Country Hopping Adventures

In the time it takes me or my boyfriend to drive to see each other from Windsor to Toronto to see one another we drove to another country last weekend (France). Now this weekend add the same time that some people drive to their cottage (about 8 hours) we drove to two different countries. This weekend was a whole new adventure in its own. We rented another car because it is turning out when you have a group of people to be the cheapest method. Sonya and I of course since we travel everywhere together were looking at going to Munich Germany on Friday and Saturday for Oktoberfest. When we looked up train tickets it was going to cost about 200 dollars each way which is crazy ridiculous for Europe so we decided to rent a car for the weekend again. Tom from Odette was joining us on our adventures so he made his way from Paris to Amsterdam and out to Arnhem to go to Oktoberfest with us. Since we were renting a car for 5 people we decided to ask the American boys to come because it than becomes cheaper as well as we know they wanted to go to Oktoberfest.  Since we didn’t really want to spend all weekend drinking either we were going to head to Berlin from there but found out it’s not as close as we thought so smart Mickey and Sonya pull out a good map of Europe and notice that Prague is quite close to Munich, only a 3 hour drive away (that’s nothing) so that became the plan J

We left Friday night to drive to Munich... We left about 5:30 and stopped for some food on the way good old Burger King but other than that one stop, and for gas we actually made it to Munich in good time about 5-6 hours. I guess that’s what happens when you drive in Europe on roads that don’t have speed limits I’m pretty sure Ryan and Sonya got the car up to over 200km an hour. I can’t say the drive there and to Prague were my favorite part they all stuck me in the back middle since I am the smallest, I had no room L especially being in the back seat with Tom who is 6 foot so takes up all the room.  Other than lack of space the drive was actually very easy and painless. We arrived in Munich at about 11:30, 12 and since the cost of a hostel was minimum 100 euro a night we pulled a cheap European student way of living and slept in our car for the night. This in itself was very interesting. I was beside Tom and Sonya and as I said Tom is so big he takes up all the space. I pretty much did not sleep all night, every time I got comfortable Tom moved and I had to readjust myself. As well Sonya snores and Tom talks in his sleep. Oh What a Night!! For not sleeping luckily we got to sleep in, in the morning…NOT we were up at 6:30 cause I told them we had to be in line for 6 or 7 cause they get really big really fast. We made it to the line for 7 but that was still not early enough. The doors open at 9 and we were quite far back in the line people must have been there for like 5 in the morning. I guess that’s what you get for going on opening day.  We ended up making it into the “tent” but could not make it inside the building as we were way to far back in line. This really sucked at the moment because guess what, oh what a surprise in Europe it was raining. we tried to wait in line to get inside eventually but the angry German security guard had none of this and yelled at people “SIT DOWN OR GET OUT”, first in German and then luckily in English so we could understand. What I am very glad about is that it ended up clearing up and becoming a beautiful day. There is really not much I can say in words for Oktoberfest It was such an amazing experience if anyone ever gets the chance I think you defiantly have to make your way out and go there it’s something that just cannot be explained.  There are rides and souvenirs beers and food, an abundance amount of people and really just a great time with great people and I can say I HAVE BEEN TO OKTOBERFEST!! Last but not least something you have to look for and laugh about when being at Oktoberfest is what they call Smoosh Mountain. Its right in front of the site, it’s a big hill with a statue and it has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen, drunk people passed out everywhere just on this hill. Sleeping and looking dazed and confused just flat out funny.

As I said Oktoberfest cannot be described in words it was such a great time while being there and I would recommend anyone who can go to go because the atmosphere around there is just amazing.

From Oktoberfest we made our way to Prague since as mentioned it was only 3 hours away. Driving through the night again wasn't fun but we ended up getting there at a decent time. The one thing I have to say Sonya and I have been lucky for is we like to plan our trips quite nicely but tend to leave hostels until the last minute because we don’t know which part of the city we are going to end up in. When getting into Prague I was texting Prague is located in the Czech Republic and for this reason I have to thank god Tom was with us for this trip (he is from Slovakia) because unlike the Netherlands or France where I could figure out how to ask for help people around Prague did not speak much English at all. He was able to communicate with the local people which helped us to order food, get around when we were lost, find locations and just communicate with people in general. 

After a long rainy day of sight-seeing the beautiful city of Prague as you will see from some of the pictures we as a group went to a club called Karle Lazny. This was the biggest club in central Europe.  We did this on a Sunday so it was not as busy as it would have been a Friday or a Saturday but it was a cool club all in all. it had 5 different levels for different types of people; dance music, radio hits, old school, games room, all inclusive room and a top floor in which was not open that night. They had lots of special effects within the club like robots and smoke lasers and lights that really added to the atmosphere.  It ended up being a great day with a great end to the day but there was one downfall. As I have said earlier being in a foreign country and trying to find your way around is actually quite hard. We asked directions before we left the hostel but something went wrong and we ended up getting lost. On our way home we got on a tram (like a Toronto street car) the wrong way and had to get off take a random Tram to get onto the right Tram. As well we than got off that Tram because we thought we missed our stop and were going to walk when in actual fact our stop was the next one if we would have just waited it out. Eventually we all got home safe and sound but it was an adventure kind of a scary one especially when you are tired.

There’s not much I can expand on Prague except to emphasize the beauty of the city. Walking around and enjoying the sights, being with good people and really just enjoying your time travelling is what it’s all about.

School

Well it’s been 3 weeks and I am at my frustrated stage as normal. Normally when it comes to classes I get frustrated with the timing of everything. The University of Windsor and I have a nice pattern of scheduling Mickey’s stuff all at once. I will have weeks of nothing to do and then BAM everything will hit at once between midterm papers projects and group work but I am having a different issue out in the Netherlands. There is ample amount of time to do stuff as it is weekly so easy to plan for but what I am frustrated with is teachers expecting things from us but giving no guidance or explanation and when you ask for help THEY DON’T HELP YOU. I know they say learning in different cultures is an experience and this is just part of it and of course I can say it is defiantly something that is going to help me in the future saying I have dealt with different things but at this moment in time it is very frustrating. I have had two presentations in the past two weeks for the same class and they are very frustrating to work with. For the first presentation everyone in the class got the same mark everyone in the group and everyone in the class which was like a 75% which some may look at as a good grade but it makes you feel like why are you putting in all this effort when you’re going to get a certain grade anyways? As well the problem with that presentation was there was no guidance given on what was supposed to be done and when you did it to your interpretation of the instructions the professor questioned why it was done that way. As I mentioned it is all a learning experience but it is defiantly something I am dealing with at this moment and has gotten to me a little bit. In the same class I am currently working on my second presentation which I am worried about for the same and different reasons. We are in groups presenting about Canadian (for me) SME and large businesses their sectors and sizes but once again each person is having a different interpretation on what the instructions are meaning. When Sonya and I asked in class he did not help us what’s so ever and actually told us we should be working together because we are both Canada and thus we now are in different groups presenting the exact same information? Either way I have done my research and prepared this presentation and I can only hope what I have done it satisfactory to what he was looking for as well as get a better grade than last time since I think that would be one of my worst presentation marks ever. The next class that is getting frustrating is the awesome event management class. Although I am still very happy with the group I am working with and our event ideas and progress what is frustrating is how much is up in the air and what is expected of us with so little knowledge. For example the one thing holding us back right now is we are trying to work out the date to our event. The client of ours would like the event around Dec 14 but this is going to put a damper on our group because one of the girls

has a flight booked for the 19^th and we would still need to hand in our portfolio and be assessed. For this reason we are trying to get our date changed to the week before around Dec 7^th which would work out perfectly for our group and everything. Without the date being known at this exact moment it is making it hard for us to start our planning and executing the ideas of our event; we cannot contact caterers, the event venue or start advertising because this is a big part of what we need to know. As well as with so much being up in the air it is becoming hard to complete the assignments that are due every week. We have to do such things as; action plans, branding exercises, sponsorship and with all this dates and times are needed, schedules, and we have a good idea of what needs to be done but it is hard not knowing for sure and being able to really start to get the ball rolling. All of this will come into place eventually but until than we shall just have to wait and see. Everything else with the other two classes is going well; Dutch not much is happening, and ethics we have a case each week but the professors are really cool and they are very interactive which is nice for a subject like business ethics.

Arnhem

To start off here is the Doner I promised to show you all; yes I ate sheep and it has actually become my new obsession of food out here.

I have taken my first actual bike ride. It’s interesting to get on and off my bike since I am so small and it is so big but I have learned a new trick to either use a step or stand in the middle with the peddle upwards and do a little kick off motion.  I ride my bike to school now which is nice it saves some time and is good exercise but have actually taken my first actually city bike ride tonight. So in Arnhem each month they have ladies night at the movie theater. This month was Friends with benefits (They are very, very behind with their movies here) and all females get together watch this movie, enjoy free champagne, gifts, popcorn and a fun time. Since most girls from the exchange went we all got together in the bottom of one of the residences and rode into the city on our bikes. It was a lot of fun actually and funny as well. I am still learning to maneuver my bike nicely since it is so big and Sonya and I have some trouble running into each other so we were trying to make sure we did not crash ( as I have already crashed and fallen off my bike ). It was a lot of fun a bunch of girls riding down the streets together and so much better exercise than taking the bus. Anyways a little more about ladies night; As I said women from all over Arnhem get together to enjoy a movie. It costs about 12 euro and for this price you get a movie with comfortable seats, free champagne, free popcorn, a free pop a goodies bag and a chance to win actual prizes. As well during the event there are chances to buy some things such as jewelry, makeup, female products and much more (what a great marketing idea for the ladies). It was really just a fun Wednesday night to get out with the girls go to a movie laugh and enjoy. What a great idea! What I was surprised about was that I was not annoyed with the Dutch subtitles in the movie. Normally subtitles annoy me very much but for some reason this time I did not even pay attention and I LOVED THE MOVIE! I laughed, I cried (for anyone that knows me this is nothing new) and I just felt all around mushy gushy inside.

Laundry—Well for those of you who know me well you know I hate doing laundry. I put it off until the last minute and do ginormous loads to get it all done at once. Well in Arnhem this is not smart and not easy. In my residence there are laundry machines in the basement but really I don’t want to use them and spend extra money. So of course I leave laundry until the last minute when I have no clothes left and use my new found friend Sonya who now has a washer in her room and bring my ginormous stack of clothes to her place. Funny this about this is apparently in the Netherlands they do not really use dryers…so when you leave so much clothes to last minute it is a lot to try and hang around her room, so poor Sonya has my clothes everywhere. Thank you to her for allowing me to use her room and ahah enjoy the picture

Travels

Back from OKTOBERFEST and finally taking a weekend off. This weekend I have no travels planned so it will be interesting to see what I end up doing around the school. As for current travel plans coming up!

Oct 1^st weekend-Weekend in London England with Sonya and Briggita

Oct 8^th weekend-Weekend in Dublin with Sonya, Brigitta, Cait (from Ireland :D, and maybe Tom, and anyone else who decides to tag along)

Oct 15^th-Visiting family in Germany

Oct 23-Dusseldorf Germany with Sonya’s family

Oct 24^th we fly out to Italy for the week off of school

And more travels to be planned during or after that time based on price and class schedule.

Miss You

I can’t lie there are times being out here that no matter how many people you are surrounded by or what you are doing you just miss home. I miss my friends, my family, I’m missing the Jewish holidays, I miss the University of Windsor and Odette School of businesses and most of all, my boyfriend. All of this is hard and of course at times I want to come home but I know I can make it through the 4 months with a great experience and great memories that will never be forgotten.

As well other than people and school what I miss most of all is the sunshine and lack of rain (nothing rains as much as Europe) and food. I miss normal food and being able to cook a normal meal and heat things up normally in the microwave. I as well miss the gym. I have been working out in my room attempting to not gain too much weight while travelling and eating out a lot but it’s just not the same as going to the gym and I have finally started to like the gym so I do miss that a lot.


Until Next Week :)