My recent week in Czech Republic! Due to the PurgeAtl.com writers and my mom complaining that I don’t write enough in my blog, I will attempt to write a little more this time. Long story short, I met Martin in New Zealand at the beginning of this trip, and we talked almost every day over the past four months. He was living and working in New Zealand, then went traveling around Fiji, Vanuatu, and Australia, while I was all over the place. He is from Czech Republic and had to return home for a bit while I was in Europe, so here we are! We started in Prague.

I love the view of the city.

This is beer, mom. It’s pretty good in Czech.

another castle..

Finally got to try Absinthe for the first time! I’ve been curious for a while. It tasted awful, but the feeling was nice.

After Prague, we headed to a small village called Krenov to visit some of Martin’s friends from high school and college. There was soccer (ok, football), beer, and food. That pretty much sums up three days.

The boys!

Apparently you need a lot of foam for a beer to be good. Who knew.

“Potato Juice”

The lake by the house we stayed at.

The town where Martin grew up!

Ice cream!

We rode bikes to a castle. Not a bad day.

Martin is a veterinarian, so we visited some of his friends from vet school and some animals. Baby cows and then an animal sanctuary.

So, I apologize for the sudden mushy and overall vomit-inducing nature of this post. Obviously it wasn’t the plan to meet someone two weeks into a round the world trip, but that’s life. Tomorrow we are headed to Istanbul, because…why not head to Istanbul. One week there, then back to Czech for a few days, then back out to…somewhere. Maybe Switzerland. Hoping to meet up with some other friends as well. Good things on the way!!

So, for the first time, I’ve traveled abroad by myself! Nicole has been visiting friends in Spain and England and I’m visiting friends in Germany and am headed to the Czech Republic in a few days. I have to say that I’m pretty proud of myself for not getting lost, robbed, or lonely for a week on my own :) Feeling pretty grown up at this point, I guess that was bound to happen at some point! I’ve spent time reading, exploring, drawing, meeting new people, and taking care of some things that I’ve been putting off due to being so on the go in the last four months. I haven’t taken as many photos this week, but here are the few I have…

The lobby of my hostel…for some reason.

American and Canadian friends.

Daniel!

Under the table party.

Art school graduation party.

It’s been a really good week, and a really great month and a half in Europe!

Holly is gone, we had a blast! Finished off the trip with the Amalfi Coast, Munich, and Amsterdam. We met some great people and lived it up as usual.

We stayed at this amazing place called The Tent in Munich, one of my favorite places we’ve stayed. 100 beds in one big tent, campfires, good beer and music, so much fun..

and then, Amsterdam! Bummed around, went to the Anne Frank Museum, made some new friends..

Sad that this part of the trip is already over! Things are flying by too quickly, it’s killing me!

We are sitting outside at a restaurant on the Amalfi Coast, drinking wine and listening to a barrage of fireworks following the loss of the Italy vs Spain game…trying to book a hostel in Munich and wondering where we should go in Switzerland after Germany. It’s a constant attempt to balance enjoying the moment with figuring out the next step. You can only plan so much at a time. Since Holly has been here we have hit Barcelona, Paris, Chamonix, Ibiza, Rome, and Amalfi. The day after tomorrow we’ll take an overnight train to Munich.

It’s been so nice having a friend visit us (finally!), and we are actually meeting up with some of Nicole’s friends when we get to Germany. It’s been a crazy week….picnics, raves, the beach, snow-capped mountains, ancient cities, photoshoots, wine, make-up, last minute decisions…..and we have another 9 days to go. As usual, here are some photos!

…and now you are updated.

We actually went ahead and booked a 100 person dorm room in munich, in a large tent with bunk beds and 100 other people. Should be an interesting experience..