So after Paris I went to Strasbourg and saw the famous clock then on to barcelona. There is apparently a lot of crime there. It's a thing. Like "oh is the crime in Somalia really bad?" "Well be careful, but it's not like it's Barcelona." So my second robbing happened here. A bit of a setback, but overall the city was still beautiful. I got to see some of the Gaudi architecture around the city. Reminds me of Hundertwasser so I really liked it.
Then after Barcelona I went to Geneva. First time that I have been to the french speaking part of Switzerland. Holy moly it was expensive. I bought a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and it cost about $15. No drink. No chips. No complementary foot massage with your meal. So I mostly walked around the city and took pictures. It was pretty at least.
Then after a couple of nights in Switzerland, I went to Berlin. I stayed there for almost a week. I had a delicious kebab from Mustafa's. nom nom....noms. I got to walk around and see the Artsy part of the berlin wall. tons of fun. Then after Berlin I visited Amanda in Wien. I completely loved that city. Great public transportation, nightlife, and attitude. :) After Wien, I went to Rome. Beautiful City. One of the days I was there the city went on strike. All of the public workers etc. I went outside to do some sightseeing and this is what I saw.
It all seemed pretty peaceful though. And since all of the workers were on strike I couldn't have done any tours or anything anyway. So, hey, might as well join them. We just walked along around the colosseum and listened to the loud music they played. It was more like a concert with random blurbs of rallying italian than a strike.
Next I went to Florence. It was beautiful, but right about this time I was running out of money and energy to be on the road this long. I took a tour of Pitti palace, but ended up just finding an abandoned windowsill and read shakespeare. I just pretended that I lived there instead of touring the palace.
Next I went to London. It was nice to be back on English speaking ground.
I stayed with some Friends from Hendrix for a few days and rested up. I did a little bit of sightseeing but mostly just walked around and read in the park.
Then on to Scotland.
I. Love. It. Here.
Everyone is so friendly here. It reminds me of how the south is supposed to be in America. Everyone is friendly and chatty. My first night here, a man at the bus station wanted to shake my hand because I was from Arkansas. The bus driver let me drive for free because I was confused and was supposed to have bought a ticket somewhere else. He even asked which stop I needed and made sure that I didn't miss it.
Since I have been here I have been trying to see as much as I can of the country. I went on a driving tour of the highlands and saw Loch Ness. I didn't see Nessie, but I imagine that she was asleep or on vacation. Beautiful Country though.
There is also a lot of rivalry between the two Glasgow football (soccer) teams: Celtics and Rangers. I was advised before I came to simply not choose a side. They take it pretty seriously here. Friendships are ruined over this stuff. I passed a pub that had this sign on the door.
"No football colours please. We dont like stabbings"
It all comes from original rifts between Catholics (Celtics) and Protestant (Rangers).
The classes here are also really strange. Back home you have a syllabus that tells you what to read before each class. You discuss those readings in class. You take notes in lectures. Here, they like to be a bit more vague about things. They have lectures and tutorials (seminars) ,and you don't exactly have assigned reading. They give you four pages of suggested reading and tell you to be able to discuss things in your tutorials. It's all a mess.
The lectures also seem a lot more elementary. Maybe because you have gallons of extra reading to do to fill in the blanks they leave.
