the black sea and me

I'm in Bulgaria. Just let that soak in a little. Or a lot. You choose the level of marinating you feel most comfortable with. I'm not here to dictate what you do. I'm just here to shamelessly brag about my life. Because shoot dang it's been unreal. Maybe I'll tell you all about my adventures sometime, because seriously, they deserve to be told.  But for now, I need to be sleeping. I'm catching hopefully a 5 am flight tomorrow back to Sofia to adventure around there. But I just needed to post something so that I could rub it in that I'm actually blogging from Bulgaria.

My life man.

Don't mind the hair. It's part of my look.

#sandalsarebetterthanshoes

yep. just made my blog a hashtag.

dealio.

jellyfish.

everywhere. 

obviously we need to work on having fun.

peace, bulgaria, and the black sea.

and viktor krum.

rrw

prague, czech republic

Here I am, helping my host-sister with her English homework, and stressing over the fact that I really don't understand English at all. I have never been more concerned with my ability to speak my own language. Have you ever tried to explain why we add a "though" on "thank you, though" when we decline an offer of something? Or the difference between "other," "another," and "the other?" Or why "few" and "a few" mean totally different things? 

English man. We do what we want.

Other than make a fool of myself in two different languages, I've been going through the hundreds of pictures from Prague. Shoot dang I took a lot. But here are some of them. We got to spend two days in the city and it was a party. Czech it out. You'll Prague-ably get pretty jealous.

Or just bored. Sorry. This is my life though.

View from the Prague Castle.

Prague Castle

St. Vitus Cathedral.

Don't ask how we managed to time it just right, but we did.

The sun on those stain-glass windows....

We took a boat tour (with dinner provided) on a boat just like this.

It was a buffet.

A word of advice: don't get between a Ukrainian and their buffet. You will lose.

Charles Bridge

Church of Our Lady in Old Town Square.

Infamous Astronomical Clock.

It tells time and other cool things.

We climbed to the top on our second day.

I love the brickwork in this thing.

I hope this isn't a drug reference or anything.

I just like Utah.

Spur of the moment we decided to rent a paddle boat.

And then we chilled on the Vltava River...

...and took some pictures. 

I'm just awkward and have no idea what to do with my hands in these things

There were sweet little islands all down the river.

The one we stopped on had a ropes course thing.

And then oh my gosh.

I saw The Dancing House. 

(aka Fred and Ginger)

I have studied this building so many times it's unreal.

So I took a "dancing" picture in front of it.

#tourist #superswag

that second hashtag just came out. i don't know why. let it happen.

After eating some awesome pizza from the street, we found a hill.

So I demanded we hike it.

I've been hurting for some mountains.

At the top we saw the Eiffel Tower.

jklolhags.

It's the Petrin Lookout. But we climbed all 299 stairs to the top to take in the views.

#beaststatus

It was fabulous.

 These people though.

After wandering through the forest/hill area near the wannabe Eiffel Tower, we came out behind the German Embassy ^^^

There might have been a guard that we avoided.

Just kidding. I talked with him. And wasn't deported. So good news.

ps. bottom left. that statue....? i want it.

Where there's a German Embassy, there must needs be an American one.

MURICA

I felt so close to home.

A love bridge.

Where I found my future...

 

So, like, I'm doing pretty good. Especially since my host sister just asked if she could polish my nails and then spent the next 20 minutes pampering me. Caroline, my expectations for sisterhood have just increased. Rebecca's off the hook because she has a baby, but you should have the spa ready upon my return. 

peace and prague

rrw

vienna, austria

My creative juices aren't quite flowing right now. Today the homesickness hit. And it hit hard. If you're reading this, sitting in America, and know me better than just as an acquaintance, chances are you crossed my mind more than once today.

Especially my family. Dang Gina. I miss them.

So if you know any fantastic cures for homesickness, let me know! For right now I'm sticking with eating all the snacks my mom sent with me and looking through photos of home. I'm sure to feel better by doing this, right!? (sarcasm intended) Oh, and as a heads up for advice that is sure to flow from you, going home isn't an option. I will not return to America until the middle of December. Case closed. (Aaaand that was me giving myself a pep talk. I'm super self-supportive. And I don't know even know if that makes sense. Like I said. No juices flowin')

So for now! Pictures.
*surprise*

After Budapest, I was a little bit doubtful that anything could be better. And then I went to Vienna. I didn't take as many pictures, but maybe that's because I was just having too good of a time.

 Hofburg Winter Palace and current office of the Austrian president.

Also the balcony where Hitler gave one of his most famous speeches.

One of the biggest shopping mall areas I've ever seen. I wanted all the things.

Including attractive European man in the cardigan.

Biggest regret? Not buying and eating all of these.

St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Whenever I see a flower shop I think of my mom. And then take a picture.

Not sure what this building is, but hey.

Thumbs up for Vienna.

Vienna City Hall. Also known as The Rauthus Building.

 These colors are furreals people.

And then we found a stone table and sat at it.

Votive Church. 

Which H&M is currently using as an advertisement during construction.

#bummer

 Parliament Building

 Apparently the second level of the fountain is where you throw your coins in order to find love.

I missed.

#singleforlife

I mean, who doesn't love a fluted Corinthian styled column?

#shoutout #motherwood #arthistory

And this is a full on, cheese infused, foot long, bratwurst hot dog thing.

I wish I could tell you more about the history of the places I've seen. But...the tour was all in Russian. Yeah, this might seem like a major oversight. But hey, I was still in Vienna. Eating dairy filled meat.

Can you beat that?

peace and princess sissi
look her up. she was super major in vienna a couple hundred years ago. and completely intriguing to me.

rrw

ps. For the record, I still am so happy here. Just missing the people who mean most to me. Which, you know, is kind of a good thing if you think about it. Ok. I'm done.