Goodbye Europe!!

Ciao Europe!! You will most definitely be missed, but I will be back as soon as I can!

We spent one last afternoon in Switzerland shopping and chilling lakeside. It was a great way to spend the last day and I got another birthday present.. a Swiss army knife!! (that I'm SOOO pumped for!!) Then it was off to Paris for one last night. We ventured out only to realize nothing was open, so what do we do?! We rented bikes for a euro a night and rode around the city!! We saw everything we had seen the week and a half before by night on bikes with Sylvia. SO MUCH FUN. It was the perfect way to end the trip.

We started our very long journey back to the states on Wednesday at 8:30 am Paris time. We all got through security fine and had time to chill for a couple hours. Shefali and I had to separate from Danielle though unfortunately! After an 8 and a half hour plane ride, Shef and I arrived in Chicago for a 4 hour layover, only to find that Ohare had different plans for us. We expected at least one delay.. what we didn't realize is that is would turn into a 4 hour delay. So we spent over 8 hours at Ohare airport sprawled out in a corner sleeping. When we finally did board the plane, the captain tells us that we may be there another 2.5 hours. It was ridiculous since I had plans in Boulder that I was now unable to keep. After we landed at DIA, we got our bags and parted ways. I jumped in a taxi since it was 1:30 am at this time and Shef headed to Denver. Danielle's flight went well and see was in Atlanta waaaaay before we were in Denver!
Currently I'm packing up because after 24 hours of traveling yesterday, I am pushing through and driving to Nodak this afternoon with my friend Cassie. Wish me luck cause I'm gonna need it!!
Now that seemed a little whiny so I'm going to put in a few positive words!

First of all on all of our behalfs, I would like to thank each and every person that made our trip the most amazing time ever. First of all to our parents, who we could argue all day about who has the greatest rents! We love all of you so much and appreciate the opportunities we have been given!
Second, I would like to thank our hosts in Europe: Julie and Sylvia who took us in in Paris during finals and showed us a great time without complaining!! We love you girls!! Also, thanks so much to Kevin and Jean-Luc Imhof for an amazing stay in Echallens and for taking us everywhere around the gorgeous country of Switzerland. AND for making my birthday hands down the BEST birthday ever. Also thanks to Kev's friends for treating us well!
Third, thanks to our roommates at the hostels. Shaun, Dave, Monty, and Zoey.. you guys all put up with us the entire time we stayed with you and got to know you. We realize that the trio of us is kinda crazy, loud, and obnoxious sometimes (or all the time, you choose) so thanks for dealing with us!
And finally, thanks to Danielle and Shefali. You two have been the greatest travel companions anyone could ask for!! We each put our strengths into having a great trip! I miss spending every minute with you both already!! Danielle, I'm sooooooo glad that we hit it off as well as we did! Though, I'm not surprised since we both love Shefali so much!! Shef, my brown friend, I've loved every second of the last 3 years with you!! I'm so glad we could experience Europe together!! I couldn't ask for anyone better to celebrate my birthday with me I can't wait to plan our next vacation.. India?! :) Love you both!

Well that about wraps up our 2 week European adventure. We will have pics on facebook soon so no worries! You will see the amazingness we saw soon enough!!

We love you all! Thanks for keeping up with us as we ran all over!!

Peace out!

Compliments to Swiss – aka Kevin

A cultural analysis of Europeans and Americans (namely the men):

Our time has come to an end on this beautiful continent and as we sit on the train to Paris we are discussing all the differences we noticed in European vs American culture. This is not a criticism of American culture, but simply a reflection of our experience as we traveled across Europe. These are just a few things that we feel we should bring back to America as a positive addition to our lifestyle.

The first thing we noticed about most Europeans is that they simply have good manners. They opened doors for us, served us as the guests and women of the table first, offered food and wine when our plates/glasses were almost empty, etc. They were very attuned to our feelings and needs. Whenever we wanted something, or didn’t even know we wanted something, it was offered to us. During our social interactions, we found Europeans to be very analytical and intelligent. They had a worldly intelligence that we aren’t used to. In school we learn American history and not a lot of world history. In Europe, they learn it all, so their views were very interesting for us to hear. An opinion was always given that made us think and realize a lot of things. When the conversation turned into something political or controversial or even mundane, they were always there to give their opinions but also see it from our view and discuss all the details. We felt like we could give our opinion and even if it was different, we wouldn’t feel like we were wrong. We felt respected in our opinions and actions, no matter how ridiculous they seemed. We also found them to be very generous. When we stayed in Switzerland for example, Kevin and his father Jean-Luc were SO kind to us. We felt like princesses. They offered everything to us multiple times. They took us in for 3 days without question and let us take over Kevin’s room (which went from a very clean room to a mess with us three in it, thanks for understanding Kev! J). Kevin’s friends offered us everything they had and bought us what we needed/wanted, because girls don’t pay in Switzerland (or so we were told!). We were very impressed with the hospitality and generosity that these men offered us. We also noticed that Europeans are very fashionable and clean. They were always dressed nicely and smelled great because they take care of themselves well (not that American men don’t.. it’s just an observation remember!). One last quality that we noticed is that they’re very honest. We encountered a lot of people that said it like it is. Sometimes we found that they are a little forward, such as men who thought we were beautiful and let us know it multiple times, but most of them found us exotic and liked us for being American. We thought maybe comparing our hostel roommates to the Europeans would be wise to show one big difference. Our three hostel roommates were from St. Louis and they were nice guys don’t get us wrong but unlike all the European people in general that we met, these boys did not invite us into their homes in St. Louis (which is completely 100% fine.. it’s just that Europeans make a connection and wholeheartedly welcome us into their homes to learn about their cultures and cities).

Overall, all three of us have encountered Americans and found a lot of them to have some of these qualities but also a lot of them that do not have these qualities that we appreciate so much. We realize that it depends on where we are in the states though as well.

Something we noticed that doesn’t have to do with men in particular is that American news revolves around America while European news involves the entire world. We start the news with a story about a water skiing squirrel for Pete’s sake and maybe end with 3 minutes of news from the other side of the world. There are just so many differences between the oceans. Another example is Europeans eat with their elbows on the table because underneath is not polite. It started in war times because of weapons under the table, but it is still used today. We also sat down for aporos, which is wine and a snack with our hosts. Then we had dinner and finally cheese for dessert. It was little lessons like this that made us realize how different and amazing our cultures can be.

All things left out...

As thorough as that blog was sammy, it wasn't enough to cover a few essentials...namely the Vatican! On Friday, Justin (our very attractive yet very arrogant) tour guide took us on a 5 hour tour of the Vatican. Let recap, Vatican is the smallest country in the world, but it is also the richest. It likes to keep its currency within its walls and sells for about 3 Euros for a Vatican Euro. It houses 120 swiss guards and their families of which we know one! (Sup Timmy?). The pope is the king/president/big kahuna of the Vatican and he has a direct line to god. He can also excommunicate anyone he pleases (that means he decides who he can send to hell). German by origin, he is not very popular with the people. They "lovingly" call him "joey the rat" or "paparazzi". Justin, our tour guide, gave us a quick history of the Vatican and the origin of the term. Ironically, the name "Vatican" came from pagean origins from the goddess that guards the doors to the other side - Vaticinia. He talked about Nero (the most effed up emperor of the Rome that was said to have conspired to start the great 64AD fire) and his extra curricular activites... lets just say that he likes playing dress-up alot and really got into his character. We saw the beautiful Sistine Chapel and learned about all the biblical stories Michealangelo depicted on the panels. But the real master piece was "The last Judgement" by Michealangelo... he was commissioned to paint that in the latter part of his life and he resented the Catholic church for it. Its absolutely magnificint and breaks all last judgement molds. We also left the tour to check out my favorite painting... "The School of Athens" by Rafaeal! I knew it was big, but didn't expect it to be as large in scale has it really was! Finally, we ended the tour in St. Peters Basilica. A cool fact, all Popes are "decendants" of St. Peter (Jesus's bff). From the Basilica, we saw where the Pope's window was and the balcony where he waves to his people from.
OH! I almost forgot... before the tour started, Justin took us to the best Sandwich shop in the city! I am not sure what it was called but it has hot sandwiches (even for a vegeterian like me!) that were simply delicious! Danielle and I then shared some gelato (Coconut, Chocolate Hazelnut and Black Cherry - mmmmmm!). Needless to say, with the ample amouts on pastarias and pizzarias all over Rome neither of us starved.

So now here we are... in Switzerland having the best time with Kevin and his dad. Last night they made us an amazing meal (even something for a vegeteriain like me that they have never met) and we enjoyed apertif - appetizers to open up our hunger with wine and then rice veggies and some sort of meat - wouldn't know. For desert we had 5 different types of cheeses with wine and then Jean Luc (Kev's dad) gave us enough cocolate to make us all obese for a lifetime... so guess what i'm bringing back parent?

Earlier that day, we went Geneva to explore the city. All you poli si majors out there... we saw the United Nations and WTO! Couldn't see anything from inside as it was a national holiday and all shops were closed... lucky wallet. We also walked around the lake, which the Swiss (not Genevans) don't like being called Lake Geneva but rather Lac Leman due to the fact that the lake (monsterous in size) is not ONLY associated with Geneva.... oof Europeans! :) We saw the largerst man made geyser and even ran through it! (Pics to come)... and finally closed the day enjoying some icecream by the water filled with swans.

We are now headed off to Luasane to shop and chill before we jump on a train back to Paris! We are going to attempt to go up the Eiffle Tower ( hopefully in the knick of time) and see the Arc de Triumph by night! The trip is almost over and we are all a little sad as we enjoy our last day in Europe. We are looking forward to sharing our stories and pictures in person! See you all very soon. Much love people of America! See you in a few days!

Bonjour from the Alps/amazing views of Switzerland!

Well hello to all of you that haven't heard from us in DAYS!! We apologize for not keeping you updated, but it's been busy!!

We are now in Switzerland.. Echallens to be exact if you wanted to google map it our of curiousity!! SO to update you all on the days we've been having, we will start with Friday since we ended on Thursday! The night was a blast and we met a lot of cool people.. Canadians and Brits actually. The next morning/afternoon we headed to the Pantheon, which is AMAZING (just like everything else here!). We spun around in the middle and had our minds blown!! Raphael's tomb is there as well. We got some super delicious coffee drink and then headed to dinner, which was great!! :) We saw the Trevi Fountain, made our wishes, and started our journey back to the hostel!
Saturday, we woke up in a frenzy and packed as quickly as possible. Danielle and I tried to see the Cappuchian crypts, but were 15 min short sadly. We about cried! BUT instead of getting ripped off paying 25 euro for the cab, we only had to dish our 5 euro! So we thought positively!
We jumped on the train to Switzerland next. Shefali slept until Milan while Danielle and I looked at pictures and watched movies on our ipods. We had a stop in Milan so we grabbed a bite to eat at the restaurant and ran into people that we had met in Rome! Small world!! After chatting with them we hopped on the next train to Bern where Swiss (Kevin, my friend who studied abroad at CU last year) picked us up.
We arrived at his house with all of our luggage and changed for the night! We LOVE the drives and houses here, they are so cute (a word we overuse, or so Kev thinks so!) We had only 1 hour to go until the birthday celebration commenced so we headed to his friends house to chill before they took us dancing and showed us the nightlife of Lausanne! We were very safe since they are all part of the Swiss army and knew Kevin very well!
We got home pretty late with the best sandwiches in Switzerland in our hands and hit the hay.. when we finally woke up, we got ready and headed up the windy Alps to a panoramic view of the country! It was fantastic! We could see all of Lake Geneva, the Alps, France in the distance, the place where they make all the super duper expensive watches, etc, etc, etc. As we headed back down the mountain, Swiss explained all of the great views and little villages to us.
By that time it was time to head out for the night.. so we had no idea where we were going because it was my birthday surprise. Good thing we dressed up because it was the most beautiful and classy place EVER! Like literally had the best view of Switzerland.. I would say and everyone else would say it's honestly top 3 views in the ENTIRE world! We sat on the patio for awhile before dinner and watched the sun go down. Omg, best birthday ever?! I think so. I don't know what could have made it more perfect?! Maybe just all of our readers being there with us!?! After dinner and a very good chat, we went to a little festival in another village that was a very good time! For you all we would compare it to like a fair.. but with Swiss people speaking French! They did have karaoke, but the line was too long for us to get in! Bummer!
Anyway, it's now late so I'm off to bed.. but thanks everyone for the birthday wishes on facebook and email! I love you all as does Shefali and Danielle!
On another quick note before I go, I believe our French is getting a little better (or so we think).. we even ordered our own meals today! Props to us! :)

We will try to post again before we leave this amazing, beautiful, spectacular, fabulous, (and every other word that means GREAT) place. It's not guaranteed, but cross your fingers :)

Ciao America!!

Best Day Ever ( In Italia-Roma)

Bonjourno!
So this is my first official blog as me ( Sam was posing before, she wants a legit i-talian name lol). So we started the day off yesterday morning really stressed out! You have no idea how hard it is to contact/ cancel flights on Ryanair, which suprisingly (not) does not acknowledge any excuse short of death haha. So we then skype all our family members to ensure them that we have not fallen into a crypt and printed vouchers for our hop on/off bus tour- they refused to look at my netbook for the confirmation #. After that debacle, we ran around trying to find our neon green bus, not knowing the name of the company.... Only us! We get on and get off at the Trevi Fountain stop after Shef dozed off for like 10 minutes on our 20 euro tour only to shop for the next 4 hours without hopping back on... WE GOT THE SICKEST CLOTHES EVER-Be jealous. We're poor now though :( Despite the finance issues, we splurged on a glorious feast of wine, bread, pasta in true italian style. Then we actually made it to the fountain we tried to get to originally, throwing in coins for a copious amount of wishes- to be safe.

So then we hit up our sketchy little hostel ( no really it was cute other than the bed bugs and room raider worthy sheets). We started to get ready to hit club ALIEN ( non-existent btw after a 30 euro cab ride spoken in Spanish) when our roommates walked in on a a team-work effort of prepping. Sam practically cornrowing my hair standing on the bed ( cute french braids) in her dress, me holding up Shef's mirror, etc. They were in awe ( and impressed) with our efficiency needless to say. At 1 we finally headed out and arrived to an irish pub on karaoke night. I am no longer a karaoke virgin since our sweet rendition of.... Baby Got Back. We rocked it pretty hardcore, so good that Sam got propositioned by a forty year old couple!!! Can you say menage cinque? After a great night we got up early to switch hostels, less sketch but minus the St.Louis trifecta! If you guys are reading this, whadup?
Fast forward, today. After switching hostels, we got at The Yellow ( Sam was pumped to see Chuck Norris paraphenalia on like all the walls and is super excited to try the Chuck-Norris-Roundhouse-kick-to-the-face shot. Sam says: "This one's for Ali!') and settled in and headed for the Colosseo ( The Colosseum) by day for round two. After some gladiator re-enactments, we spent like an hour posing for pictures spelling out the letters- once again only us :) Then it rained and we headed back ( after dancing in it first) on the metro (sardine style- pushing old ladies and all). So what's next you say? An Australian guy at the Colosseum convinced us to go on a pub crawl - it better live up to the hype. Check back for the deats!

Ciao,
Dani, Shef, and Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.

Bonjourno!

Now that we are no longer in France, we had to start speaking Italian which has proven to be much easier than French!

We spent most of our day on the train yesterday.. made some friends from the US and Canada on it and tried to sleep! The countryside was beautiful!! We saw the infamous Swiss Alps and super cute little villages!

When we got in last night we got to the hostel. It's actually not too bad and our roommates ended up being 3 boys from St. Louis! They are also doing Europe up in 2 short little weeks!

After getting settled and showering we got some Indian food.. and surprisingly I very much enjoyed it! Shefali has FINALLY after 3 years turned me on to liking it! Then we headed off to see the Colosseum at night and it's amazing!! After that we tried to find the Ice Club, and along the way ran into some hilarious people from Ohio.

We finally made it to the Ice Club, which is great! I will post the link at the bottom of this so check it out! It's literally a club made of all ice including the glasses! They give you a warm cape like thing and gloves and send you into the igloo! Pictures to come! :)

Anyway, today we are off to do a hop-on-hop-off type of deal and see what crazy adventures we can get into!!

Have a great day America!!

http://www.iceclubroma.it/

Helloooooo!!!

Hello everyone!!

We have had a crazy few days!
Today we were supposed to leave for Barcelona like in the AM.. but we ran into some problems (just our luck).
Eurail wouldn't let us board soooooooooo after a very long time we finally decided to travel to Roma roma ma ah.. (or Rome for those of you who are non-Gaga fans!), very early tomorrow/today morning.
We are leaving for Rome a day early putting us in Switzerland a day early as well.
We WERE quite upset about the no-Barcelona trip until we went to the Musee d'Orsay today (which is amazing!!.. exhibits such as the Von Gogh exhibit.. and others.. amazing! :)
After that we hit up a bike tour which turned out great as well! Our tour guide was awesome and we got a ton of exercise while seeing some great things around the city! It was super fun as we ended the bike tour with a boat tour and free wine for those who felt inclined!

We leave super early in the AM so we are letting you know what the new deats* are! Wish us luck in Rome!

Peace and love to all!! :) :) :)