New Austria Stuff Part II

This is my second post today so I can fit in all the pictures I want.

Our second full day on Innsbrck started with an early wake-up to go paragliding. We met our guides and took a cablecar up a mountain to about 2000 meters elevation. From there we had to lug duffle bags of equipment larger than me up about another 100 vertical meters. Let me tell you I now have a newfound respect for Everest sherpas because that hike just about killed me. Thin air and weak quads do not make for a good climbing Mike. Once they finally told us we could stop we turned around and the lunacy of what we had got ourselves into finally hit us. We stood on a steep mountainside overlooking the valley and town of Oetz below. In a few minutes we would be in gear and harness (attached to our guide of course) and be asked to run at full speed off the side of this mountain. Gabe, Mike, Landon and myself got suited up in jumpsuits, gloves and helmets (saftey first when jumping off mountains!) and were soo strapped in to our harnesses with our guides tied in behind us. Gabe and his guide were set to go first and when he gave the command gabe ran at full speed down the mountainside. After about 15 yards they got airborn and began to sail... then the parasail turned left and they came down and had to roll to come to a stop. "Wow," my guide said as he looked on from behind me, "that crosswind just came up and messed that up. Happens sometimes. OK, we're next." We're next?!?! HELLOOOO! Those two just took a tumble down that hill stopping just soon enough to avoid crashing down on those rocks and trees and you are ready for us to go try the same? But at that point I was tied in and was pretty much commited. Besides, I had confidence in my running ability. Once we got a sufficiet head wind he gave the command and I was off sprinting. After ten steps we were yanked up into the air by our sail. We lifted almost straight up and once we were a good 30 feet off the ground he gave me the OK to sit back in my harness. "Perfect takeoff," he said. Once comfortably situated I was able to look down at the valley below and at the mountain ranges atretching out in every dierction. The world is quite beautiful from 1000 meters up. The 20 minute flight was amazing. It came as close to my dreams of flying as I could imagine. I reccomend it to anyone. We have pictures but I don't have them on file right now to post.

After four successful landings we thanked our guides and took off for our next activity: moutain biking. In many way this was more dangerous than the paragliding. For starters we would be on the bikes alone instead of trusting our fate to an expert who had as much interest in continuing to live as we did. Secondly, none of us were in biking shape. Sure, we figured that biking would be easy but for whatever reason we failed to account for the thin air and steep grade of the trail we selected, one that took us up a windy mountian road to a lake. My breathing in this video is not an act, I was really winded.

After some struggling and ample breaks we made it too the lake. Once we set eyes on the lake we knew we had made the right decision not to turn around when the biking got tough. The lake, flat as glass with pines trees surrounding and mountains in the background, looked like something right out of a Bob Ross painting. Happy little trees everywhere. There was a pavillion with a deck and lots of local austrians swimming and picnicing along the shores.
Hot and sweaty form the biking we were more than ready to jump in the cold lake. We walked along the shore trail until we found an empty spot. None of us had planned on swimming so we hadn't brought swimming clothes much less a change of clothes or towels. The other were content to jump in with thier shorts on, but I was not too keen on another hour of biking with wet shorts as I knew that was an invitation for rashes to form. Confident that I was out of sight of all the picnicing locals I made sure the trail was clear, asked my comrads to avert their eyes and left all my clothes nice and dry on the lakeside. As we swam and cooled off in the lake we began to notice that the people walking by on the path would stare at us. Pretty typical since most places we seem to get looks from locals once they hear our accents anf realize that we're americans. We swam more and the stares continued, sometimes accompanied by giggling from the young women. I was not until Gabe got out of the water fisrt and looked down from the path at the rest of us that we finally understood. Crisp, fresh alpine water is ALOT clearer than the murkey water of kentucky's lakes that we were accustomed too! So the whole time, even though I was swimming a good 30 yards offshore, I had been giving quite the show to any onlooker willing to watch. I just hope Austrians have heard of the George Costanza theory of caold water. The guys had a good laugh at my expense but I got the last laugh as I was the only one with dry shorts for the rest of the day.

Thats me on the right. Don't look too closely.

The trip down was easier but more dangerous as our bikes skidded frequently on the gravel. At the bottom we took another trail (this time a flat one thank god) that followed a raging tributary of the river we had rafted the previous day. Here ore some pictures and video:

It was a great weekend and I think Innsbruck was my favorite city of the trip.

New Austria Stuff Part I

I'm gonna break this post up into two seperate posts because I want to put up lots of pictures and blogspot limits the number of files I can upload per single post.

Like Hannibal and Napoleon before me I have now conquered the Alps. We took a train this weekend to Innsbruck, as city in the Tyrol region of western Austria where they held the Winter Olymipics twice. The city is a ski mecca in the winter but in these summer months offers plenty of outdoor activity as well. Since we've been to so many capitols and giant european cities on this trip it was really a treat to get to a smaller town and experience the beautiful countryside.

Having never really been to a mountain area other than the eastern Kentucky foothills and windy West Virginian motorways I was compleatly stunned and awed by the large crags surrounding Innsbruck. The scenery was grand with or without clouds on the mountaintops. After arriving late Thursday night (thank the lord that there was still a hotel employee to give us a room key) we started out early Friday by taking a quick train to a nearby village to go white water rafting. We have some pictures but they are hard copies so I will have to wait until we can get them scanned to share them with you. It was great fun though with some pretty good rapids. At one point we (7 of us in total including our guide) intentionally flipped the raft for a bit of fun and a rush. Those of us on the starbord side rushed to port and caused the raft to flip. It's worth noting at this point that the water (moving very fast and fresh from the mlountains) was about 41 degrees F. Even knowing this did not prepare me for the shock when I fell in. The strong water held me down for a bit longer than I expected but my life jacket soon brought me to the surface. Problem was that I can up underneath our overturned raft where there was luckily an air pocket. The shock of the frigid water caused a natural reaction for me to breath in deeply, bring some of the water in with the air. The cold water, disorientation, force of the current and realization that I was underneath the raft and not where I was supposed to be resulted in what I can describe as a few quick moments of panic. However, in a split-second I was able to grasp the situation and calm down, then make my way to the side of the raft where I could then pull myself out from underneath. We then got the raft flipped over the right way and helped each other back in. What a rush!

After rafting we cleaned off at our hotel and then headed out for some hiking on the nearby mountain. We took a cable-car up past the tree line to an altitude of about 2000 meters.

From the landing point we then hiked up and westward along the narrow hiking path. It was truely amazing hiking on literally the side of a mountain. Needless to say we tred very carefully. Two things we noticed very quickly were: a) it really is colder with altitude, and b) thin mountain air is a LOT different than that thick, chewable Kentucky air we had grown up on! It only took five minutes of climbing what I would consider a moderate grade at a slow pace for me to find in amazement that my heart was racing like I'd just run the 200. It was all worth it though as we admired the view. After a bit a cloud came by at our level. It was so cool to be in a cloud!

There was even a bit of glacier left from the winter snows.

Finally, a little bit from last week. On Wednesday the university held a "Cultural Evening" where all the students from the different countries studying in our summer program were encouraged to give a short presentation about their homeland. Also, each contry got a table at in the hall where we were supposed to provide samples of our native foods. It was really neat and I got to try Russian, Bulgarian and Croatian pastries, Czech beer, and Singaporian finger foods among other things. We represented the USA but chose to focus on our Commonwealth. Naturally our foods samples were Kentucky Fried Chicken and Four Roses Bourbon! I am proud to say that all our food was eaten and that they were all impressed with our bourbon, although it wasn't near as strong as the liquer the Bulgarians brought. Our Austrian hosts had a food table as well and it was very unique. The famous local sweats are these little "Mozart balls" which are chocolate-coated and filled with cream and marzipan and look a lot like bourbon balls. The variation that they provided us was the "Burning Mozart". They put one of these balls on a toothpick, dipped it in some 160 proof Austrian rum, then used a lighter to set it on fire beofre you put it in your mouth. As long as you closed your mouth quickly, so they said, they flame would entinguish and you would be safe with a tastey treat in your mouth. We all peer-pressured each other into having one. Here is the video:

It was fine and I didn't burn my mouth at all. However, as I was munching the candy I started to smell the immistakable smell of burning hair. Only after a friend pointed to some charred hairs on my upper lip did I realize that I'd charred some of my whiskers!

Gonna climb mountains and yodel

We have decided to go to Innsbruck, Austria this weekend in hopes of getting some good outdoor activity in. Innsbruck is located in the far western part of the country in the heart of the Alps almost in Switzerland. Tired of the old town halls, museums and churches of the European capitols we are eager to see some scenic countryside. With hiking, rafting and biking all available we should get some ecxercise in as well. Good thing too because it is impossible to eat a meal here that isn't some form of fried breaded meat or sausage and moll might just get flabby if this keeps up. Really though I have loved the European cuisine (GMO free as it is) though I will admit that I am craving both a big burrito and bar-b-que, neither of which can be found in this dern land. So if you want to be my new best friend I suggest you meet me at Louisivlle "International" airport with a big bag from Mark's Feedstore. Just sayin'.
Finally, a word about man-capris. They are everywhere here. For whatever reason the very same european men that strut the streets of Vienna, Paris and Munich in skintight jeans decide that, when the temperature dictates cooler clothing, they should then switch to baggy man-capris. I have to call them "man-capris" in order to differentiate them from regular "capris", which as I had always understood it were for women and women alone. Rest assured that I will not be returning to 'mercan soil wearing those uncommited pantaloons. Shorts or pants boys, pick one. We're at war, get off the fence!
Next post I hopefully will be able to post amazing video of me eating fire. Oh yes, you read that right. I ate fire.

Germans Love David Hasselhoff

We've been in Vienna, Austria for a week now and it's been great. Public water fountains are abundant (unlike everywhere else in Europe) and the meal portions are huge. This land is known for Mozart, Strauss and Ah-nold but I kid you not when I tell that the very first thing I saw on Austrian TV was a Baywatch rerun.

We are taking classes at Wien University (they call Vienna "Wien" here and yes, the word "wiener" is posted everywhere) and they have beens great hosts setting up events for us. We have visited an outdoor wine garden and swam in the Danube River. I even ate wienerschnitzel which to my surprise consisted of veal. It was delicious.

This past weekend we traveled to Munich, Germany, about a 4.5 hour trip by train. The city greeted us with a rainstorm but that didn't keep us from running through the streets in search of the famous Hofbrauhaus. Soaking wet and weary from a day of travel we entered the great beer hall to a cacophony of singing, laughing and a traditional german oompah band. It was sensory overload in the best way. After finding a table I ordered a comically large glass of Hofbrau beer (dark, or dunkel as they call it, of course) and a plate of meatballs and mashed potatoes. After having lived for weeks on the rather dainty cuisine of France and Denmark the hearty german meal brought tears to my eyes.

The next day we went (again in the rain) to the Olympic Park from the 1972 games. We got to see the pool where I'm pretty sure Mark Spitz did all his stuff and the soccer stadium. We also climbed a big hill to see the city which you can see below.

Bavaria has earned its title as world beer capitol and the wheat beers rivals those that I sampled in Belgium. The german people have been very nice even though they may stickin a jab at americans every once in a while. Honestly, looking at most of the tourists we pass I can't blame them. Seriously people, fannypacks and jorts (those would be blue jean shorts for you laymen) do not present a very good image of our native land. Europeans for the most part dress a lot more formal than we do. If America is sweatpants, sneakers and a t-shirt, Europe is skinny chic jeans and buttondown shirt and leather shoes. I would also describe Europe as the world's attic because everything here is so darn old. The streets here (at least the parts that weren't bombed to hell by Stalin and the Allies) are filled with buildings way older than our country.

On our way back from Munich we stopped by Salzburg, Austria, where most of The Sound of Music was filmed. The family home and the famous hill were in suburbs and out of our range but we did visit the garden where Maria and the kids danced and sang. I'm pretty sure they were by this fountain when they sang Do-Re-Mi, maybe Grandma or Joy can tell me if I'm right.

I've seen London, I've seen France...

Since JoyJoy requested I put up pictures of weird foods, how about some goat cheese fondue? OK, that isn't so much weird as just yummy.

I don't know why it gave me the devil eyes in this picture though.

But ESCARGOT is plenty weird and gross right? I did eat this plate of snails and I will say I enjoyed it. The green stuff is the yummy garlic sauce that they were cooked in. The sauce was so strong that no snaily taste really came through; the dish was just kinda slimey.

We had a great time in Paris and fit tons of stuff into one day. Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triumph, Notre Dame, Concorde, Place de la bastille, Louvre, Les Invallides, St. Michel, the Sacred Heart Basillica and the Champes Elyses. We met up with two of our french friends who were our classmates at Kentucky and are now living in Paris. They acted as de facto tour guides and helped sheild us from the famous french snottiness to foriegners. Paris is very much a modern city but with a bit more of an old europe feel than London. I was proud of my ability to use a few french phrases that I could remember and converse with some locals, albeit in caveman french. Dan, I tried to order a Royal with Cheese at the McDonalds but they were out! Lame. I settled for le Big Mac.

Once again were we denied air conditioning in the hotel and I suffered in an 80 degree room at night. Seriously, if any of you need a wise investment tip I suggest you put your money in whatever company is positioned to install central air in europe as global warming increases.

Funny enough the best night's sleep I have had yet was last night on our overnight train to Vienna. We had a sleeper car with 6 people in it, but the car had A/C!!! It got wonderfully cold and I slept like a baby despite shakey train car, foul smells from some foriegn neighbors and a snoring bunkmate.

Brussels Recap

This is the second post for today, be sure to see the London stuff below. Brussels the city, much like the eponymous sprout, will now hold a special dark place in my heart. It is a large city and a very dirty one at that. Trash literally litters the streets and the city has a potpouri of less than plesant odors. The main tourist draw to Brussels is a little staute called Manneken Pis which depicts a little boy urinating. Fitting for the town but really quite dissappointing as the city's most well-known sight.
Brussels, we are told, has a very short summer but apparently we visited during it's zenith. The warmth wouldn't have been so bad if only they didn't seem to have some aversion to air conditioning, or even fans for that matter. I was basically covered in a healthy film of sweat for the 3 1/2 days we were there.
Not to be too harsh on Brussels though. We did have excellent food and the chocolate is quite nice. We also visited a beer pub which was recognized by the Guiness Book of World Records as having the most varieties of beer (2,004) in the world. I ordered a bottle of Dark Voodoo Benin beer in honor of Matt Koch.

Finally, a comment on my facial hair which many of you have mentioned. A few of us decided to grow some out for thr duration of the trip. I really don't think my face fuzz deserves to be called a "beard" do I have taken to just calling it "The Thing". As I have told Joy, it works really well in keeping any european girls from even talking to me, so you need not worry.

AAAAHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Wherewolves in London.

I'll recap our time in London since I didn't get to post much while we were there. After landing and standing in line for TWO HOURS to get through customs (how are you ever going to handle the olympics London?) we finally stepped outside the airport only to be greated with some that that famous London rain. Luckily the trip only got better after that. The first impression I got of London was its size. I think the sprawl of London makes Chicagoland look like Corbin. It was very much like any other large city I suppose, but with the ubiquitous red phone booths, black taxis and double-deck buses filling the streets it was impossible to forget where you were. After weeks of trying to decipher danish it was a wecome sight to see street sign and advertizments in English again.

We did have to do some school learning there which consisted of visits and meetings with the London 2012 Olympic commitee and the London Transport Association. We managed to see all the touristy musts: Big Ben and Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, etc. We also went to the British Museum which might sound boring (as Homer Simpson says "Good thing don't end in -eum, good things end in -ateria or -maina ) but was really neat. The Rosetta Stone was there along with tons of Egyptian artifacts which the Brittish took form Napoleon (who took them from the Egyptians) and have never returned. The museum also houses loads of sculptures looted from the Parthenon. What was really cool was that I often found myself walking through or past areas in London that I recognized from rock 'n roll songs - The Royal Albert Hall, Picadilly, Mayfair.

On Saturday night, after we got to see Spamalot in London's west end, I met up with Joy's high school friend Eva and her beau and friend. We went to a local pub/disco which seemed to play the 80's greatest hits all night long (the place went crazy for Bon Jovi). We had a good time learning about each others' cultures and swapping stories about JoyJoy (oh yes I know EVERYTHING about you in high school now, muwahahaha.)

As I mentioned in the last post I had a blast at Wimbledon. It was really different than just seeing old building or famous spots; more of an experience. The grounds of the All England Lawn Tennins and Crouqet Club has the quaint and hallowed feel that I assume must be present at Augusta. Televison does not do justice to the sport, as the speed of play is amplified when watching live and up close. I sat center court in the 8th row to see Marat Safin win. He has since advanced to the semifinals to play Roger Federer. These pictures were taken with no zoom and reall yshow how close my seat was. Awesome.

In Brussels now

Quick post because we pay for internet in this hotel and the time is running down. We came to Brussels today from London and have made it safely to our hotel. Internet use might be rare here so it might be 3 - 4 days before I get new stuff and all the London photos up. In short, London was awesome. I got to meet Joy's friend Eva who took me out on the town and even got into Wimbledon like Gabe said. I went Friday night on a whim (Pun intended) and queued up in the general admission line. After 30 mins I got in on a general ticket that lets you watch matches on the 17 smaller courts, but not on Centre Court or #1 Court. After watching a bit a random dude came up and offered me his ticket for court #1 since he was leaving. The seat was awesome and free. Just wait until I get the pictures up. Bye.

Now With Video!!!

Alright so I have figured out how to post video on the blog now. This is going to add a whole new dynamic to Onion Rings and Root Beer. I think we're going to be a worldwide sensation in no time. The three videos below are from the top of one of the tallest structures in Copenhagen- the city hall clock tower. Please note that my spac-tac-u-lar narration was made before I was sure whether or not the mic could even pick up my voice and that I could successfully upload the videos. A special cameo appearance is made by my room mate and travel buddy Mr. Gabe Dadi.

We also have reason to celebrate here today.

I finally found onion rings in Copenhagen. Well, okay that's a lie. What this delicious little treat actually is is some sort of faux-crab meat ring that has been deep fried by my good friends at the China Box kiosk near our class building. But hey, they LOOK like onion rings and taste darn good so I won't complain.

We finally received our itenerary for the next week or so. We will depart Denmark early Friday morning and I will march onto the Brittish Isles like a triumphant Caesar. We remain in London through Monday when we then travel to Brussels, Belgium. They have planned most of our time for us in both cities unfortunately but I will do my best to see the sights I wish to see. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships will be underway while we are in London and I'd sure like to partake in the legendary strawberries and cream. We will attend a presentation by the London 2012 Olympics Association and I will probably complain to them that baseball is no longer an olympic sport. I know less about Brussels but am assured that the food will be delicious. We will be meeting with people from the European Union while there and it will also be the first country where I may find some use for the modicum of French I have retained from my high school language courses.

Don't Make Me Come Back There!

Ok seriously guys. I leave the country for barely a week and a half and already things are falling apart. First Tim Russert dies and then George Carlin too!? And now I read that Ferd Grisanti's is kaput. Honestly, I don't want anymore bad news for at least a week.

It's Sweden

As promised here are some photos from our weekend in Stockholm. The red and white boats in this picture are two old boats that have been moored and converted hostels. We stayed on the bottom floor of the white boat. You can see from the picture how impossibly small our room was. Thanks to my astute decision to throw the paper sandwhich (paper-rock-paper) I beat Gabe in best of three rock-paper-scissors to win the right to sleep on the roomier bottom bunk. We avoided seasickness Friday night and then went to explore Stockholm on Saturday. Stockholm is a city of connected islands separating the inland lakes with the Baltic Sea. We took water taxis to the various island, the most interesting of which was the "Old Island" with its ancient buildings and narrow cobblestoned roads. The other highlight of the trip was seeing the Vasa. This was a warship from the 1600's that they recovered from the harbor and now have reconstucted 95% of it. It was amazing how large the ship was given that is was constructed 300 years ago. You can find out all about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_%28ship%29 .

That night was went to a pub to watch the Russia vs. Holland Euro soccer match and befriended a Texan businessman who bought all our rounds and a Scottish bartender with whom we argued the superiority of Kentucky bourbon and Scottich Scotch. The soccer match was actually entertaining, but I am really missing american baseball.

I bravely snapped the picture of the young Swedish guard in front of the Royal Palace. His helmet was just so cool.

Bork Bork from Sweden

We successfully managed the european train system and made it to Stockholm, Sweden today. It's even farther north than Denmark and that means the daylight is crazy. As I type this it is just about 10:30 PM and the sun is just setting, with plenty of light still. Our hostel is a boat moored in the main river here. Our room even has a porthole and everything. I'll post pictures soon. Computer time is short now so I gotta go. I'll recap Sweden on Monday.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to prosper." -Ben Franklin

Wednesday after class we finally made it to the famous Carlsberg Brewery. The Carlsberg Company seems to be to Copenhagen what Coke and Budweiser are to Atlanta and St. Louis respectively. The brewery has many old and very cool buildings including one with four giant elephants holding up a walkway. The swastika on the side of this one makes for an interesting picture, but was in place at least 60 years before WWII. As I explained to our group, the swastika was for years a symbol of good luck used in many cultures before the nazis used it and forever tarnished the image (Thank you history channel.)

After a tour of the origional 19th-century brewery and education in the histroy of beer we were treated to two free brews of our choice in the large lounge. The bottle in th case was from the hall of 10,000 beers and they claimed that it was the most expensive beer in the world, being one of only 600 ever produced and costing thousands of dollars. Now it just collects dust in a museum - what a waste.

It's easy to see why they like beer so much here. In many cases it is less expensive than the bottled water or soft drinks in the grocery stores and 7-Elevens (By the way, 7-Elevens are EVERYWHERE here! Honest-to-god I stood at a street corner yesterday and could see 3 of them at the same time. Soft of like Heine Bros. on Bardstown Road I guess.) They also have a great approach to recycling all the bottles here. One danish crown (about 20 cents) extra is included in the price of a beer or soda. Then when you are finished with the bottle you can take it back to just about any store and feed it into an ATM-type machine that instantly reads the barcode and then gives you a voucher which you present to the cashier and then get your crown back. Needless to say I have yet to see a single can or bottle litering the sidewalks or filling garbage cans.

We are going to try and visit Stockholm, Sweden this weekend so this might be my last post ofr a few days. This weekend is a big holiday in Sweden celebrating the summer solstice. They say it began as a pagan holiday but was assimilated by the church sometime in the middle ages. Yeah, I could tell the solstice was nearing because the sun doesn't set until around 11 o'clock here and then rises again at about 4:30. It's ridiculous but I'm glad I'm here in the summer and not during the 18 hours of darkness in december.

Pictures from our 6 hour walk

Short post today because I really need to go to bed. We had a short class today and afterward all 16 of us walked all over the city to see sights including royal palaces, opera house, library, and King's Garden. The shirt in the photo above was from the gift shop for the local futbol team Futbol Club Kobenhavn. Bruce Springsteen is actually playing in that stadium this Saturday. Sold out though. They should just let Americans in free. I'll try and add more stuff soon. Bye.

Blondes, Bikes and Beers

We had our first full day on Copenhagen today and after a brief orientation in the morning were able to explore the city a bit and even sample some of the local foods.

Walking through the city you quickly notice that it is both very old and very "liveable" as the locals like to say. Bicycles are everywhere and the roads are very accomodating to their use. Many of the streets have a sort of "second sidewalk" that is raised higher than the street level but lower than the walking path just for bikes. All the cyclists obay all the rules of the roads (unlike back home) but WILL NOT stop to avoid pedestrians. We have almost lost a few students already to collisions. Also, the people all stop at all crosswalks and only will cross when the little man turns white. Aside from other tourists I have yet to see one instance of jaywalking.

I've sampled the local favorite Carlsburg brew and, well, it's beer. Not all they build it up to be really, just beer. But they sure do drink it anywhere and at any time of day here. Apparently the guy we saw drinking a bottle on the train at 9 in the morning was not out of the ordinary or frowned upon. Oh, and the sausage-in-a-roll thing you see in my picture almost made me sick. I had much better luck with the mediterranian food we had for dinner.
My only real complaint thusfar is the absurd design of our bathroom facilities here. Our 7x7 room has toilet, sink and shower, only the shower is just in the corner with only a rinky-dink curtain marking off its territory. All the water just floods the whole room before making its way to the room's lone drain which s located in the far corner by the toilet. This makes no sense and just results in everything being wet.

Nothing Rotten In The State of Denmark

I've made it to Copenhagen in one piece (no thanks to the 1 1/2 hour delay leaving Chicag O'Hare). They have us doing a ton of orientation stuuf right now so I don't have that long to type. We took a cab ride from the airport to our housing building. Gabe and I have just moved in to our room which is sparten to say the least. I am running on very little sleep right now but hopefully a good night's rest tonight will have me charged up and ready to go tomorrow. I think they're taking us to see the canals or something. That's it for now. We've got to go eat supper.

OR&RB Mission Statement

I'll begin by agreeing with Jerry Seinfeld in the assertion that "blog" might be the ugliest sounding new word in our culture. It would be much more aptly used as a verb meaning "to spit phlegm long distances" than as a noun describing this odd form of information dissemination. Gross-sounding or not it is nonetheless the best way I could thing of to keep everyone up to date with my activity in Europe. Plus this way I only have to tell stories once rather than dozens of times when I get back.

A quick overview of my trip:
I'll be travelling with 15 other students, all of whom earned both their engineering bachelor's degree and MBA at UK, just like me. We leave on Thursday June 12th and arrive the next day in Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen will be our home for the next three weeks as we takes international business classes every morning. Our afternoons and weekends are free for exploring Copenhagen and travelling. After our time in Denmark we travel to London, UK for a quick couple of days. Hopefully I get to ride one of those double-deck buses. From there we move to Brussels, Belgium for a short two-day stay which will include a tour of the European Union HQ. After our official duties in Belgium we have the next four days completely free to travel as we like. During this time I hope to make it down to Paris. We are required to report to Vienna, Austria the following Monday to begin another three-week study session, again with weekends free for travel.
I'd tell you more about our weekend travel plans but we haven't quite hashed them all out yet. Some of the places we are considering are Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Hungary.

That's pretty much it. I'm very excited and will be spending the next few days frantically packing. Once in Europe I will do my best to update this as often as I can, hopefully with cool pictures and good stories. For those of you who have never used a blog before (ie you old farts) you will notice that there is the option to post comments at the bottom of any of my posts after you click the green post title. I encourage you to use this feature to fire back to me. This will make it way easier for me to quickly keep up with everyone.

Oh yeah, I gave this blog its name because they are two of my favorite foods that I could easily remember.

Everybody take care and I expect to find this country just the way I left it when I get back at the end of July! (well, feel free to change the gas prices if you like)

Michael

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