got a cell phone, outlet converter and groceries. After that I had nothing to do and no one to talk to so I read a 500 page book. Seriously all I did was read for hours. Now it's Sunday the 3rd and I'm in an Internet Gaming Facility. Didn't know they existed but it's the only place with internet. It's filled with criminal looking guys and a handful of 7 year olds playing World Of Warcraft. So scary so I'm gonna end there and get the hell out of here. Pretty boring first days in CPH I gues, but class starts tomorrow so hopefully I'll have more interesting stories.

Jetlag+Hangover=Bed

Title explains most of whats happened the first day in Derry. The folks I'm staying with are amazing. I get asked if I want tea or a cookie about every 30 seconds. They are just about the nicest two people I've met in a while. Not much has happened in Derry yet but meet Mark's family, eat GOOD food, and go to Christmas mass in a beautiful, old cathedral. Honestly, the food here has been amazing so far. Mark's aunt is the cook for the priests at their church and I think they are spoiled if they eat what she makes everyday. So much for corned beef and cabbage (see photo above for my xmas meal).