What a week...4 countries in 9 days!

Captains Log: It is currently 11:00AM and I am sitting in classroom B "watching a film for class"

My week journey of self discovery started last Saturday morning when I flew out of Newcastle to London Heathrow. Two girls from our group who were going to catch a cruise in Rome were on that flight with me. We parted ways at Heathrow and before I knew it I was off to Prague.

Prague was beautiful. Such a Bohemic city. The castle was much like anything else we have seen so far on any of our field trips. It was very gothic style architecture. The whole city was dotted by red rooftops and perched atop a hill was the massive castle (one of the top 10 biggest in the world)! The first night I was there, I did the Prague Pub Crawl. It was relatively cheap and I got a shirt along with it. We started off with an hour of unlimited Beer, Vodka shots (watered down...yet still strong), and absinth shots (phew...it was rough). We then got free welcome shots at the following bars we went to. We ended up in one of central Europe's best dance clubs. It was 5 stories tall and the dance floor was all LED lights and were sound enhanced.

I walked all over Prague. I liked traveling alone because I could cover a lot more ground in a shorter amount of time. I didnt have to wait for anyone, or try to accomodate to anyones likes/dislikes...I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I ventured through some back alley ways and side streets and finally found the John Lennon Wall (which really has nothing to do with John Lennon). It was really cool to see. It was a large wall that has been repeaditly graffittied over and over again. Almost everything had the basic "peace" message. There were quotes, and inspirational sayings and really cool pictures. I happened to meet a lot of Americans at the wall too. A couple studying abroad in London, a man from North Carolina, and a family from Utah....and an asian photographer from Hong Kong who kept telling us to get space inbetween all of us and then he wanted a jumping photo. It was great fun.

Shopping in Prague was cool. They have major stores like anywhere else, but it was overall pretty cheap. They had signs on lamp posts in the streets that had a big M for McDonalds and an arrow telling you how far away it was from you (such as 50M ahead). The World Cup was going on then and they had a large screen set up in the Old Town Square and a bunch of food stands and a couple beer tents (kind of like a Riverfest set up). Beer was only 40 CZKs...which was like $1.70USD. and their Budweisser was the best ever. I am not sure why, but it is better than the stuff in the states.

My journey came to an end in Prague after three nights. I was sad to leave because I didnt get to venture into the newer/more modern Prague or the business district. But I was excited for the sunny shores of Mykonos at Paradise Beach. Granted I had to make my way to two different airports in Swizterland before I ended up in Greece.

As we landed in Mykonos...I saw the baron countryside and was thinking...what did I get myself into? There is nothing here! We got to my resort and my opinion quickly changed. It was so nice to just sit on the beach for 4 days and not have a care in the world besides seeing old naked people or getting sunburnt. I managed to make friends with several people here. A group from South Africa, and an Aussie from Perth. Walking around in the town of Mykonos, was crazy. Literally every building was white, with similar colored decks/porches. It was pretty, but I felt I was in a labrynth and managed to turn myself around several times. The alleys were filled with shops and cool places to grab some food and such. I watched the sunset in the harbour/port area and managed to capture a few stunning pictures.

Overall I had an absolutely fabulous time traveling. Even though I was alone, it forced me to meet people and that is what I wanted to do the most was meet people from all over and establish a connection with them (in hopes that I could go visit them someday). It was scary at first traveling alone, but I got over that and went into it with a clear head and was ready for anything. I have nothing but good stories and memories to take away from this experience, and I would undoubtably travel alone again someday, but its always nice to have a travel buddie...It was nice to finally see people I knew again when I got back to the castle.

Next post...various pictures from my trip!