SNOWBOARDING and DINNER with ITALIANS!!!)(*&^%$

heyyy ALL!!!
SOOOOOOO February 20th, 2010 Micki Kelly my roommate and i went SNOWBOARDINGG!!! friday the night before ALL of my roommates and Mickis roommates sat in Mickis apartment for 5 hours planning and researching for our Spring Break together, as well as this weekend to the Amalfi Coast which is outside of Naples, but that night we were all strung about getting everything worked out that after we were done Kelly myself and Micki all looked exhausted... we werent sure if we wanted to go on the snowboarding trip anymore. But then we came to our senses and just said SCREW it!! lets GOO! We had to wake up at 4:30am to meet people at Porta Nuova Station at 6:00am… you know with the bus system you always have to give yourself 45 minutes for transportation because the bus might not come, or you stop at every single stop on the way… you know.. Italy style! Micki, Kelly and I arrived at the station at 5:45am and waited for the others, we then had to take the metro and a bus to meet in the right piazza for the coach (shuttle bus) to come… its dark outside and walking with a mob of kids swishing and swishing from the fabric from all of our snowboarding pants… pretty funny sight. We got on the bus with Italians from the gym and a bunch of American kids…micki and I OF COURSE start singing songs from my ipod and the whole bus looks at us… it was GREAT! Micki and I “fell asleep” for a while and by the time I actually knocked out… we were there, OF COURSE! We got off the bus and got our day passes and headed for the rentals. Now Micki was trying to decide whether or not to snowboard or to ski, now Kelly my roommate skis and shes REALLY good… but she wanted to give snowboarding a chance, which I give her MAJOR props! She was on her butt alllll day!! But she never gave up. Micki on the other hand was on skis, she was doing a lot better… she didn’t fall, and she was like an expert in like an hour. They told me to go on skis but I couldn’t cheat on snowboarding… I have to get better at one or the other, and snowboarding was SO much fun! I know that I am getting better because I was toe turning all day! And helping Kelly out as well. It was a BEAUTIFUL day on the mountain, clear skies not crowded at all!
Lunch time came around and I don’t know if you all know, but in the states in the HUGE mess hall they have like chilly cheese burgers and French fries and all this fating food and all we could talk about on the chair lifts was what we were going to have for lunch, forgetting where we were for a minute we realized that we are in italy and I think their idea of lunch is a pastry… ohh no!! but it turned out great because they had pasta and kous kous (I don’t know how to spell it) and it was SOOO GOOD and hot! Hahah! We got back on the mountain (even though always after having lunch you want to just lie down and have a nap) Kelly and I were on the chair lift and we were looking kind of full and tired, but we had some laughs falling off the chair lift (always) and went down. Now I was shocked to see all the little bambini (kids) skiing and FLYING down the hills (does that bring back memories mom? Alexa and i?) so I am minding my own business and listening to an awesome song on my ipod when this kid comes literally out of no where and runs right into me! It hurt so bad that I couldn’t breathe and I thought that I broke a rib. The kid started crying and the dad came up to me and was apologizing in Italian and yelling at his kid. I said that I was sorry, but I was in too much pain to be super nice. After that on the next chair lift my left index finger was throbbing! I took off my glove on the lift and it was swollen. It still hurts as I type this, but I am ok. But now I know what my fingers will look like if I gain like 100 pounds….EWW! but I toughed it out and went down another run. Kelly took a nasty fall and she looked at me with snow all over her, and almost had tears in her eyes and said, can we be done now. I looked at my finger and then back at her and said, “I thought you would never ask!” we quit the day at 4pm and went down to the lodge and I scooped a ball of snow for my finger and we shared a bottle of wine together and sat in lawn chairs and watched the sun set behind the mountains… it was SO beautiful! After we finished our wine we took the gondola down the mountain and met up with everyone. Returned our gear, and got a beer and loaded on the bus. On the way back I got SUPER restless because I had to pee sooooo baddddd, and I was the only one who said something, and I know the people reading this know that, yes, I AM a LOUD person! STOP THE BUS!!!! We got off at a gas station and released the pain.. ahhh! I think that having to pee and holding it is one of the most painful things. Back on the bus to TORINO! Now we had planned to have our Italian friends cook us dinner that night and Kelly and I were HAGGERED and not presentable and the hot Italians were in our kitchen…. We ran straight to the bathroom to shower and look like girls again. Dinner was made by my favorite Italians in Torino, Giovanni, Fabrizio, and Stefano. And the Lasagna was out of this WORLD! Made from scratch from REAL ITALIANS! We were drinking wine and laughing and talking about our day on the mountain and getting drunk… I was home and not going out so I think I am allowed. ☺ micki and her 4 roommate were there my 4 roommates 3 Italians and Andrew Rap (he lives in down town) came all the way from his house to have dinner with us and had 4 plates of lasagna… and said that he hasn’t had this much fun since hes been in Torino. I told him its because he doesn’t hang out with us…. Hahaha! The night was wonderful all drinking laughing and enjoying each others company. The morning after was so hard to clean because even though they know how to cook… they SURE ARE MESSY! It took all three of us 1 hour to clean our mickey mouse size kitchen, and I was getting an arm workout scrubbing! Ahh! I have a cleaning problem because everything has to be SPOTLESS because if its not then whats the point?

This weekend… actually tomorrow (Thursday) I am leaving for Naples and the Amalfi Coast with my roommates Kelly and Sarah and Mickis roommates Caitlin and Becky, and of course Micki too! Hahah! You will be updated when I get home!!!

Ciaoooo for now!!!! Bacio bacio (kiss, kiss)

Katherine
Ohh mom you’ll enjoy this… another night train, but since theres six of us we have a whole cart to ourselves… no smelly breath, or coughing! Ahhh!! FIRST TIME I AM USING MY EURRAIL PASS!!!!!! Thanks MOM AND DAD!!!!!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

IVERA! throwing ORANGES!

Ivera Orange Throwing…!!!

Now I don’t know if you all know this… but italy has some weird games and traditions that they play or do… this one being one of them… you are not going to believe what I am about to tell you! You will now look at an orange completely different after this story. Here we go!
Yesterday February 16th, 2010, USAC put on a day trip for the students to take a trip to Ivera for its annual Orange fighting competion. Now I have heard about this incredible day, and how much fun it is, but I cold never fully wrap my head around the fact that people stand on these float looking things, and theres like 8 of these BIG men or women literally chucking oranges at people on the streets. Now they are divided in categories, or teams if you will. They have horse’s pull these floats (no the horse don’t get hit) and these guys on the float are judged by how many oranges hey throw how many people they hit etc… Now when I was getting dressed for this glorious event I was told that if you wear RED then you are not allowed to throw an orange at the players on the float because if you are caught then they have the right to CHUCK an orange at you. Now when I talk about the men actually on the float, they pay 500 EUROS to be on those floats because the games last for 5 days, and after the day is over the team celebrates and ad gets drunk… I know I would with the welts growing on my body! Now these games can be mean as well, if you are caught with something red on throwing an orange and the whole team sees you, then they also have the right to throw a FROZEN orange… ahhh!!and yes I was one of the lucky ones to receive one of the frozen ones, I think. I got hit in the back, butt, side, head, legs, anywhere you can possibly imagine… but I couldn’t stop, it was such a adrenalin rush that I couldn’t stop throwing them! The team I Tuchini del Borcetto are known as the FIRECEST team there, their logo is the black crow… now when we go there we had lunch at this CUTE little place and then the party started at 2pm… hahah! I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into, seriously no idea! When it started it wasn’t so bad I just basically ducked behind these massive players and hoped that my face wouldn’t attract an orange. When the carts rolled by one by one the breaks in between was what was getting me by… watching these people get PUNCKEd with all these oranges ahh, it was INCREDIBLE! The streets became MORE AND MORE of a war zone, yes there were bloody noses and black eyes everywhere… ahh the intensity was unbelievable!!!! Now we were also told that since the horses pull the floats theat ohh yess indeed there WILL be horse poop.. so combind the poop and the oranges… mmmm mmmmm goood!!!!! But from throwing oranges from 2pm-5pm will take a lot out of you!!! Hahah! Up to our knees in orange pulp… we didn’t break. ONE after another throwing and hitting these people! Ahh! Most epic day of my life!
So details during the actual fight… one of the carts would stop right in front of where we were standing and just start CHUCKing these oranges at people, and they would deflect and hit us in the face, back, side… whatever! Hahah! And Micki and Sarah my roommate have this image of this guy on the crow team standing in front of them as the people on the carts are throwing these oranges at him… and all you can see is his body moving sharp little hitting movements handing off the oranges to the chicken shit little girls hiding from the big bad oranges. SOO EPIC! I got in a fight with this group of little Italian boys…and I was trying to explain to them that I was on the same team, but they continued to throw oranges at me and the girls, I got so angry that I started throwing all these oranges that Micki was like “Katherine STOP! They are not the enemy!” hahahah! I love her! So after the 3 hours of fighting in the center of the square they had the winning team crowned… we couldn’t stay because we had to catch our train back. On the way to the square we were all slipping and sliding all over the place! Falling on our butts for like 2km! hahah it was sooo great! One of us would fall and then we would all laugh and help each other up… and then another would fall! Hahahah sooo great! We stood in the square waiting for the winners to be announced and realized that we were going to miss our train… we had to leave even though the ENTIRE square was packed with smelly orange people!! Hahaha! We met up with the other USACers and NONE of them were even dirty… I WAS SHOCKED! Where the heck did they stand??? Micki, Kelly, Sarah and I were covered! But we didn’t care… we ROCKED it and had the time of our lives! Who can honestly say that in their lifetime they threw oranges at people… NO ONE! Hahaha! Met some amazing people on the crow team and it was amazing!

Currently Micki and I are working on a documentary for USAC and you all will be watching it very soon! Please be patient with everything (as I know you are all anxious!) but it will up and running very soon! Stay tuned in reading my blogs and I hope you are still enjoying them!

Love to all!
Katherine
xoxoxoxo

VENICE and Verona&$%^#@!%#%*

Venice and Verona!!

            Now I don’t know if you all know this but I went to Venice with Micki and her mom when I was 18 for my first international trip… and it was AMAZING! Venice is a world unlike any other… its old rustic looking buildings and its charmed people, makes Venice one of my favorite places in Italy.  This last weekend USAC had the pleasure of going to Venice Feb 6-8^th for CARNIVAL! Now I hope you all know what Carnival is… this of Phantom of the Opera, Maskerade…Every face a different SHAPE maskerade! Anyway… we take the bus from Torino to Venice… 6 hours but we made it count, singing Disney songs and picking the only chick flick that was brought on the bus, Something’s Gotta Give… EPIC the boys thought of it as old people porn, the girls thought otherwise!  We finally reach Venice and I am running around the group trying to get shots for the video in all different angles.  By the time we get to the hotel I am sweating! Ah! We get assigned to our rooms, I’m with Micki and her two roommates Becky and Caitlin. And my roommates are just next door.  We put our stuff down and had time to rest for a little, and then we all had to meet up for a grand tour of the major sights of Venice.  Micki and I have been here previously so we knew all the history and what all the buildings meant, throwing in our right answers in one by one, people thought we were smart! Hahah! Then after the tour we wandered the streets for a little and then met up with some USACer’s and went to dinner at this cool place by our hotel.  Then after all sharing like 4 liters of wine we went back to the hotel to get ready to go out!!! This night was RED lipstick night! Hahah! Now never in my life have I EVER worn red lipstick, but hey, I’m in Venice for carnival… lets do it!!!! We met up with some MORE USAC people and drank and took pictures in the hotel and had SO much fun! Then after like 2 hours we decided to go out and explore… now Venice is NOT known for its nightlife AT ALL!  So I thought this should be interesting… then we ran into this HUGE rave looking party! Some live DJ people everywhere dancing and laughing and everyone was mostly masked… I thought.. ok I am not kissing anyone, who knows if their not 40… umm EW! I think that’s the point of the masks! Hahah kidding!  anyways we danced and sang and met some British guys… J always my favorite (masks off, HOT) but just a short talk waiting for the bathroom… then we went to some surrounding bars and drank and met Italians it was FUN! Went to bed that night at 3 or 4 no one can remember… oops! 

            Then the next day we got up early and had our free breakfast, yes took full advantage! Hahah! And then got dressed and went and walked the town!  We all bought masks and gifts for our families and walked around ALL day! It was PACKED with people! Throwing confetti in the air every 3 seconds… the sun was out and it was so beautiful and clear and “hotter,” none of us brought jackets out, it was FABULOUS! (miss that about California!!!) after walking for like 4 hours we were all getting hungary for lunch and we stumbled upon this CUTE side street restaurant and had a reservation at 1pm and were a no show, and they had the perfect amount of seats for all of us! It was the best pizza I have ever had! This was an amazing lunch! After more walking and our wallets became thin… we went into the main piazza and watched the parade and got in a confetti flight with this group of old people… we were being nice at first and then they started drowning us with confetti, no more nice girls! Throwing our entire bags at these old people, it was AWESOME! After that we were out to seek a gondola ride, now we walked up to the place where you rent them and there were SOOOOO many CUTE gondola men! Ah! We all had our masks on just staring… and then we were like lets just do it because we could get a hot one! Micki of course chimes in and says our luck we get an old geezer! And what did we get… an old geezer! Ah! But it was still amazing! Micki sat at the tip of the boat and the gondola guy was telling Micki to shift her weight to make the boat lopsided on one side… we all laughed SOOOOO hard!!! Of course knowing micki the best line on that boat was along the lines of this, “ok since now I am the weight shifter do I have to pay?? Because I have the Bitch seat??” we all rolled with laughter! We were all do delirious that we were all coming up with one liners and making each other laugh, but micki took the show, as usual!  Then after the gondola ride it was getting chilly and we made our way back to the hotel and bought some hot wine on the way back, BOMBBB! Then changed into comfy clothes and took a 30 second nap because Sarah and Kelly came in and wanted to play with us…I told her that in this state in time, i hate her! Hahah! Katherine needs her sleep… everyone knows that!  We woke up and got ready to go out, and went to dinner with another huge group to this restaurant and made friends with our waiter, and he gave us a bottle of wine on the house! It was YUMMY too!  Venice is a beautiful city but expensive!  The next day we did our last minute shopping “postcards” and then back on the bus on our way to Verona, ROMEO and JULIET! We only had a couple hours there, but went to see Juliets balcony and rub her statue for good luck but you wont believe where we had to rub her… BOOBS! Yes, it is good luck to rub her boobs… Italians…

            We drove back on the bus and made it back in Torino on the 8^th at 6:30pm, the plan was all to go to the gym, but that was quickly out ruled when we got off the bus because of the exhaustion.  Home again! J    

P to the R to the A-G-U-E! PrAgUe***!!!

PRAGUE!!!

            So after road tripping for I don’t know 9 HOURS! Ahh! I was soooo ready to get out of the CAR! Omg my legs were in my chest, the only thing that was getting me by was the fact that Kate and I were so out of it that we were making each other laugh soo hard!! Hahah drawing things on the foggy windows, and saying California slang that Bence the true Hungarian thought was hilarious! He really liked my black girl impression… no I didn’t do the black girl dance…! Hahah! But everything I was saying he was like repeating it, it was a cute little car game I guess.  I fell asleep for a little of the trip and when I woke up it was so cute Bence looked at me in his mirror and said, “good morning sleepy head,” now at this point I was smiling but I was really thinking about if I had drool coming out of my mouth or if I had laying with a double chin showing.. perfect! I just smiled and hummed.  He played all this amazing music from his ipod, and I kept freaking out inside because all the songs were so perfect and soothing and I knew all the words… when Kate woke up we sang all the words to each and every song until we reached Prague! Hahaha! Bence liked it, Roland not so much, I came to the conclusion that Roland was gay, but Kate needed more proof. J I made a list and showed it to her over a pint of beer and she agreed! Hahahah! So we go there Thursday night and didn’t get to our hotel until like 2am, sooo we called it a night.  ROlands parents had credit points so we got the hotel for 2 nights for freeeee!  When we got up to the room there was one big bed and then one single, and of course Katherine makes it awkard and says, “So whoever gets the big bed better know that I sleep naked… sorry.” It was too early and I was too tired to even come up with a laugh after the comment, so everyone else started laughing, but not me, so I kept it going… J and Roland was like, “I don’t care I mean Bence and I can sleep with you in the big bed and Kate can have the cot (Rolands gay comment)… and Kate came out of the bathroom and said “easy boys, Katherine is sleeping with me and one of you horny boys gets the pull out”  still not laughing… the guys watched me walked into the bathroom to put on my pj’s, and when I came out Bence was chosen to sleep in the bed, I took the FAR side and passed out!

            The next morning was funny because I was woken up by Roland asking me if I had hair jell…(gay) and I was half asleep and was like, “do I look like I wear hair jell? What time is it?” he just walked away. Hahah! Wow! I thought it was a dream so when I really woke up I was like what the heck?!?!  Kate and I got ready and ditched the boys to go sight seeing, they wanted us to come to Rolands new film school he is attending in Prague and Kate and I got out of that one really fast.  It sounded fun in the beginning but it was orientation, and I didn’t like mine sooo I wasn’t going to sit through another one if I didn’t have too! Hahah! Kate and I walked around and saw the city and it was FREEEZZINNG! Omg! I went in the summer time and it was SO hot ad coming when it was cold was soooo different! It didn’t even look like the same city!  We walked along the river and took pictures and I told her about all the things I did when I was here the last time and she couldn’t get enough of my stories! When I got dark we were walking back to the hotel and we were stopped by the Prague “Bar Crawl” people and we were looking at the flyer and looked at each other and thought ehh its Friday night… lets do it! We went back to the hotel and the boys were gone and we got ready and left!  This bar crawl was one of the best I have EVER been on! When they mean all you can drink, they really aren’t kidding!  we met these guys from Wisconsin.. weird… but they were really nice.  We started at this Bagel place and drank literally for like an hour.  I got DRUNK! Not to the point of being uncontrollable, just happy! Talking to everyone, and I don’t mean to toot my own horn.. but people were coming up to me wanting pictures with me.. it was EPIC! One guy in this group of British was like I have a girlfriend, and all his friends pushed him out of the picture… HAHAHA! I was in this picture with at least 10 British guys and just me… I was AWESOME! Tag me! Hahah! I was talking to this one guy and he was SUPER nice he bought me a beer, and I sware I don’t know what kind of beer it was but it was AMAZING! Like drinking candy water…(that sounds gross but you know what I mean!)  dancing and partying it was amazing! I got stopped by this guy and he grabbed my wrist and said traitor!!! I was like, umm do I know you? He said that I was on the bar crawl of the enemy! And I kindly told him that I would attend his bar crawl tomorrow night, but he didn’t have a flyer for me… I was like ok well then I guess we’ll have to leave it up to faith! And he walked away, as I took another drink of my beer I laughed to myself because I knew I was never going to see that person again! What a feeling!

            We made our way to another bar, our 2^nd at this point… and it was RAD! Ah! Huge dance floor and cute guys EVERYWHERE! Name em… Aussie’s, Brits, USA, Brasil, Mexico, Agrentina.. ayyyyiii! It was unreal!  I was dancing with this girl I met, I don’t remember her name.. haha …oops! And she was RAD! And then this Australian came up to me very slily and asked me if I wanted a drink and winked… now I don’t know how the Aussie’s approach girls in Australia, but this made me laugh out loud, because you knew that he was cocky and into himself, and the fact that I laughed in his face made his ego hit the floor…oops again! Hahah! But I “let” him buy me a drink! The next thing I know he’s whispering how beautiful I am in my ear and how much he loves California, bla bla bla! I’m so romantic.. can you see it? His name was Shane and the first thing I thought about was Shane Collins ahhh my crush for life! J I told him that I will make it to Australia one day, and he told me he would give me a private tour of the island on his boat… I was like alrrighhtt lets go!  After a kissing him… J for a while, we left the bar and Kate wasn’t feeling well so we left it was like 3am and it was time to head home.  We got back to the hotel and the boys were already back in bed, and I seriously don’t know what came over me but I couldn’t stop laughing!... honestly I kept saying, “I don’t know whats funny but I am laughing!”  Bence woke up and started laughing at us… which was funny too.  When I went into the bathroom and changed I almost ate major porcelain because I tripped over the cord from the blow dryer and almost fell into the tub… uhh that was a close one…! When I got into bed I still couldn’t stop laughing… Bence was a good sport and kept laughing because he thought we were funny! Haha!  As soon as I could control myself I passed out.. niiiiight!  Our next day we woke up and went on a free walking tour of the city which was wonderful… and longg…and still freezing! But all in all it was one amazing Christmas break!

 

From Torino-England-Ireland-Scotland-England-Budapest-Prague--- WOW!!!!!

 

Hope you have enjoyed your journey with me.. I am sorry it took soo LONG but school has been crazy and I am working on a little project… everyone will know what it is when I get home J  hope all is well with everyone and know that I miss all of you!!!!!!

 

With sooo much LOVE!..... next Blog… VENICE!... don’t hate me  

Glasgooww-London-BuDaPeStT!!~~

okkayy! now glasgow is just another city in Scotland and we got there actually on time and found our hostel and put our stuff down and rested because i think that this was another early flight and we were both exhausted! not the best hostel in the world but it was ok... each room had a theme and ours was the shining with jack nicholson with the shot of "wheres johnny" ah nightmares?  but we rested up and then went out we went to this bar just down the road and met these SUPER cute Scottish boys, one of them was half Portuguese and Scottish, what a mix! and he was HOT! but he was kind of a bumb, not like a smelly ripped clothes guy, he just lives his life as teh wind takes him and told Kate and i this awesome story about when he was in Thailand and how he broke his back it was a miracle story. After they took us to this under ground club and we DANCED all night! They were the nicest guys they had NO idea how to dance but it was great.. because I can “pretend” I don’t know how to dance.. hahah!  The boys were so cute, asking us all these questions about California and why we study in Italy, it was GREAT! Then I ran into this guy at the bar, super awkward… and as I was ordering my drink he asks me, “hey, I think I know you,” and I looked at him and said… “nooo I don’t think soo…”  he’s like ohh you look like a Cali girl (as if that’s all the California girls new nick names…) I was like “yep, you caught me!” he was like “I fell in love with a California girl last summer and she looked just like you…” now at this point I am looking for any kind of object on the bar to hit this guy across the face and run away, “oh I’m sorry about your girlfriend, but I gotta go!” and as I was walking away he literally started crying and yelled out after me… “that’s what she use to say to me!!” Q— Katherine running away now! The night ended a great way, the guys gave us all hugs and two kisses on the cheek and we walked away.  It was a great night.

            The next day we took a train to Lock Lowman for the day… one of the most beautiful tiny little town I had ever seen! They had a walkway leading from the country homes to the little town, and we met this couple on the way and they talked to us about the town and we talked about our lives, they were SOOO nice!  Kate and I got lunch and explored the little town it was a perfect day.

            The next day we left forrrrr LONDON!--- again! Hahah we just had a one night layover so we went back to Sams house and stayed the night before we were going to fly out to Budapest.  When we got to Sams house all over the news the flights were being cancelled.  And of course our flight got cancelled due to BAD weather conditions.  I was fine because I had another day in London, the city I LOVE!  So we went into the city to meet my friend Stephanie and we went to a pub because it was a blizzzzard outside and we sat and talked for like 3 hours about our breaks and our new adventures to come! It was SOOOO great! Don’t mean to be blunt, but I got a little drunk… and then we had to race out of the pub because we had to catch a play WICKED! We were 3 rows back! It was AMAZING!!! Ah I love that play! Our non planned day in London turned out to be one of the most fun thank you weather! The next morning we got up SUPER early and caught a cab to the airport because the trains weren’t working because of the ice.  We finally reached the airport and we were waiting in this atrocious line that was like 6 people thick!  When kate and I got to the front I was ready to check my bag and as I got out my credit card to pay the lady handed me my ticket and said have a nice flight… WIZZAIR didn’t charge me to check a bag… I just saved 30 euro. I was so HAPPY that I literally couldn’t stop talking about it… I was one of the lucky ones.  People that I tell that story too don’t believe me! They think that I ran away from the bill, but honestly I didn’t pay! Ahh! Feel the love!! Anyway we landed in Budapest and the flight was PACKED! But I just passed out… J  when we got off the plane we went to the train station and took it to central Budapest, it cost me like 4 dollars for an hour train ride… wowww we not in expensive Europe no more!  We got into the city and found our hostel which was one of the cutest places I have ever stayed, and the girl working it was SO nice!  But that day we went out and walked around the major parts of the Buda river and the Pest… how funny is that… thanks mom for your wonderful text message!  We saw the city by night and there was snow on the ground and I was slipping and sliding everywhere… I am surprised I didn’t fall.  Then the best thing happened.. my boots broke… yes! The soles of them detached and the shoe part was not there… lets just say if my shoe could talk it would! Sooooo hahah! I HAD to buy another pair of shoes… thanks DAD!!!! J and they’re really cute!!! I didn’t get postcards but I got shoes!  The night in Budapest was WAY different than I expected… Kate and I got lost in the backyard of a palace… don’t ask, it was WEIRD! When we finally reached the club that her friend Roland and Bence were at (boys) as soon as I saw Roland I thought of Jack from the nightmare before Christmas… SKINNY! Ew! But his friend… wooo! Bence wat upp!! He was SOOO nice and hot! I’m going to be completely honest he caught me staring a couple times.. sorry I couldn’t help it! Ahh! It was hard!  We DANCED all night! Kate and I couldn’t get over the music they were playing like backstreet boys and Nsync! Ahh Christina Aguilera her OLD stuff.. ahh you could say that I died and went to heaven!

            By the time I was over the dancing thing it was 4:30am! Ummm! And Bence had a moment.. J nothing gross… easy gutter brains! But lets just say he wanted to kiss me and I was ready but Kate got in the way… code for Cock Block…. NOT COOL! I got mad! Hahah! So we made it back to the hotel after Bence yelled out the window “I LOVE YOU KATHERINE FROM CALIFORNIA!”  I just blew a kiss… classy! Back at the hostel PASSED OUT!  The next morning we had to leave around noon for our road trip with the boys… Kate and I woke up late of course and took showers and went to a long lunch, it was SOOOO good! It was this cute little restaurant around the corner from our hostel and had soup and something else as we watched the rain fall from outside.  We got back to the hostel and piled our stuff in the lack of a car and headed to Prague!! Road trrrripp!! Buckle up here we GOOO!!!

BELFAST! and NEW YEARS IN SCOTLAND!!!!!!

Belfast 30^th-31^st!!

            Getting to Belfast was another experience in itself! Ahh isn’t it always!!  We had to take a train and of course a train in front of us broke down and we had to stop in the middle of Scotland and wait for 45 minutes then we arrived at the next stop and had to get off the train and get on another train on another platform because of the train in front of us! Ahhh! It was so frustrating! Still got the neon bag heavy bag!!!  We reached the station and had to hike up 3 flights of stairs and over to get to the other platform… not fun!!! When we finally got on the train I just plopped my stuff next to me and sat, I had no idea where Kate and the other lost Koreans were… all I knew was I was getting to BELFAST! Like 30 minutes later we arrived in Belfast! It is a small town in Scotland famous for building the Titanic.  We didn’t get to make it down to the docks because we arrived so late… but we walked through Botanical Gardens and ran into a cool looking bookstore and just explored the city by foot.  CUTE little town, our hostel was owned by a hippie couple that were the cutest couple I have ever seen! They work together all day everyday and love what they do.  After exploring the town it was getting dark and we ran into this place that has supposedly the best fish n chips in town, so we stopped and had a bite and kept walking. Then ran into a movie theatre, now I don’t know about you, but I have been WAITING to see the movie Avitar!!! And for it in 3-D IMAX and they had it in Belfast!! So we all agreed to see it that night at 8pm, so we bought our tickets and decided to come back. We made it down to city hall, and their huge farris wheel that looks like the London eye, and looked at all the Christmas lights and shopping and people all around.  Found a coffee shop that was called California Coffee, AMAZING! Took a picture! Hahah!

            Went into all these cheap stores with their after Christmas sales… ohh wait… I can’t buy anything because my bag barely holds what I BROUGHT! Ahh!! Walk out!  We made it back to the Movie theater on time and saw one of the GREATEST movies I have seen in a LOOOONG time!  I couldn’t get over the effects and the imagination that went into this movie! I don’t know why I paid for the entire seat because all I needed was the edge of it! It was incredible… and if your reading this and haven’t seen it yet, after you done with this blog GO OUT AND SEE IT!!! Not kidding!!  after the movie was over the WHOLE way back to the hostel that’s all we talked about! How amazing it was!!! The next morning we had to be at the bus station SUPER early and had to catch a bus and a ferry to Edinburgh.  Now when I thought about this ferry ride I am thinking little fisherman’s boat that is in the perfect storm, and I am SCARED!  We take this bus to this shuttle station, and take this shuttle for 20 minutes ON the ferry! This Ferry was titanic, now I am scared of sinking… ahh! But the ferry was SOOO nice. We had breakfast and then slept and I read it was wonderful! As soon as I fell asleep I am being woken up by the cabin crew telling me I have to wake up because we are at the docks… ahh man! NO SLEEP!  Its NEW YEARS EVE!!

            We have arrived in Edinburgh, SCOTLAND!!!  We got to our hostel and it was SUPER awesome, music was playing all day everyday, and the staff was fantastic!! We had a great room that we shared with 3 Australian girls and 2 others but we didn’t talk to them… hahah! Kate and I relaxed because we got in late afternoon, and went grocery shopping and made dinner in the hostel and then up to our rooms to rest and read before going out all night.  The reason we decided to go to Edinburgh for new Years is because they have this festival every year for New Years like we do for the 4^th of July in Newport, but forget the bathing suit and bring on the layers!  It was sooooo cold… that I was literally drinking the entire night because I needed to stay warm! They had LIVE concerts and the fireworks went off behind the Edinburgh Castle.. it was breath taking!  Before Kate and I and the Koreans rang in the New Year I ran into 2 Scottish boys that walked up to me and wanted to kiss me… now I don’t know if you all have heard the Scottish accent… but it was HARD to understand them… I made them repeat a sentence 6 times before I finally got what they were saying… I am NOT KIDDING!  one of them looked like he was 12 but he was really 19 and the other was like 22 I think the younger one was cuter.. hahah! Gave them both a kiss and off I went!  Met some hilarious people that night, and Scottish men wanting a piece of California… NO THANKS! 10...9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1 HHAAAPPYY NNEWWW YEEARRS! The Koreans and kate and I all hugged at new years even though the guy standing right next to me didn’t kiss anyone and he was HOTT… with my luck he was probably gay, so I didn’t want to risk it! Hahaha!  After the fireworks went off we started walking back and kate had dared me to kiss someone… and I was like NO way! And then she was like, “girl you are all talk, you say you do crazy stuff but I don’t think you do..!” that made me ANGRY!!! This girl was questioning ME!! Ohh helllll noo! I go ok, next guy you point too, the next thing I knew I was looking at her arm with her finger pointed in the distance to this guy that was GORGEOUS, and I thought to myself… I am NEVER going to see this person again… I walked right up to him and grabbed his face and kissed him.  Very innocent kiss and looked at his face and said, “happy new years!”  he had a catch his breath and blink his eyes a couple times because he was set back by what I did (as was i) and when I started walking away he called after me and then his friend ran up to me, and was like “can I get one of those too?!!?” and I was like nooo but you can kiss one of my Korean friends!  As I walkd away the Koreans were LAUGHING so loud and saying Katherine! Katherine! I cant believe you did that! And the guy yelled out at me and said “okay baby I’ll see you next year!”  I kept walking! …Scottish men! Hahah!

            The next day I was moving alittle slower… kate and I woke up had breakfast and explored the town, praying to god with every corner we didn’t run into anyone that we had seen last night!  Kate had already been to Edinburgh so she knew where a lot of stuff was, but we just walked around had coffee and talked and took pictures of pretty sights, made it up to the castle at night which was BEAUTIFUL and decided to go on a night ghost tour, now I don’t really believe in ghosts, but this one was QUIET entertaining.  The lady that toured us had an AMAZING personality and told the stories SO well! I admit I was scared for most of it, but it was a 2 hour tour all about old Edinburgh, it was very interesting.  We met two girls in our hostel because they had moved in that day and they told us about this tour so after the ghost tour was over we went out and got a drink.  One of the girls was from Venezuela and the other was a Russian girl that moved to London for work.  Super nice girls! We got in late after the pubs and went back to the hostel and had an early night at 1am.  The next day we decided to hike up to the castel again to tour the inside, which was cool but no spectacular… but I did see the stone of Scotland and the sword and jewels, all that made Scotland what it is today.  After touring that the Koreans and I went to Parliament and Kate wanted to go to the Whiskey Factory, now I drank whiskey for new years and I am NOT a fan, so she went by herself. 

            After that we all went to dinner together and called it a night early because we had been sight seeing all day and wanted a break.  I read my book till it was 2am, eclipse will do that to you! Haha! The next day we woke up early and went on a free walking tour of Edinburgh which we had the most AMAZINGLY FUNNY tour guide from England, and I don’t know if any of you know this but the Scottish HATE the British, but the British honestly don’t care that they hate them. Hahah! He was AMAZING! You could tell he LOVED HIS JOB!  He had such enthusiasm when he talked about this city!  He took us everywhere! And I learned SO much about the city that I hadn’t read about, plus some funny jokes in the middle.  We went to where the lady from Harry potter wrote all her books the little coffee shop that faces a school that resembles Hogwarts! Ah! It was incredible.  Toured a cemetery with the most amazing story with a dog and the grave yard shift guy.  So much went on in this city, and it’s the kind of city that reminds you of all the movies you watch about Scotland (Braveheart) that makes you feel like you are still in that time.  Looking at all the little streets and hearing all the stories, you can actually see and picture how life was back then.  It was a TRIP!  Edinburgh was an amazing time, met a whole bunch of people and smiled my whole way through this town! The architecture and the people were SO nice! It was a city that I will never forget!!

 

Next stop GLASGOW, Scotland!... ready to party with cute guys? J

IRELAND~!!!!!

OKAYYY!! I am BACK! The past couple days I had an illness that almost sent me to the hospital… but I am fine now, so sorry for the wait! Here we go! Another country!!! IRELAND December 27^th-29^th! 

But wait, traveling with Katherine is never an “easy” task so lets start off in the Manchester airport, still got the neon green bag, that is clearly overweight and NOT carry-on size for Ryanair… Katherine gets away with it again, but as I board the plane with my bag, which Kate was convinced that their was a midget or a small child in this bag because it was so heavy… oops! Hhaha! I put my bag in the over head compartment and sit down and do a little stir the butter, if you will, another flight down that I got away with this HUGE bag, suddenly over the intercom I hear that we have to de-board the plane, I immediately stand up and say NO! hahah! I refused! I finally got on this flight and now I have to get off?? oh forgot to tell you guys that the flight from Manchester to Dublin was delayed for 2 hours… and now I’ll continue.  I refuse to get off this plane after waiting 2 hours and slyly getting my bag on another Nazi Ryanair flight!  Then they continued to tell the passengers that we could leave our stuff on the plane but we had to get off, CRAP! So we all de-board this flight get on a shuttle and go back to the waiting room where we wait for 2 MORE hours… yes, I am not kidding! I read—twilight (eclipse) we finally get called to a gate after the flight attendants tell us that they had to call an engineer to make sure that the plane was ok.  GREAT! Back on the shuttle to get to the plane… while driving to the plane the shuttle lady almost takes off the WING.. I’m not kidding and I scream because we were that close, yes, I squealed! And before getting off the shuttle the crew tells us we have to grab our bags OFF the plane so that they can go through security again. At this point its like 11:30 at night, and I just begin to laugh… and of course I’m the only one! Kate chuckles but she was pissed.  But my thought process was, “ok I’m in England on my way to Ireland and I know that Ryanair SUCKS, but things could always be worse.”  Then I remembered about my bag.. ooo… trying to pull my bag out of the overhead compartment was a story in itself, but I will share when I get home.  I almost took out the stewardess… good times!

             Then we get back on the shuttle and everyone is PISSED, and I of course still have a smile.  They literally make a circle in next to plane and then pull up to the plane again, and tell us to get off and board the plane, ok this made me mad! I didn’t just lug my heavy bag off this plane to play ring around the rosie next to the plane… what the HELL was that?? Board the plane and the flight was a total of 55 minutes for a 4 and a half hour delay of my life! But we arrived in IRELAND!  We get to our hostel at 2:30 at night… because we had to take a coach into the city center and I met this super NICE guy that spoke Italian, Spanish, Arabic, and Portuguese and could write in ALL the languages. He was telling me all the good places to go and the places not to go… very helpful! We arrived in the central station and searched for our hostel for 30 minutes because we had to walk… we were ten feet from it, and were stopped by 3 drunk British guys and kept telling us to go out, and they were CUTE! And their accents helped, and at this point I looked like a haggered beast and needed a bed and ASAP! I told them I was tired and we both needed sleep, so they continue to talk and say, “oh ok that’s too bad, we’ll come back with you then, you girls seem like a good time.” I looked at Kate and looked at them and said, “ya ok bye bye!” and walked away… look like a good time? What the hell did that even mean, and why do I always run into hot guys when I look haggered, ahhh! The exhaustion was killing me. Hit the pillow and out like a light!

            The next morning we met up with our Korean friends Young and Minji (she also goes to Torino as well) and its just them two.  So yet again, 3 Koreans and a white girl! Woot woot! We walked around and went into this store called Pennys and its like a forever 21 but CHEAPER! Ahhh I was going absolutely crazy! Picking up everything and then putting it back, “no room in the suitcase, must remove from fingers…ahh!” We went to one of the biggest parks in Europe which was BEAUTIFUL! It was overcast but I got some amazing shots! We all drew out Torino on the grass with the thin layer of ice, and I took a picture, it was so beautiful! After walking through that we walked to the Guinness Factory! Hahahha! Yes! Toured that for like 3 hours! And learned about how it was made and its distributed all over the world, it was cool! Ohh I just have to say as I am writing this the young Dubliners came on my itunes…irish, gotta love it! Sorry back to Guinness! Haha!  After we were done with the factory we got to pour our own pint of Guinness and it was rad! We got a certificate for the “perfect pour” because with Guinness it has to be poured at a certain angle AND needs to sit before its “topped off” if only I could remember Italian like I remember the stories I am telling you! Ah make life so much easier!  Anyway, I got tipsy off one pint… not eating will do that to you, and I also learned that Guinness is one of the lowest calorie beers… its black, interesting! But true! Then we went to the top level which is actually a bar, and you can buy another pint and stare at the view of Ireland, the top level of the factory is the tallest building in Dublin… beer!  That night we went pub hopping! Hahah yes! You all were waiting for it!  We went to this one pub with LIVE music and played all the BEST songs oldies, the Beatles, Rod Stewart, Rolling Stones, ahh the most amazing music and I knew all the songs! GO CALI! And the Koreans were drunk! They were dancing and laughing! I was in love with the base player… so cute, and IRISH!  We were out that night until 2am… walking around and pub hopping.  One of the pubs we ran into a group of Italians, I ran away, and talked to this group of British men, I was happy J!  Young came over to me and told me that one of the Italians wanted to talk to me, so I excused myself and walked over to the Italians, the one that liked me was from planet of the apes, and was 5 feet tall…”check please!”

            Back at the hostel we finally met our roommates, they were all women who had previously studied abroad in Dublin years back and are all back for a reunion! There were five of them and they were from all over the world… Berlin, Austria, Southern Holland, Northern Holland, and one of the other girls was from another part of Germany. They were all SO cool!  Our last night in Dublin we ordered pizza in the room and talked and LAUGHED till like 2am I was SO much fun! They were all sooooo funny! One of them couldn’t get over that I was from the OC and I met Lauren Conrad and all that jazz.  Ya I know I am a pretty big deal! Hahaha! The next morning we had to say our goodbyes which was really sad because Kate and I had so much fun with these girls.  I went over to the Trinity College School to go and check out their library because it supposedly looks like the library from Harry Potter with bookshelves from floor to ceiling, but of course it was closed for the week because of the New Years.  So 2 of the girls and I went to Starbucks and got a coffee and talked about life and home and what they were doing for New Years. It was a nice morning. Then we had to say goodbye to Dublin and catch a train to Belfast.  Goodbyes are always hard, but when you meet nice people you will never forget them…

…. Belfast to NEW YEARS!!! Here we gooooo!!!