A little taste of Nice and speaking French

My original plan to work on an organic farm in southern France has changed slightly. I am now heading to Budapest to work in a hostel for three weeks. Almost the same thing, right? I thought I would spend way more time in a few southern cities but Nice was the only destination. Im out of money and im so tired of packing a bag every few days, train travel, different hostels, having to make all new friends every few days. So much work! So three days in Nice. Beautiful city, great hostel. I met a fun group of girls, somewhat of a rarity for me. I usually find guy friends, more solo travelers, more laid back. Now that I think about it, that was my first group of girls to hang out with for more than a few hours. So, Nice. Didnt see a single sight but had two great days at the beach and even better nights meeting people at the hostel.
The experience of the city that sticks out the most for me was meeting two French men with my friend Molly. She spoke much better french that I did. Mine was pitiful minus my three years of study in High school and college and an attempt at brushing up before arriving. Anyway, the guys spoke about as much english as we spoke french. It was the perfect lesson. And for the first time in my life, I was being told to say something in another language instead of testing someones english. I pretty much failed the test, but enjoyed the challenge so much. I was in their country and had to attempt their language. I have never been more motivated and excited to learn another language!
So I have found a travel partner to Milan where I fly to Budapest. Morgan, from Portland ironically, and we catch three miserable un-airconditioned trains, uhh. We spend the night at a hostel, she heads to Venice and I head to the airport to catch my flight to Budapest, or so I thought. No need to go into details as I feel I have been bitching about bad travel for too long but I spent 26 hours in the lovely Milan airport. Oh the adventures of travel:)

Switzerland--absolutely gorgeous and insanely expensive

Well I said goodbye to Italy and am not too upset about it. Nearly two weeks there. Expensive and packed with tourists. Two of my least favorite things about a city. Cinque Terre was a good ending to it all. I have been debating my next destination and decided the night before with advice from fellow travelers that I MUST go. So Im off. Train to La Spezia, no air conditioning. Train to Milan, so packed. Train from Milan to Interlocken, Switzerland.....hell. By far the worst train experience of my trip thus far. I knew I was in for an all day train and set to arrive at the hostel around 10pm. The train stops and doesnt move for 30 minutes. I dont understand directions and a swiss man next to me translates. 20 minutes and the problem will be fixed. 20 minutes later, 20 minutes and the train will move. This continues for 3 hours until it is announced that the train will not be moving the rest of the night. Over 300 people are to be bussed to the next city across the border, then catching a train, then taxis, busses, whatever it takes to get to our destination. Well at 4 am I arrive at my hostel. Welcome to Switzerland!
Interlocken is fairly central in the country, surrounded by the Alps, and situated between two lakes. Absolutely beautiful. I hike along a river to one of the lakes and relax for the day and return to my hostel for a huge celebration of Canada Day(July 1st- sadly I didnt know it existed until i was in a hostel in Europe watching drinking games and body painting competitions.) I meet two guys from Texas and two from Canada. Later we end up in the downstairs bar where I look over and see my french Canadian friend Dominique who I hung out with in Vienna over 2 weeks ago. We hug like siblings who have not seen each other in 10 years. Its those quick friendships and a familiar face that really do make you feel good. And we had not been in touch since Austria and just happen to be at the same place at the same time. I am discovering the world is smaller the more I see it.
So, day 2 is hiking up to First in the Alps with Dominique and another guy he met. I have been a little shocked after realizing that I am out of money(minor budget issues, haha) and am in the most expensive country so far. This is all forgotten as I am hiking through mountains, seeing waterfalls and glaciers, and beautiful farmlands. Absolutely perfect. The best decision ever to come here and not regretted for a minute. I have been debating a stop in France or heading back to Budapest. I must go to France now or it probably wont happen, then return to Budapest.
Oh yea, I have decided to return to Budapest and work in the hostel I stayed at there. Great place, lively city, and im out of money. Time to do a little work! Next stop- Nice, France:)

Cinque Terre AKA paradise!

This place is absolutely beautiful. Green hills, rocky coastlines, colorful villas situated perfectly near the water. It is so great to be out of the cities. The village where my hostel is has one restaurant and a small convenience store. Not so convenient but the peacefulness makes up for it. Night one, football game of course. I meet Cassi, a 17 year old from Australia traveling solo for a year. And I thought I was crazy. I could never imagine doing something like this at that age alone for a year. She seemed to have it down and I give her a lot of credit for it. Also meet Rich and Alex, two Americans traveling solo and Bianca from Australia as well. We make plans to take the 9 km hike though Cinque Terre in the morning. 7am we are on a bus to the first town of Riomaggiore. Quick breakfast and we are on our way through the "moderate to difficult" hike. City one and two are easy. We are mocking the intensity of the hike, paved trails, an elevator option at one point. We meet a lot of people from everywhere as the sun blazes and the sweat is pouring. Ok, I take back all the jokes about it being too easy. We arrive at the 4th village and sit near the beach for a bit. We can see the next village and a big beach not far away. Jumping in that water will be our reward after the hike so we take off. First attempt, dead end. Second attempt, definitely a hiking trail but nearly straight up. The guys are long gone. Bianca and I take breaks as needed and question turning back. We are miserable, hot, tired and she is breaking out in rashes. "It has to flatten out soon" are my reassuring words every 10 or 20 minutes. Actually it doesnt. Two hours later we have came across 3 other hikers and we are still climbing up the cliffs. We later find out that we took the much more difficult 8b hike instead of the common 8a along the lower part of the cliffs. By far the most intense and beautiful hike I have ever done. After our near death experience(slight exaggeration) beers, food and swimming in the ocean were our much needed reward. This is exactly what I was looking for after big city traveling and minimal to no intense physical exercise for the past 6 weeks. The next day we switch hostels to be in the villages and rent kayaks. This place is so great! Have I said that already. I have been debating Switzerland or France for a while and decide that Interlocken, Switzerland is my next destination. Cinque Terre, I will be back!

When In Rome......

I was actually able to use this phrase while being there a stund overused it a bit but why not? I believe Roma is the biggest city I have been to on this trip with almost 4 million people. I stayed in a campground again but was able to meet people easier since it was huge, they played the football matches and had a large bar and nightclub. Visited Vatican City- the museum and Sistine Chapel. What a snooze fest. Almost 5 hours to walk through both. Beautiful paintings, sculputures and history but boooring. After that I went to the Colosseum. So amazing. Also, while waiting in line and listening to my ipod to avoid any stress and drown out obnoxious kids, a song by Michael Franti played. I bought the CD when I first started working a second job to get money for the trip. I hated the job, dreaded going there but listened to that CD and thought about this trip. Now I was listening to it while waiting to enter the Colosseum in Rome. Well worth it!! Also saw the Roman Forum and many ruins. I walked for hours through it all in awe of how much was still intact and imagining the city that was once thriving there. By far the coolest "old stuff" I have seen so far. Off to Cinque Terre 5 villages on Italy's northern coast. Beaches and nature are much needed after so many chaotic touristy cities.

You would think a short note about every city I visit would not be difficult, you would be wrong.

I wont pretend that I have just finished seeing Florence, the city after Venice and heading to Rome. I have actually been to three other countries since Italy but I will attempt to recap and vow to keep up on the blog a little better.
So Firenze as it is referred to by the Italians, old, historical, beautiful, and lots of churches. I visited 6 the 2 days I was there and even one twice. Now I am offically burnt out on churches, cathedrals, basilicas..... Im not even sure how a basilica differs from a cathedral or church. Anyway, upon first arriving at the train station I see a man holding a sign with a name on it. No definitely not my name, but on top of the name was the Avanti Destinations logo, the travel company I worked for in Portland. It was cool to see the other side of the company and people taking their travels that they paid a lot for. Me, I walk past and get directions to the bus to my hostel and I am perfectly fine with that. Upon arriving, I meet Peter an English man in his 60's who mapped out all the sights I must see and had endless knowledge on everything imaginable. Interesting until he started quizzing me on US history. The stupid American strikes again. Regardless, he ended up being a great travel advisor to Pisa, Cinque Terre, and Switzerland. I really hope to be as ambitious, worldly and passionate about travel at that age. Florence is probably best known for the statue of David, which my friends visited. I opted out of standing in line for an hour and paying 20 euro and went to an internet cafe. Heard it was great. Good enough for me. So yea, two days there hanging out with Juan Jose Gonzalez(love the name) from Mexico. Coronas at noon as we walked from church to church. Watched the World Cup game and made 20 or 30 friends walking in the streets because he was wearing his jersey and there was an oddly large number of Mexican fans. Lots of fun minus the loss.
After two and a half days in Florence, I caught the train to Pisa and stayed for a few hours. Saw the tower, lots of pics, tons of tourists, lunch on the lawn(per Peter's suggestion) and back on the train headed to Rome.