ROMA

Rome,

Has by far been one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. If you are looking for a place to go that combines history and beauty then Rome is the place for you! A little bit touristy but then again what major city in Europe isn´t nowadays. The trip got off to a little bit of a rough start because I had been sick for over a month and had booked the trip far in advance and was not willing to stay home simply because I was sick. As soon as I got there I slept half the afternoon and then forced myself to get up and go walk around. I soon found a pizza place and bought a slice of authentic Italian pizza. Well, I hate to be the one to break it to you but Domino´s and Pizza Hut have been doing it wrong. Real Authentic Italian pizza is NOT smothered in cheese in grease. It is actually very thin and delicious and you can taste the olive oil (they use olive oil instead of grease) and it was delicious! Although, one slice could have easily been three and I could not finish half of it. (At this point in my illness my throat was really swollen and so I was having problems swallowing.) I then walked around for an hour and half and then went home to sleep again. 2 hours later, I forced myself to get up and take myself out to dinner. Just having mastered a comfortable level of Spanish I was in no way prepared for Italian and the Italians were in no way prepared for English and so dinner turned out to be a funny experience. I walked a while until I saw a sign for "spaghetti" and I thought, ding ding! As soon as I ordered spaghetti I was then given brushetta. I thought "good, but I didnt order this" not wanting to be rude I took a few bites and waited for my spaghetti. Then came a plate of pasta and sauce. Again, I thought "ok just go with it" and ate a little anxiously awaiting my spaghetti. Alas, the spaghetti finally came and wouldnt you know I could barely eat it. No sooner had I began to unbutton my jeans and laid down my napkin as the  international sign of "I cant eat anymore and may soon throw up" did they bring out Tiramisu. It was then I pulled great strength from my days of  being the middle school fat kid and thought, " I will eat this Tiramisu and also will not be an insulting American" and so ate it I did. 2 bites later I was done. I then was shoving my money in the waiter´s hand so I could get out of there quickly before they tried to bring me something else. I then spent the next 2 hours walking it off for fear of going into a diabetic coma if I laid down in this state. Lesson learned... Italian cuisine is a 4 course meal so go on an empty stomach.

The next day I laid out a map and circled all the places I wanted to visit and decided that if I was going to see everything I wanted to see in 2 days that I was going to have to do the most embarassing and American thing possible while visiting a foreign country. Take a tour bus. Well, as it turns out, not a bad idea. For the two days I was there after I was able to see The Colloseum, The Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, St. Peter´s Cathedral, The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, and the Parthenon. All of which were so beautiful and interesting and literally took my breath away. 

One of the tragic things about this trip was I did not have enough time for both St. Peter´s Cathedral and The Sistine Chapel and so I was forced to choose which one I would tour and so I toured the Sistine Chapel. How was it...? Beautiful? Yes. Breathtaking? Yes. Moving? Not so much. You are in there with just about the entire population of Europe and so it is really hard to have a personally awe-inspring experience with sound of obnoxious tourists asking one another, " this here is the one with tha da´vinci fella isn´t it?"  On the bright side, with all the tourists in there I was able to get a forbidden picture on the ceiling while the guards weren´t looking. Very Jane Bond, I know. 

After seeing the Sistine Chapel I decided to venture off on my own and get lost in the city. This is how I found my favorite site in Rome, The Parthenon. The Parthenon is off a road which cars cannot get to and so you literally have to stumble upon which I am so happy that I did. My advice is ANY time you are visiting a new city, allow yourself AT LEAST one afternoon of just getting lost because this is how you will find the best things.

All in all, Rome wasnt too bad. Definitely one of my favorite cities. If you are thinking of visiting, do it. Rome is so beautiful and rich in history and will definitely make you feel like Russell Crowe in Gladiator. But keep in mind, give yourself more than 3 days and try to go in the off season when there arent quite so many tourists...

Berlin. Guten tag!

Berlin Berlin

Berlin, what a weekend. I would love to sit here and tell you that the weather was wonderful, the sites were ones for sore eyes, and that the food was incredible but the truth is none of the above applies. The weather was the absolute coldest I have ever encountered in my whole entire life, the sites were good, not great, and the food was not the best I ever had. But despite the above things I genuinely enjoyed my stay in Berlin.

 I went to Berlin for the Black Keys concert which in my opinion, was absolutely amazing. I went with my good buddy, Dylan, who got me started on the band and has converted me now into a Black Keys believer. The only downside to the concert was that we had to stand in the blistering cold and snow for an hour to wait for our tickets. Other than that, my face was officially rocked off. The Black Keys were incredible and I highly suggest that if you have the chance to see them, you do.

The rest of the weekend Dylan and I got a tour bus and just poked around the rest of the city seeing the sites. Berlin is a little sad to visit because so much of it is STILL in reconstruction from WWII which is a shame. But one thing I found inspring about Berlin is that despite the terrible history of Hitler and the Nazis it makes great efforts to honor the memory of the Jewish people.

There is one thing I did find in Berlin that I have yet to find anywhere else. The ABSOLUTE most wonderful piece of art I have ever beheld, The Berlin Wall. So as you all know, The Berlin Wall is of great significance and meaning in German history and so in 2009 on the 20 year anniversary of the wall coming down artists from all over the world came and painted murals on what is not left of the wall. It was literally the coolest piece of art I have ever seen. I was in utter awe of the sight of the wall and spent over an hour just looking and admiring the beauty of it. I also found great meaning myself in the wall. I thought about it for a while and thought to myself, every now and then humans will suprise you when your expectations of them have been so low in the past. I mean how cool is it that people from all over the world would come together to celebrate peace in such a creative and bold artisitic display. RESPECT and PEACE all around on this one. So in conclusion, Berlin- not my absolute favorite city I have ever seen but the Berlin Wall, NOT TO BE MISSED.

London and Paris

It came to my attention that I have been neglecting my blog and all of my hundreds of followers that I no doubt have and that I had forgot to write about my various travels entonces (and so) I will catch you up.

London
I went to London in November and was only there for two days which was not enough time in the slightest. London is definitely at the top of my list of places to return to the next time I come to Europe but for not I will just have to be satisfied with what I saw. London was a wonderfully traditional and historical city with much to see and do. I decided since I only had a short amount of time there and much to see that I should pay for a tour bus because it takes you to all the main spots. From this I stopped at and was able to see Trafalgar Square, (which, while I was there was actually filming a movie) St. James Park, Nottinghill, The Royal Palace, The Tower of London, St. Peter's Cathedral, Parliament, Big Ben, London Bridge and much much more. London was soooo beautiful and definitely is a city to get lost in and enjoy by yourself. It was exactly what I needed during this particular time because I was feeling a little homesick for the United States and London had a lot of the things from the US which made me feel comforted. I often find that more than anything I sometimes feel homesick for the US itself in all its simplicity and convenience.  Anyways London was not an experience to be missed and I strong urge any of you who have not traveled there to make a trip immediately if not now.

Paris
The city of Lights, a proper name indeed, every night the city was brilliantly illuminated. I was lucky enough to spend my Christmas in Paris which if you are ever traveling in Europe I highly recommend going to Paris during that time because unlike most places in Europe rather than staying cooped up inside around the fire Paris chooses to Celebrate Christmas and be alive and out and about on this day. I was lucky in that, I got to stay in Paris for five days which once again was not enough time. What I liked about paris the most though was the food. Let me be specific, the cheese. It is a safe assessment to say that my diet in Paris mainly consisted of Cheese. The cheese in paris, is the best I have ever tasted. While I did see the main tourist ventures in Paris- Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Champ de Elysses, and The louvre, most of the time I spent in Paris was just wandering around getting lost in the city. I went with my roommate and together we had the most incredible time. I liked Paris because no one judges you for having a bottle of wine at lunch and sitting in a cafe talking for hours and no one judges you when you walk around with a bottle of wine and does not label you an alcoholic when you are simply on vacation! Paris was marvelous indeed. The people were suprisingly friendly, especially the man who grabbed my roommate in the metro and would not let go. But yours truly came to the rescue by grabbing his hat and throwing it far away so he would let go. Ahh the French. The real problem was that my roommate and I were both laughing so hard it was hard for us to appreciate what was really happening. Funny at the time and now, still funny. The best part of Paris was Christmas Day, when we walked through a Christmas market which was selling hot molded wine, which I know sounds disgusting but, is suprisingly delicious! What a treat for Christmas!! We then ate a wonderful meal and were stuffed silly! Ahh Paris what a beautiful city indeed and one not to be missed!

Grateful

Webster's Dictionary defines to live as follows: having life. to be connected to power. I feel this definition is most appropriate for me at this point in my life. Living here, I some times feel lonely and disconnected from my family and friends but then I am reminded by the fact that I am here to live life, to make new experiences, and to be connected to a power. I have in the past few months come to believe that power exists within me. The power to continue everyday as a human knowing the hardships we must face sometimes seems like a daunting task but still we keep the flames within ourselves lit and remain connected to the power. I am here as living and breathing proof that life can change if you want it to. Life can be different and you can find what you are looking for. I dont know what it is yet that I am looking for but I believe living here, and experiencing all of the greatness that this beautiful world has to offer, has helped me to begin to skim the surface of what is to come. I am thankful for the past year and all it has taught me. I am grateful for the hardships that I have had to endure within the past year because I never would have found the power within myself that I believe I have been searching for all of my life. I am grateful to be surrounded by new experiences every day that I am here. But most of all I am grateful that I have finally found a love within myself, to love myself for all my imperfections and to finally be ok with the person I am. So I would like to end this year on a good notes, and hopefully a little piece of my message passes on to you and will remind you to love that person you are looking at in the mirror because at the end of the day that is all you are left with.

My life to date.

Hello Friends and Family,

I know it has been a while since I have written so I will make sure to make this entry significant and meaning. What's new with me? Well, I moved out of the first apartment into a new apartment and will stay here for 2 more weeks and then am moving closer to the center of town (and closer to work). My new apartment is spacious- has a living room, my room is big, a dinner table and even a laundry room! All in all exactly what I am looking for. My roommates are a girl from New York and a guy from Germany. The girl will be staying until December and the guy will be staying the entire time I am there so hopefully we will be good friends by the end! And most importantly, they both speak fluent English! Unfortunately though I speak the most Spanish out of all of us and my landlord knows this so her and I speak in Spanglish while she speaks English to the other two. So how is my spanish going? Well it is going a lot better due to the fact that my boss does not speak any English at all and so we communicate entirely in Spanish which bring me to my next point. I GOT A JOB. I got a job working in Leganes, which is about 20 minutes outside the city and so all in all it takes me about an hour to get there with the met and all but once I move into my new place it will only take me about 30 minutes to get there. I am working at an academia (academia- an English after school- school) so I work in the evenings. Right now for the month of September I only work 8 hours/week but starting in October I will start working 16 hours/week Monday- Thursday 5-9PM. This is good for me because hopefully I will be able to pick up private lessons in the mornings and then I have Fridays off which I love so now I can travel! Right now I am teaching 3 different groups 7-8 year olds, 3 year olds, and 8-9 year olds. My favorites are the 8-9 year olds because they are the most cooperative. The 3 year olds just want to play with my jewelry, lay all over the floor and of course take their clothes off so the better part of my time spent with them is controlling their nudist tendencies. My 7-8 year olds think everything is funny and so its harder to get them serious so for the most part I have to be creative with their classes and constantly keep them moving around. But my 8 year olds are my favorites! I have had this class the longest and they are starting to distinguish from when I am serious and they need to behave and when I am more relaxed and so we are getting used to one another. So for the most part, life is good. Cant complain. Spain is good too. My favorite place in Madrid is Mercado de San Miguel. It is this Supermarket made entirely out of glass and you can get the best tapas and cheeeeeeese there. I try to go there at least once a week because it is my favorite. Right now, I am living in Goya area which is further from center and so I try to walk around here a lot and enjoy it while I still can before I move to center. I usually am at center every weekend though because this is where most of my friends live. For example, last weekend we went to a discoteca in Malasana (super hipster area) and danced until 5 surrounded in a sea of hipsters and sexually confused teenage boys while listening to Spice girls. All in all, the perfect night. I love love love it here but I am starting to miss home slightly, it does not help seeing all of you post pictures on facebook and reading status' about tailgating but for the most part I am happy to be here although I CANNOT wait till Christmas when I get to see my family :). Well I must bid you adue for now. Pictures to be posted of my new places once I move in.

Hasta Luego,
HH

week 1. I survived. somewhat

Hello friends and family,

I know you have all been anxiously awaiting to see how my fabulousness translates to Europe so I will get right to it. During the week I stay pretty busy with my program so I do not do much in the city except get on the met, go to school, usually have lunch in the park by our school and then take the met home and work on lesson plans. The course is pretty accelerated and intense but I am crazy about my teacher. He has over 20 years of experience teaching English and is so insightful, smart and funny. I am beginning to see just how hard the English language actually is and how it might be difficult for someone to learn it. Although it doesn't help that I haven't learned grammar in about 10 years and so when the teacher asks what a sentence tense i will say "past?" and every foreigner classmate in the room will say " 3rd person past progressive" and I am like, "right. That is what I meant."....not. But it's ok because every other American in the class is just as lost as I am. So now in my free time when I am not lesson planning I am getting my hands on every possible grammar explanation I can find and making myself a ridiculous amount of charts. I am also trying to brush up on my Spanish which I will admit is rusty at best. Yesterday I had to go and get a new phone and the man barely spoke english and I barely spoke spanish but somehow we muggled through emphatic gestures and miming in the middle of store. Although it doesnt help that all of the old farts of this country have quite a fondness for giving Americans the stink eye which I have found can be easily combatted by a smile. I also gave my first 2 lessons this week which were on thanksgiving and celebrities. They were very fun but situations became dicey when my students did not understand the differences between a pie and a cake and what the concept of "gossip" means. Hopefully as I teach more I will begin explaining myself a little better. Have I made friends? Well this is obvious. Of course! This is something that I was actually really worried about but have found that most of my classmates are just as clueless as I am and so therefore we bond. I am friends with all of the Americans in my class but really only hang out with 2 of them and then we hang out with a guy from England, a girl from Mexico and then all of us usually bring our roommates. While we are on the subject of roommates... 1) My roommate Carly has a dog teddy so therefore I love her. Her and I get along very well. She is from Philadelphia and speaks perfect English and Spanish and so therefore is very useful.  2) French Fry. A 19 year old from France who is subletting for the month (like me) and who thinks our apartment is Miami Beach... A couple of days ago she had her boyfriend and family stay with us and the way I found out was her whole family in our kitchen when I went to make breakfast. oh fun. so now I have learned to just eat in my room. Also they party every night (carly and i both work and go to school) and so we are waken up every night by giggling. slamming doors, and of course lady gaga. And another delightful surprise was the other day when I wanted to go in the bathroom to brush my teeth (we only have 1 bathroom) but could not because my roommate and her boyfriend were taking a shower. how lovely. and now my roommate has 4 of her friends staying for 4 days and they keep asking carly and i where the best place to dance is. I didnt know what to tell them and suggested that carly lead them in the direction of the biggest church or where the prostitutes frequent but instead she gave them legitimate places. anyways so that is fun. The other night I went out with my little group and had dinner and then went bar hopping. I then sprained my ankle and it is now swollen and purple. oops. oh well. anyways gotta go. I am going to go hit retiro park today (very famous park in madrid not far from my apt). It was good catching up and I will keep you informed as to the comings and goings of my obvious celebrity lifestyle. Love. HH

I'm here! I'm here!

Hello Friends and Family-

Here is the first of many blogs coming direct to you from, thats right, none other than, SPAIN!!!!  I have made it here safe and sound and am in my room in my apartment (pictures to follow soon). My phone is not working so as of right now I am pretty heavily dependent on skype so if you need to contact me the best way is through skype or email. Anyways though I have made it here and couldnt be happier! My first official business will be to put sheets on my bed as I am not accustomed to sleeping on bare mattresses. My room is really cute, a little small, but cute. I have 2 dressers, a bed, a desk, and a miniature closet thing and most importantly a balcony!! (we are on the 7th floor). All in all- nicer than all Texas State dorms. I am really excited to be here but slightly exhausted so this wont be the longest post you will ever read but just wanted to let you know I was safe and sound. But in the true spirit of Hannah it would be a blog without a little entertainment. Picture this... Saturday morning 10AM a blonde, pat rack is told that she must be pay to bump to first class or pay $250 for all her luggage so naturally she bumps to first class (duh- the world is starting to finally catch up on what I have long suspected... V.I.P.) Anyways, as this charming young gal is sipping champagne in first class she strikes up the conversation of an irish man she is sitting next to. They talk to entire flight and decided to have lunch she thinks the day is going good, first class, invitation to lunch what could be better? WRONG. As soon as she gets off the plane the fire department is waiting to break open the door in coach class because a girl has OD'd in the bathroom and is throwing up and refuses to come out and this was all missed because the world decided to be smart and treat me VIP. ugh. anyways didnt make lunch with the irish man but i did get a card and if I am ever in trouble in Ireland I will have someone to call! Second victory- the flight to madrid I had a window seat and no one sitting next to me so guess who downed to sleeping pills and slept the whole flight...me!! success. Anyways time to get my self organized and break out the jaws of life to get my suitcase opened. Love you all blog soon!

HH