It's almost been a week in Europe!

Hello everyone,

I am sure you have been waiting for my update, or I am just being overconfident in the fact that you actually care and are on the edge of your seats waiting for an update =P I guess I will go by city, and adding my observations about the life there. This may not be accurate, as I did not technically live there, I have only been a tourist there (as much as I dont like tourists sometimes =P), so keep that in mind.

London - June 15 and 16, 2008
We arrived in London, England (not Ontario) at about 12:15pm, London time. Customs line was long as usual, but we got through pretty hassle-free. Then we walked out and I realized that I didnt have a number to call in case I couldnt find Ran and Matt. Then Matt sneaks up on us and freaked me out. =P The metro was pretty expensive, about 3 pounds plus 10 pounds. I think I still have money in my Oyster card though. We arrived at Ran's residence about an hour and a half later, and realized how small it was. Later that night, we managed to figure out our accommodations for the next 2 nights. Three on the floor, two on the bed. Unfortunately, Ran and Matt were sick, but they were nice enough to take us out the entire day for some sightseeing! First we just walked out of her residence, and walked into this little corner near the Thames river. Saw a random ship, then passed Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Tate's Museum of Modern Art, crossed the Millenium Bridge, and found the astounding St. Paul's Cathedral. Now I am not very religious, but I do appreciate the time and effort that are spent building these crazy things! Just the shear amount of detail and its grandeur really amaze me. This is the spot where we started the "For Cedric, who is not here" album. haha. Also, at some point, we stopped at Somerset House, I don't remmber when, but we spent quite awhile there, as we took photos of Joey hopping around in the fountain. Too bad he didn't get soaked. =P Anyway, after St. Paul's Cathedral, we continued walking, and passed by the Royal Courts of Justice, which was very beautiful as well. We eventually made it into Chinatown (what Chinese person DOESNT visit Chinatown in a foreign country? LOL) We were very hungry, so we chowed down there, with ridiculous prices. It was definitely cheap on the London scale, but it was definitely not the cheapest you can find in Toronto. It was around 5-8 pounds for a Chinese dish, which means $10-16 CDN. I know! That's what I thought!

After the Chinese restaurant, we went over to Trafalgars Square (I hope we are getting the order right, as I can't lay out the map of London in my head =P). This is supposedly where all the pigeons are and the National Museum. I didn't see many pigeons though. Maybe because it was so full of people. The square was beautiful! We climbed some huge lions and took more asian tourist photos. Bad idea to climb in a dress! =O Then we walked down the street to White Hall, where we were stopped by gates and police. We asked them what was going on, and apparently they had to close off the streets for security measures for George Bush, who was in town that day. At this moment, there was a woman freaking out next to us, because she wanted to go yell at George Bush. She even went so far as to start stripping her clothes off, saying "Do I have to strip my clothes off in order for me to walk down this street? I'll do it! Why won't you let us walk down this damn street? This is our city!"... or something to that effect.

Then we walked the long way around to Big Ben, and took a few shots. We then noticed a large crowd in front of the parliament building and realized that this is where all the protesters were. They were protesting against George Bush, because he was destroying the planet, and attacking more countries in the Middle East. Apparently the result of his visit was sending more UK troops into Afghanistan or something. Oh George Bush... The protest was pretty interesting, as police were arresting people one at a time. We at first just saw a lot of running and it kind of freaked me out because I thought something more serious was happening. We stayed there for awhile, took some more pictures, saw the Westminster Abbey, then walked over the Westminster bridge to catch some beautiful shots of the sun setting behind Big Ben. We walked along the Thames, pass the London Eye, stopped at an arcade to pee. At the same time, Matt showed off his pro DDR skills (Euro Mix!), Ryan and Joey played some air hockey, and Joey finished it off with some Initial D. After an extremely long day of walking and sightseeing, we hopped on the bus back home, where we chilled a bit.

The second day, we woke up a little earlier (I was so tired! Probably from the lack of sleep on the airplane the previous night), and headed off to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards. There was a ridiculous amount of tourists there, and it was a Monday! Weird... Anyway, I couldn't see much as so many people were around, but I guess it was something a tourist had to see!!! Then at some point, I turned around and saw Charlotte and Sehr! Of course, it was planned we'd meet there, but that didn't take away the surprise of seeing them on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean! The Changing of the Guards ceremony was over, but Ran and Matt weren't feeling well, so they went home to rest, while the rest of us took a few pictures of the Canada Monument, then walked off towards some arch. Westminster Arch or something? I forget the name. Then we made our way to Harrod's, the crazy expensive department store. The toy section was awesome!! By then we were famished, so decided to make our way back to London Bridge for lunch. We had some Nando's and it was pretty good, then walked along the Thames to the Tower Bridge and the new City Hall. The Tower Bridge was stunning, as well as the architecture around the City Hall. We crossed the bridge to the Tower of London, and then towards the Gherkin building (some phallic building, I'm not sure it's even a tourist attraction, as it was a business building). Then Sehr had to go back to Sheffields =( so we walked over to the station to drop Sehr and Charlotte off. It was a great day that we spent together! Ryan, Joey and I, then walked over the London Bridge back home. We were supposed to go out that night, but Ran's friends cancelled, so we spent most of the evening in Ran's residence kitchen, just chatting and catching up. =) Later, we ended up going to a strange bar called Belushia's with Joey, Ryan, Ran, Matt and Amit. It was the most awkward party I had ever been to! I also tried to upload pictures that night, but it didn't work.. so wait up for photos!!!!!!!!!! Then at about 2am, I got ready to leave for the airport. I missed the bus I had to catch! Technically, I didn't miss it, but when it drove by... it kept driving by, without opening the doors!! Apparently I was supposed to wave frantically at the bus for the door to open. Anyway, in order not to miss the EasyBus (airport express), I caught a cab, which you may have guessed, was super expensive!! It was 10 pounds for a 10 minute right ($20CDN), and for fear of getting lost, I just told him to drop me off at the place where I needed to be, which was another 10 minute ride. The taxi driver was super nice though, and only charged me 5 pounds more. I made it to the EasyBus, and then slept for an hour before arriving at the airport.

Prague - June 17 and 18, 2008
I arrived in Prague at about 9am, Eastern European time (3am Toronto time). No problems with customs. Martin arrived at about 10am to pick me up. We started off the day with buying a 5-day unlimited travel pass (500 Kc, around $30 CDN [divide by 17]). We went over to the AIESEC office, at the University of Economics, where we dropped off my luggage in a locker. They have 2 AIESEC offices there, with 5 computers, that are labelled. haha. We ate lunch at the University on this terrace, with a view of the city. It was beautiful. I think I got sunburnt just from eating lunch, which consisted of Kofola (coke-like drink), meat with sauce, and some veggies. Then we made our way downtown, saw Wenceslas Square, walked down the boulevard to Orloy, in the Old Square to watch the astronomical clock strike the hour (there is a skeleton that rings the bell, and some people that pass by in the window...). It was a cool clock I guess, all this while enjoying some ice cream. =) Then we walked over to the Charles Bridge, and onto the Prague Castle. Boy, was that ever a climb up the hill!!! Everything was soooooo beautiful! I need to go back to the Castle to see it better, as Martin had to rush off back to meet his relatives. We went to the university to get my stuff. He then showed me how to get to the AIESEC flat; we met Grace so she could give me keys to the flat. Then I showered, and passed out for 2 hours, before going to Martin's farewell party at a pub near the university. One thing about Czech culture, they seem to be very to themselves. They were very warm to each other, but not to foreigners. It was kind of weird. Not being able to speak a word of Czech, I just listened and observed their conversation. It was weird because it was an AIESEC party, and usually at AIESEC parties, people are very inclusive and especially include foreigners, but I guess that wasn't the case. =P I met Fabian, a past MC member of AIESEC Mexico and Czech Republic, so we chatted a bit. Then I went home to the flat, and chatted with the other trainees for a bit: Grace, Thomas, Milan, Alex and Yali. Yali is a past MCP of Turkey in 2004. THat was pretty cool.

The next day, I met up with Martin to have some lunch and run some of his errands before he goes off to Asia. I had some Czech dish, some dumplings (which is actually just like bread), and then meat covered in this special Czech sauce, with some whipped cream and some wierd berries. It was prett yummy and definitely filling (all this for less than $5 CDN!). They only have one flavour of Fanta here, and it's orange, but it's pretty good! =P After lunch Martin had to rush off to see his marks, and I decided to enjoy the centre, and did a bit of shopping. I was freaking out because I couldn't take out money from anywhere, but I finally got to Citi Bank, which was the only bank that let me take out money. Weird! Anyway, went shopping, and bought a top and a skirt *guilty*! Then went to the National Museum and spent a few hours there. Then I was sOOO tired, and started making my way home to meet Yali for dinner. I went to the grocery store, Tesco, and bought a bunch of groceries for less than $5 CDN! It was amazing; although toiletries are expensive($5-10CDN for a bottle of shampoo!) Then went out for some beef goulash, fried cheese and frisco! I was soooo tired and I passed out for the night, and slept in until 1pm today. And now, Thomas is home, allowing me to use his laptop. =P Well, that is all for now, I must go out and do more sightseeing!!!!!! See y'all. This entry must be sooooo long! Keep ya guys updated, and upload pictures soon! =) ___out