Living the Surreal Life

The past two weeks have been ridiculously amazing.

I visited my friend Katy in Scotland. She lives in Glasgow so we spent a day being tourists there. Then took the train to Edinburgh the next day. Edinburgh was my favorite. The architecture was magnificent. We went on a walking tour of the city and saw the sites of where J.K. Rowling sat and wrote Harry Potter. The café looks out on to a preparatory school that was the inspiration for the beloved Hogwarts. Then Saturday we went out to the country on a trip planned by the international students society at University of Strathclyde. We went to Blair Castle and the oldest whiskey distillery in Scotland. The countryside was breathtaking. Mountains with snow and rolling hills.

When I got back to Galway my friend from Marquette who is studying in Paris came to visit. I enjoyed being Kaellen’s tour guide and showing her around Galway. It’s fun being a tourist in your own town.

Then this past Thursday I jet setted to Prague. I signed up for a “Weekend Student Adventure.” The company is run by Andy Steves son of Ricky Steves the travel book writer. He organizes the hostel, tours, dinners out for a fee and then students who are abroad all over Europe come together to enjoy the weekend. I fell in love with Prague. The Czechs are friendly and happy to talk to tourists about their country. It felt like every building was from a different century and had a story. The country was only communist 22 years ago so the history was fascinating. I ate some delicious Czech cuisine goulash, fried cheese, sauerkraut. And surprisingly I had the best Mexican food I’ve ever tasted. After 3 days I still wasn’t used to currency. 20 koruna equals 1 dollar. It seemed like I was spending tons of money but the cost of living is much less so I was actually saving. Being in Prague also motivated me to try and learn another language. Czechs on average know 3 languages! I’m going to try and make the next place I live be one where I’m forced to learn the language.

Pictures to come.

Cheers from your friend bit by the travel bug.