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St. Peter's Basilica

Spring Break Part II: Rome

March 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Colosseum

The second segment of my spring break was spent in Rome, Italy.  Barring a little difficulty with Eurail passes, the train ride from Venice to Rome was a wonderful transition.  The hills of northern Italy around Florence made for a gorgeous train ride south towards Rome.

Because we didn’t have long in Rome, we attempted to hit as many major sites as we could in the time we had.  One of the nearest sites to our hostel was the Colosseum.  Although we never actually went inside, we spent a lot of time in the area taking pictures (and learning about tourist traps).

From the Colosseum the road leads north past the extensive Roman Forum to the Piazza Venezia.  And from there (after a quick stop for more gelato) another short walk to the Trevi Fountain.  Although most of the city was far from crowded during early March, the fountain was crawling with people.  While many were tourists (one couple was having their wedding photos taken), you could easily tell this was a hotspot for pickpockets as unsuspecting tourists turned their backs towards the fountain and threw a few cents over their shoulder.  However, as with all big cities if you pay attention and watch each others’ backs there is little to worry about.

St. Peter's Basilica

During our only full day in Rome we caught a bus to Vatican City.  After staying in St. Peter’s Square for a while, we proceeded to enter St. Peter’s Basilica.  Our afternoon arrival was perfect timing; rays of sunlight were perfectly displayed across the altar.  The entire cathedral is filled with centuries of art.  Every carving and ornately painted ceiling is worth admiring.  Deeper into the Basilica is a wall remembering the entire line of popes starting with St. Peter and ending with the current Pope Benedict XVI.  The bus route taking us back to the main part of Rome ran along side the River Tiber and went through several other famous sites.

After a last true Italian dinner, it was an early night in preparation for our 4:30 awakening to catch a flight to the next stop on our itinerary…

 

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

 

 

Missed Part I?  Check out:  http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/2012/03/21/spring-break-part-i-venice/

Look at more photos on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

 

View from Rialto Bridge

Spring Break Part I: Venice

March 21, 2012 / / 0 Comments

 

Venetian Sunset

First stop of my spring break:  Venice, Italy.  This beautiful city was the perfect place for the group of us traveling together to start our trip to mainland Europe.  Being a very popular city for tourism, the language barrier is pretty minimal compared to a lot of other places.  Also, the city is on an island, meaning that it is impossible to get too lost while wandering around.  Everything in Venice is within easy walking distance, meaning we never had to deal with potentially confusing public transportation.

Gondola Ride

The Grand Canal winds through the main part of Venice with many other canals interlacing throughout the city.  The local Venetians use boats like most American use cars.  In fact, most houses in Venice have two doors, one with an entrance onto the street and another door opening to a canal.  Due to the water bound nature of the city “the thing” do to while in Venice is go on a gondola ride.  In order to keep the cost of our ride down we didn’t go on a very long one, but we spent over half an hour gliding along the back canals of Venice (which included going by Marco Polo’s house).  The countless bridges throughout the city are very scenic, but few have ramps, making transport difficult for those with strollers or wheelchairs.

Venice has several notable sights that tourists from all over the world come to visit like Rialto Bridge and St. Mark’s Square.  Rialto Bridge was very crowded, but the views of the Grand Canal from the top were amazing.  St. Mark’s Square was great to see both at night and during the day.

View from Rialto Bridge

I enjoyed going to both locations, especially St. Mark’s, but my favorite place in Venice was the walkway along the waterside.  Of course, there are hordes of street vendors attempting to sell just about everything a tourist could be tempted to buy in every popular location.  But because I was traveling during the offseason, most of the others along the waterside were just other tourists like myself looking for a scenic escape from the main part of the city.

 

Besides its canals, Venice is also captivating for others reasons such as its famous glassware, carnival masks, and real Italian food.  I loved the pizza and pasta, but the real treasure of Venice:  gelato!

Ponte della Costituzione

Missed a blog or want to see what else is going on in Cambridge?  Check out: http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/category/cambridge-england/

Look at more photos on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

Brandenberg Gate

Hodgepodge Berlin

March 15, 2012 / / 0 Comments

For our second class trip, we went to Berlin for five days and though it may seem like a long time, we barely skimmed the surface of everything the city has to offer. Germany’s capital, Berlin is known for so many different things. From its history dating back to the 1700’s to the more modern history with being the capital of Nazi Germany and the airlift during the Cold War, Berlin has seen a lot of changes throughout time. With all these changes has come a very unique and lively atmosphere of the city.

Brandenburg Gate

Ampelmännchen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn’t sure what to expect when going to Berlin. I had heard about all the different sites to see but whatever preconceived notions I had before going where blown away once we arrived. The city is filled with so many different types of people and interests. On one block, you can  see people who are going to see the newest performance on one of Berlin’s many of stages, history buffs staring at buildings from World War Two, families taking their kids to the zoo, and  shoppers taking full advantage of the open  air markets. With this hodgepodge of a interests, it was hard to choose where to start digging in to the city. We wandered around the markets, toured the famous museums, climbed up a cathedral to have the perfect view of the city, and peopled watched by the Brandenburg Gate.

And then came Berlin at night. If I thought there was too many options during the day, the night was even worse. No offense to Valpo, but every night there are always theater performances, ballets, Jazz lounges, sports bars, and  crazy dance clubs. It was definitely not an issue of what is there to do, but which one to choose from. We tried to experience all the different types of nightlife by going to the clubs, bars, and a musical performance.

Berlin Cathedral

Berlin has definitely made my top ten of my favorite cities. Berlin has definitely kept up with the modern times but doesn’t forget its past. Even coming back exhausted from sensory overload, Berlin still had more to see. I think that even spending years in that city, there would still be more to see. This just gives me another reason to go back to Berlin in the future.

 

Check out more of my pictures from Berlin, as well as the rest of my study abroad trip at https://plus.google.com/photos/113496106333285759017/albums?banner=pwa

 

The Stone Monastery and Jatiel

March 13, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Recently, I had the opportunity to go to Monesterio de Piedra (named after the surrounding river) in southern Aragon and a small pueblo named Jatiel about an hour outside of Zaragoza.

The monastery is located in southern Aragon in the mountains. The drive to get there was interesting because we were constantly weaving up, around, and through the mountains. Other than the city of Calatayud (21,000 in population), there aren’t really many other signs of life for the 90+ minute bus ride.

Destroyed during the Spanish Civil War and never repaired.

What really attracts tourists to the monastery isn’t so much the building itself, but the national park surrounding it. There are a significant number of waterfalls in the park as well as caves and great views of the Spanish countryside. We took the main trail around the park which took a few hours, ate at a restaurant at the front of the park, and then toured the monastery. This took up all but a half hour of our time before the bus came to pick us up. I’m not really the type to go hiking but I really enjoyed myself and I suspect nature aficionados could spend a few days there.

I also visited a very small pueblo about an hour outside of Zaragoza called “Jatiel.” The town has a population of around 50 people. I learned that the people were encouraged to move from the pueblos to the cities during the Franco regime so there are a number of ghost towns in Spain even smaller than Jatiel. I was able to go because my host sister invited me to go with her boyfriend and their friends and since I’m here to learn more about the Spanish language and culture, I couldn’t say no even if I had wanted to.

The area around the city is extremely dry and I would say a kind of semi-desert. The dirt is a reddish-brown and there are quite a few rock formations on the outskirts of the town. There really wasn’t much to do in the town other than take pictures and take in the fresh air and open space but I really enjoyed myself since I hadn’t had a break from city life since I came here.

With these two trips under my belt, I’ve really begun to take notice of how stunning the Spanish countryside is. Zaragoza is a flat city and you can never really see anything outside of the city because of the tall buildings. Going on these two trips was a good way to experience a different side of Spain that I hadn’t yet had the chance to see.

A farmhouse on the outskirts of the pueblo

If you’d like to hear more about my day-to-day experiences, you can follow me on Twitter.

If you’d like to see more pictures (which I would recommend since I recently uploaded almost 600), check out my Picasa web albums here.

I’ll be writing a blog over Lisbon, Portugal soon which you can view the photos I took (nearly 300) now. Tomorrow I’m heading to London so lots of traveling the last two weeks.

Thanks for reading and until next time!

 

UK Attractions

March 8, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Having been overseas for eight weeks now I’ve had the chance to do quite a bit of traveling around Britain.  So, on the eve of my Spring Break I thought I would catch up with a quick blog on some of the locations I’ve visited on the island:

 

Bath

The first thing you notice when entering Bath is the uniform architecture throughout the city.  Nearly every street is worth taking a few pictures of.  The city is home to several notable sites, including the Royal Crescent, the Jane Austen Centre, Bath Abbey, and the Royal Victoria Park.  And of course, the famous Roman baths.  Although this was the first time I encountered large numbers of tourists at a site, I was still able to enjoy the experience of walking through the ancient location.  The picture is of the hot spring that is the source of all the water.  By the time it flows into the main baths the water will be cool enough to comfortably bathe in.

 

 

Castles

No trip to through Europe would be complete without a few castles, and the photo below is of Warwick Castle, which is the first one I visited in Britain.  In spite of the rather touristy nature of the castle today, it is still easy to comprehend the original nature of its location.  The castle is situated on the top of a hill and is defensible from all sides.  From the top of the castle you can see for miles, even in England’s typically foggy weather.  One of my favorite attractions from this location was watching the falconer’s birds dive at up to 200 mph.

 

 

Stonehenge

Although Stonehenge is set in a lonely location between two highways and surrounded by fields, it is one of the world’s most famous sites for a reason.  The stones weigh between 4 and 40 tons each, and come from many miles away.  Also, Stonehenge is oriented to frame the rising sun during the summer solstice and the setting sun during the winter solstice.  The weather was abnormally cold and windy when I visited Stonehenge (you can see the snow), but this kept a lot of other tourists indoors, leading to several good pictures of the site.  While tourists are now confined to the path surrounding Stonehenge, there are actually several other places in Britain that are similar, one or two of which I plan to stop at before the end of the semester.

 

 

 

Missed a blog or want to see what else is going on in Cambridge?  Check out:  http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/category/cambridge-england/

See more photos on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

Fasnet Festivities

March 7, 2012 / / 0 Comments

For the past couple of weeks, we have been seeing people dressed in old wooden costumes, jingling bells and making ruckus while walking down the street. For us, American tourists, we were very confused by this scene. We were even more confused when the people around us didn’t stop and gawk at the people in masks and the shenanigans they were up to. This confusion was a common occurrence for a few weeks until we finally found the answer we were looking for: Carnival.

Wooden Mask of a Federahannes

Carnival has been a tradition in Germany dating back to the Middle Ages. In German it is called Fasnet. Fasnet starts during Epiphany and progresses through February up until Ash Wednesday and when Lent begins. The last few days are when the fools (the carnival characters) really go all out. There are parades where the characters either give candy to the kids singing the traditional songs, or they tease the audience if they aren’t dressed in costume or if they are American college students studying abroad. The tradition of the characters goes back to the guilds and range from mischievous Federahannes to the friendly Gschell. These characters all line up for a parade and are accompanied with local bands and the festival continues throughout the day.

Federahannes teasing the crowd

As a class, we went to Fasnet in Rottweil, where we were definitely exposed to this unknown tradition. When we first arrived, we ate a good old traditional lunch that consisted of a bratwurst and mulled wine. We watched as the parade started to get into formation and made our way to the front of the crowd. For the first half of the parade, we attempted to learn the song that the crowd sang in order to get candy. Finally after several attempts and having various Germans teach us the song, we started to sing. By the end of the parade, we had collected various German candies along with having our hair messed with, feathers in our face, and thoroughly teased. I definitely enjoyed Fasnet and being able to see how this town could take a break from their lives and just have a great fun filled day.

Passing out candy to kids

 

 

 

 

 

Check out more of my pictures from Fasnet at https://plus.google.com/photos/113496106333285759017/albums?banner=pwa

 

Outskirts of Cambridge

Getting Around in the UK

March 3, 2012 / / 1 Comment

The narrow streets of Cambridge

One of the largest adjustments I’ve had to make coming to the UK has been losing the independence that came from owning my own car.  However, this has given me the chance to explore many of the ways locals travel around Britain.

There are a surprisingly large number of cars in the UK.  However, driving really isn’t optimal.  This is especially true in old medieval towns like Cambridge that have very narrow (and often stone) streets.  These have enough difficulty handling the flow of bikers and walkers, much less cars.

Chances are, most long distances you would travel by car in the States can be traveled by bus, taxi, or train here.  Most journeys of over several hours are traveled by train.  While rail tickets aren’t necessarily cheap, there are many available departure times to nearly every destination.  From Cambridge, it is possible to get anywhere in Britain within one day of travel.  Trains are easy to use, clean, and relatively comfortable.

If your journey is shorter than about two hours taxis and buses are often used.  Taxis are far more convenient, but an all-day bus pass to anywhere in or around Cambridge costs half of what a taxi ride across the city would.  Besides having to plan your trip within the bus schedule, they can be rather confusing in general.  To start with, bus schedules aren’t easy to read, but finding one can be just as hard.  Many bus stops have had their schedules stolen, and because the locals don’t need a schedule another one simply isn’t put up.  On top of this, most cities have two bus companies, and as easy as it might seem it can be difficult to get the schedule, ticket, and bus to all match.

 

Outskirts of Cambridge

Within cities the majority of people prefer to transport themselves and not pay.  Bicycles are most common and all European cities have an army of them.  Nearly every single road has a lane specifically for bicyclists.  Due to the large number, having proper warning lights is taken very seriously.  I’ve seen several cyclists pulled over by policemen for having a missing light.

Wandering around Girton

If you don’t have a bicycle, then you are left walking alongside the majority of others.  Conveniently, most European cities are compact and it’s not too far to most locations (however, it’s not considered a long walk unless it’s at least 45 minutes!).  Personally, I like walking because it gives you a chance to take pictures and notice things you normally wouldn’t.  The main thing to remember when walking is that there is a hierarchy.  Vehicles have a lane, bicycles have a lane, and those walking have the sidewalk.  And if you venture into a lane that’s not yours you had better watch out because bicyclists will hit you and cars won’t slow down until they absolutely have to.  The fact that cars drive on the left side of the road isn’t a huge problem if you take the time to think, but if you’re traveling to Britain expect to have several near accidents in the first few weeks!

 

Missed a blog or want to see what else is going on in Cambridge?  Take a look at:  http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/category/cambridge-england/

Take a look at my photo albums on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

¡Barcelona Weekend!

February 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

This past weekend, I finally got to visit Barcelona! The bus ride is about 4 hours from Zaragoza, which is not fun, but there is wifi and it’s about 60 euro cheaper than taking the train so I can’t complain. Since Barcelona is a much larger city than Zaragoza, the transportation prices were much more expensive (7 euro for a day pass on the metro) but more extensive so we were able to navigate the city very easily and in little time.

On Saturday, we first went to Sagrada Família (Holy Family), a minor basilica, designed by Antoni Gaudí. It has been under construction for over 100 years since the groundbreaking in 1882 and will not be finished until around 2026. It’s one of the most famous landmarks in Spain and a trip that I couldn’t pass up. Later, we ate lunch at a nearby outdoor cafe with the basilica in the background. Staring at the basilica while eating lunch and drinking sangria, I realized this is exactly why I chose to come to Europe.

After lunch, we headed out to Camp Nou, the stadium complex for FC Barcelona and the largest stadium in Europe. I chose not to take the tour because it was 22 euro to just walk around and I’m admittedly not a big soccer fan. We did get free tickets to the handball game going on in one of the other stadiums so we watched that instead of going on the tour.

Sunday was more of a relaxing day and we did a lot of just walking through the streets of Barcelona. We first went to the beach on the Mediterranean and then wandered around an older area of the city. From there we went to the Picasso museum which just happened to be free on Sundays. After the museum, we had some time to kill before our bus left so we wandered around a bit more, ate, and headed back to the hostel to pick up our luggage. I really enjoyed Barcelona and I’m definitely going to go back at least once (if not 2, 3, or 4 more times) before I go home!

Follow me on Twitter here for more updates (twitter.com/#!/SpainJordan) and view my Picasa web albums here: (http://bit.ly/y5AyqU)

The Sunset

Traveling the Rhine

February 22, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Sunrise over the Rhine River

One of my “must do before I die” moments that I have had on my list is seeing the sunrise. I can now check that off because I finally got to see the sun rise. And a gorgeous sunrise it was. After spending the night in a castle in Bacharach, we woke up early to begin our trip down the Rhine River. As we were making our way down the path to the train station, the sun began peeking above the river. Pictures cannot describe how amazing this sunrise was. We followed the Rhine by train and for about an hour just watched the sunrise in between the hills which were covered in vineyards and castles. I could already tell that it was going to be great day.

Marksburg Castle

We continued this theme of castles and vineyards by hiking to Burg Eltz castle. Burg Eltz is nestled in a valley between the hills, so thanks to Google maps, we wondered through vineyards (still don’t know if it was private property) and forests. It’s easy to see where the Grimm brothers got their inspiration when snow began to fall gently dusting the trail. The river was frozen in some areas and there were waterfalls along that trail that had iced over like a winter wonderland. It was hard not to get lost in one’s thoughts and just enjoy being away from the craziness of the cities we had just visited. Even the town where we caught our next train felt like a ghost town, with all the winemakers on holiday during their off season, but there was something peaceful about wandering through the deserted streets.

When we finally circled our way to the train station, we had yet another chance to watch the scenery along the Rhine. We found ourselves at Marksburg Castle and took a tour of the grounds. Afterwards, we roamed through the streets of Braubach while the sun was setting; we made it to a railing that overlooked the entire town, the castle and the Rhine. It only seemed right to end this perfect day with watching the sunset over the Rhine. I can honestly say that this day has been one of the most beautiful days I have experienced.

The Sunset

Check out more of my pictures from my day along the Rhine at

https://plus.google.com/photos/113496106333285759017/albums?banner=pwa

 

The Atmosphere of Alcohol

February 20, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Among the several cultural differences one notices when traveling from America to England, one of the first is the attitude towards alcohol.  In general, I would characterized it as simply more relaxed.  In years past, if you drank water you were likely to contract cholera, so why not drink beer?  This attitude towards alcohol still continues.

The drinking age is lower in the UK at 18 years old.  Although bars that expect a lot of American tourists card hard, at most Cambridge pubs I never show ID, especially when I’m with a small number of people.  Pubs fill social purposes – they are local meeting places where the “regulars” are extended family for each other.  While European beer is far stronger than US beer, the primary goal is not to get drunk but to nurse a pint and enjoy the atmosphere and conversation.  As an American, it can be difficult to integrate and mix among local patrons, but I’ve found that if you wait until the locals have had a few drinks they stop caring that you are an American and will strike up a conversation with you (I was able to cross off one of my goals my first week here and convince a local that I was also British… and no he wasn’t that drunk!).

One of my favorite aspects of traveling around the country is having the opportunity to try the local brews.  Of course, some drinks like Guinness, Strongbow, and Carlsburg are staples at basically every location.  Cider is another beverage that is very popular in the UK, and many pubs serve more than one variety.  If you don’t want to have alcohol but still want to “fit in,” you can order a shandy.  This consists mostly of British lemonade, but has enough lager in it to look like a beer.

Of course, alcohol still causes its share of problems in the UK.  Adolescent drinking is a problem that cannot be ignored…newspaper headlines following holidays contain stories of drunken revelry complete with the evening’s strain on the National Health Service… and true Englishmen are notorious for loving to fight when drunk. But because of the otherwise relaxed attitude there isn’t as much of a taboo on openly discussing the subject and dealing with problems.

What do I notice most in England?  It’s just alcohol – no hypersensitivity or stigmas.  While I’m not saying the US is wrong for having a relatively high drinking age, I think that the European openness about alcohol is something that should be widely adopted in the States.

 

Check out my photo albums on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

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