Single Ladies

A little something I found...."OH! This is the hard part!"






Title Track: Beyonce

At Last

Well, this looks like it will be the last post for this lovely blog. I can't believe 5 months have gone by already! wahhh

So I went to Turkey on June 9th for a week. It was pretty amazing but it would have been better if I had someone to go with. I started in Istanbul with a walking tour of the european side of the city. I was with one other Australian couple, so it was a really small tour.We hit up the Blue Mosque, Hegia Sofya, and the Grand Bazaar. The guide sort of left us there, and so I spent the remainder of the afternoon, or at least the next hour, trying to find my hotel. I literally had no idea where I was in relation to it, so I figure finding it in an hour isn't really that bad at all! But, it was like 38 degrees, so I was pretty dead when I got back to the hotel. I had a shower and a nap and then decided to hunt down some dinner. The men yelling about kebaps on the street scared me, so i decided to go somewhere nice-ish. So I sat down and ordered my salad with chicken, and then the waiter comes back with this huge appy platter "compliments of the restaurant". Sweet, free food. I also got free wine and dessert...I think they felt bad I was eating alone.
The next day I got picked up at 6:30 (BLARG)to drive to Galipoli on the Asian side. This I could have cut out as it was just cemetery after cemetery...and while it was semi interesting, my interest fades in 40 degree heat on the top of some random hill looking at graves. Yeehaw. But, that night I stayed in Canakkale, which was like a bigger version of Koper, so I felt more at home.
The next day I went to Troy, which, while still exciting, was a bit disappointing. All the stuff that's supposed to be there is in other museums in Berlin and Russia. LAME! But i saw some really old stuff and stood on the ground where Hector was killed. I was in greek mythology nerd heaven. The tour guide I had that day was a Turkish version of me basically, so we got along great. Plus there was a super douchy american man on our tour and he kept giving her a hard time, so I helped to reassure her she was doing a great job (because I knew all the myths and things as well). She took us to Pergamon as well, which has the steepest theatre in antiquity. Holy balls was that hard to climb. But totally worth it for the view. We also went to a carpet factory and saw how they make silk and carpets. It was interesting until they trapped me in a room alone and tried to sell me things. I managed to escape, but the man followed me down the hall yelling "Only 200 lira!!" My australian couple helped protect me after that. The next day was my Ephasus tour which began at the Virgin Mary's house. Like her ACTUAL house where she died. It was pretty incredible actually. Then we drove to Ephasus, which is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. About 6% of the city is uncovered, and it blew my mind. Only my pictures can explain it. Also, it was 42 degrees that day with not a cloud in the sky..that also blew my mind, literally. My tour guide kept 'guiding' me under his umbrella for shade because i am "a ginger, you will die in the sun, and if one of my guests dies, it looks bad on me". There was also an old australian man who offered shade under his umbrella if I should need it. People were nice to me because I am young and I was alone haha. That night, I watched world cup in my little hotel in the middle of nowhere. The old man who owned it was so sweet, he made air blown popcorn for everyone while the game was on. He also chased me up the stairs to tell me that i could eat dinner for "ONLY 5 EUROS!". He then continued to give me a tour of the buffet, highlighting the soup table..."there is a different soup every day. Different..every day. A different soup...every day!"...Man at soup table:"Yes, different every day!!". It seemed to be their main selling point. It was pretty good soup though, I'll give them that.
The next day I had a free day before my night bus back to Istanbul, so I did an extra day trip to Pamukkale (it means cotton castle). It is a mountain with an ass load of calcium deposits which are incredible. I could barely believe my eyes. You can walk in the thermal waters of the calcium deposits all the way down the side of the mountain...it looks like you are swimming in snow! if you are in Turkey ever, GO THERE. Temperatures that day hit an all time high of 46 degrees. And I didn't even burn...eff yes. (mild sun stroke did occur that evening...oops). I made my way back to istanbul for a free day of shopping and a tour on the Bosphorus. It was a great trip, but again, I wish I had had someone there to share it with. OH WELL!

The next week was the week of goodbyes and depression for your dear friend Erin. I have never cried so much in my life. I won't get into details, but lets just say that when two full grown spanish men start to cry BEFORE I did while saying goodbye did not help me hold strong. good lord, i was practically dehydrated from all the tears.

Now I am with fam in Ljubljana. Matic has mostly been helping me with language, but he didn't come to Prek with Stefka, Joze, and I. Poo. It was fun though, just kinda sitting and listening. Ps I forgot my camera in ljubljana, so i don't really have pictures...oops. Tina is 5 months preggers, so that was exciting news! She seems to be doing really well...well enough to play basketball with us haha. Bojan insisted on using a GIANT bouncey ball with antennae instead of a normal ball...that was interesting. The vision of Stefka trying hurl the giant ball into the net will never leave my memory haha. It was pretty chill for the most part, although Minka and Stefan are driving them all insane, apparently. Metka told me a bit about what was going on...let's just say she doesn't even use his name anymore, she just refers to Stefan as "the crazy old man". Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to center and run a few errands, and then pack like mad (and weigh my giant bags) so that everything is ready to go for the airport on Tuesday. See you all soon!!!


Lanterns in the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul


Pamukkale


Pamukkale


Ephasus


Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Title Track: Etta James

We Lost Our Way

Yay Budapest! My favourite city to date, hands down. Turkey has some work to do to beat Buda.

Laura and I went to Ljubljana the day before to hand in our papers and set an exam time with our prof...we also went to see one of Laura's favourite bands from Canada, Wolf Parade, play at some venue in Ljub. So we met with our prof and then went to get some delicious mexican food and wander around downtown. It was the first time Laura had seen Ljubljana when it wasn't raining! Then we had a nap in the park while Laura tested my Slovenian speaking skills...I did pretty well actually. I took her to Dvor pizzeria for supper...100 different kinds of pizza and they are ALL amazing. Best pizza I've had in Europe thus far. We then wandered our way over to the venue, and luckily bumped into some other hipsters going to the show and they gave us directions. The venue was something comparable to the WECC, but a whole village of it, and on crack. There were statues coming out of walls and weird art everywhere, it was neat. The show was AMAZING, I was thoroughly impressed with Wolf Parade. Matic was nice enough to pick us up at the venue, so we went home with him and stayed the night at Minka's. The next morning we got up and Joe had breakfast all ready for us, so we ate and chatted a bit and then Marie-Eve and Hanna came to pick us up at the house. They, of course, had to come in and be introduced to everyone. It went something like this..

Here is my cousin Matic....and this is Primoz...and this is Joe...and this is his wife Stefka....and this is my Teta Minka...and this is her husband...and oh yah, there is Bina the dog too.

People just kept coming out of the kitchen and my friends eyes just got wider and wider...i don't think they realized that 100 people live in that house haha. Then we had to take pictures with everyone and we were on our way!

The GPS (we call her queeny because she is british) failed us EPICALLY. She did not register that there is a highway DIRECTLY to Budapest from Ljub. So she was directing us all through the country side. Like ALL through it. We went up to Jeruzalem, we went into Prek, we literally drove past Aga's house and through cerensovci, we crossed the border into croatia for some reason, and then proceeded to cross back out 10 minutes later. The border guards actually laughed at us. They said, in Slovene,
"Why are they here?"
"They are going to Budapest"
"Yah, I know, but why the F*** are they HERE?"
"Just leave them, they will find their way...eventually"...this was followed with the second guy throwing his hands in the air and walking away. Did I mention they were ALL eating popsicles at the time? Well, they were. Well screw you second guy, we did find our way! After a couple viewings of storks and 3 extra hours...we drove triumphantly into Budapest! We checked into our glorious hostel and all was right with the world. Our hostel was right near the main tourist street; it was the 5th floor of an old apartment building with the sketchiest elevator I have EVER seen. The people running it were super young and fun, only room for 18 guests, so it was like a little family. At night we would all drink together and go out together...it was really nice. So the first night that's what we did. It was Jan's (german guy who will appear again later) birthday, so we all did a shot of absinthe (blarg) and then went out to this really neat open air bar. Well it was just me and Laura this time, but yah it was still fun. Then we went to a dancey bar, but it was crap so we left. We ran into the two Germans on our way home, and between the four of us we SOMEHOW managed to make it back to the hostel.

Our first day we did a walking tour of both the Pest and Buda sides. We saw St. Stephan's church and the Buda Castle as well as some more hidden things that the tour guides pointed out along the way. Then we ran into two German guys from our hostel and we all went to a Hummus bar for lunch, it was actually super yummy. Also, I had mango juice that was insanely good, just for future reference. Then we met up with a guy we know from Koper who lives in Buda and was back to do his exams. We went for a drink at this outdoor pool bar thing and then he helped us buy Opera tickets. Thats right, we went to the Opera. The tickets only cost 1.40 euro though, so the seats kinda sucked. They were so bad, in fact, that when we asked if there was a dress code, the lady said "yes, but you don't have to worry about it because you must enter through the back door, not the front". It was nice though, something different I guess.

The next day we went to see the bronze shoes by the water; they commemorate the jewish people who, at the end of WWII, were lined up along the river Danube and shot. Very powerful moment. I will post a picture below. Then we did the long walk up to the city park to go to the thermal baths. AMAZING. Saunas, thermal water,healing waters, outdoor pools of different temperatures...so nice. That night we kinda got to know some of the hostely people better via drinks in the kitchen, and then, somehow, we convinced all of them to go out with us. There were two other canadian guys there, so it was nice to talk to someone from home. We went to another open air bar, but it was really neat..you could sit in cars and bathtubs and things. Budapest is weird. Some of us then continued on to a more dancey bar, and by the time we left there, the sun was up. I then proceeded to cook a box of KD for anyone who was awake back at the hostel. Good times.

The next morning we got up after...1 hour of sleep, and went for a very long lunch. Our last stop was the Terror Museum which was all about Hungary when it was occupied by the nazis and then the soviets. Really interesting and intense. Then, I drove out of Budapest (ON THE HIGHWAY)and we made it back to Koper in 5 hours. I turned queeny off because she kept telling me to go to Zagreb when, clearly, there was a large sign saying LJUBLJANA. Stupid Queeny.

Even before this trip though, we went to Bled and Zagreb for a day to see the DJ David Guetta. I have pics on facebook for those who wish. We left Zagreb after the show, at 4 am or so, and drove the three hours back to Koper, slept for 2 hours and then got up to go on a boat trip. 7 hours on a boat, 200 erasmus, open bar. nuff said. I got really really burnt, and everyone was pretty drunk by about 1 pm. My roommate bought a little ceramic seahorse in Piran, but does not remember doing so. When we got back to Koper, everyone jumped off the boat into the sea. Normal people actually gathered around and were taking pictures of the spectacle. Good times.

This week we have already had our girls day in Portoroz with mexican food, cocktails, and beach time. Swimming in the sea kicks ass. And then yesterday, the two germans from the hostel in Budapest came to Koper to see us on their way to Venice. We went for dinner, and they joined a game of pick up soccer with our erasmus boys (and kicked their ass, might I add). Our boys didn't like it very much when we cheered for our German guests. hahahahah we win at life. Then we went out for drinks and things at El Pirata, and it was just a good quiet night. I'm glad they came.

Thats pretty much it for me, TURKEY NEXT WEEK AHHHHH :D











Title Track: Chris Isaak

On A Train

Hazaah Prague was amazing! I will recap my amazing trip quickly here for you!

Annette (irish) and I left on Friday; our flight to Prauge was really early on Saturday so we went a day early and spent the night in Venice. It was a gorgeous evening and we walked all the way from Piazza Roma to St. Marks Square and back (google map it, it's pretty far). We shopped a bit and watched some musicians in the square...also almost accidentally ordered a 16 EURO coke..once we saw the price we ran away haha.
The next morning we bused to Treviso airport and flew the whole 45 minute flight to Prague on wizzair. Then we bused/subwayed from the airport into the city to our hostel. We stayed at Bridge Hostel, about 100 feet from the famous Charles Bridge. The hostel was really quaint, even if we were on the second floor and had to go up A MILLION stairs to even get in in the first place. The location was worth the calf burning staircases. The first afternoon we just walked to the big square, went shopping, and bought our Prague Museum cards. Also, there was some random festival going on, so in the square there was a huge stage set up with live bands all day. That night we went on the ghost tour of Prague which consisted of Annette and I getting told stories by a man in a cloak with a lantern. It was pretty funny, and the guy looked eerily similar to Derek Micholson. Then, our guide told us about some fireworks happening near the bridge, so we went there to watch. It reminded me of Bastille Day in Paris A LOT.
The next day can basically be summed up in three words; walking, stairs, churches. We went to the castle, but the info man refused to give us a map so we just wandered around aimlessly and decided to come back the next day. Then we went to the park to try and see the fake eiffle tower/observatory but by the time we walked halfway up at a 45 degree angle we were like fuck it, not worth it. So we walked back to the hostel and then went for dinner. That night, since it is spring music festival time in Prague, we went to the Philharmonic and saw some famous pianist. It was pretty good, but I would have rather seen a whole symphony.
Our last day we went up practically every tower in Prague. My legs were NOT happy. And also back up the 100-something stairs to the castle. WAH. We stole a map from some dude the second time, so that was good at least. Since we had to get up pretty early for our flight home, we didn't go out that night. Flights back were pretty decent, except they threw out my face wash...the bastards.
Back in Koper now until Saturday when we go to Lake Bled and Zagreb for the day! Travel travel travel...and also essays, cannot forget about those.







Title Track: Waking Eyes

Happy Birthday Girl

So last night was the best birthday I have EVER had. Actually amazing. On top of Em being here, almost all my new erasmus friends came out and celebrated with me!

We started at my apartment and the Irish girls/Scottish guys came over and we had cocktails and cake. Nana's friend marijetica had brought over a huge cake earlier in the morning, so we got candles and everything and did the whole singing/blowing out candles with the lights off and everything. Then we went to pub 33 to watch a soccer game, which was pretty standard, and then went to the Port dorms to keep drinking.

From there we took a cab to Bellavita, which is a small dancey bar about a 40 minute walk away, but on Tuesdays it is Erasmus night, so it was excellent. When I got there, all the french and spanish were there already and many birthday hugs, kisses, and wishes were given to me. Then my lovely friend Max decided to get on the mic and sing happy birthday. Not once, not twice, but six times throughout the night. And every once and a while I would hear "EXPLOSION of Erin's Birthday!", which is an inside joke from Croatia, but it cracked me up every time. So we danced, and drank too much, and sang happy birthday a few more times, and before we knew it, it was 2 and it was time to go home. I decided it would be better to walk (of course), so we started the long trek home. Two drunken hours later, we made it back and had some more cake and I called mom and dad (hahahahaha not my best decision, but oh well!)and then went to sleep!

Honestly, best birthday with the best people. I've known most of them for 3 months, if not less, and they are just so sweet and lovely to come out and celebrate with me and be sincerely happy to be there. Pretty sure my 21st birthday will go down in the history books. Hazaah!

Title Track: sondre lerche

Laugh (aka "Eat Your Heart Out Kristina)

Spring break in Rovinj, Croatia was a huge success! The weather was amazing, the people were great, and I basically did not stop laughing for four days straight. Amazing.

Tne day before I went to Croatia, I saw Vanessa! yay! She and her friend Elyse came to Koper, so I showed them around and then we ate at my favourite restaurant outside by the sea. Then we drove to Izola, Portoroz, and Piran and just wandered around in each town, had coffees and put our feet in the water. Pretty much a perfect day on the coast, not to mention it was realllly nice to see a familiar face.

Then we left for Croatia on Wednesday at around noon; it took about two hours to get there plus time at the border, so by 3 we were there and all set up. Each room had 5 people, and we just assumed they would be little apartments with bathroom and kitchen and beds, but it turned out that each group of 5 had a two story house to share. So we had 4 single beds, one double bed, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and furniture for both inside and outside. Our houses were right on the water as well, which was really really nice. So, basically, every day consisted of waking up, walking down to the grass/rock beach and laying in the sun for hours, then going back to the house and sitting outside while people would walk back and forth between all the houses stopping and chatting here and there, then have dinner, shower, and go outside again at night to drink and chat before going out. I had no idea what time it was almost 100% of the time. We would literally follow the sun..."well, it seems pretty high, I guess we can start drinking now" "well, the sun is going down, time for dinner" "well, the sun is coming up, time to go to sleep". It was a great time had by all, and there are many inside jokes and stories that I will probably remember for the rest of my life. I can honestly say I have never laughed so hard in my life. AND I have a semi-tan! Hazaah! Croatia for the win.

Tomorrow is my birthday, but I don't think anything much is going on. I didn't want to plan anything big because I knew everyone would be pretty boozed-out from croatia (and i was correct in thinking that). So I am going out for lunch with some girls and then at night maybe meeting up with some people at a local pub for a couple of quiet drinks if they feel like it. Today is apparently my surprise day; I'm sure most of you know what's going on, but I still don't...so yes, that is all I can really say about that haha. And that is pretty much it for this week...all the other canadians are away until thursday/friday/saturday so I am flyin solo yet again. It's nice to have some time alone though, especially after being around 30 people 24-7 in croatia for the past four days. Alone is good. I'll post some pics below from when Vanessa was here and a select few from Croatia. ENJOY!


Me,Vanessa, and Elyse in Portoroz

Me and Vanessa in Portoroz

Me and Vanessa Koper

Everyone on the very uncomfortable, rocky, yet still beautiful beach

Our House!

My housemates: Rocio, Marine, Me, Laura, Irene

Gorgeous clear blue water :)

So this photo needs a bit of explanation...one night the French boys decided to climb up a tree in front of my house. They also decided to take all of our patio furniture with them. So, when I was coming home from the bar, I hear "Erin, would you care to join me for a drink?"...I look up to see these two crazies (Tom and Ben) in the tree sitting in a chair with a beer on the table. I actually almost peed my pants laughing, and then I took this picture for you all to enjoy.

Title Track: THB/Vanessa joking while drinking a Bela Kava in Izola

Time

So my weekly posts have gone down the drain, sorry! Nothing blog worthy has really been going on, so I thought I would just spare you the boredom of nothing posts.

This week has mostly been filled with essay writing; I am trying to finish my first one before I go to Rovijn, Croatia next week for spring break. WOOO! It promises to be a gong show of epic proportions. None of the other Canadian girls are going as they are off on their own adventures with friends from home at that time, so I am rooming with the three Spanish girls and Marine from France. It'll be fun, I hope.

On Thursday it was Alison's champagne birthday (she turned 22 on the 22nd) so we had a little afternoon party in the backyard for her. I decorated it with balloons and happy birthday signs all over as a surprise for her. She had received a cherry-chip cake mix (her fave) from home and desperately want to bake it, but we have no oven. Luckily we have recently been making friends with the people who have a balcony that overlooks our backyard, and the man just happened to be on the patio at the time we were discussing the oven situation. So, I suggested we ask the man if they have an oven and sure enough, they do! So Alison strolled on over to a complete strangers house with to use an oven that, I am fairly sure, has not been used in about 50 years. It actually started smoking when he turned it on. Regardless, she put her cake in and then came home while it was cooking. The man turned out to be super nice; when Ali left for like 20 minutes he called his mom to ask how he would know if the cake was done or not. I thought that was super cute. SO we ended up with a delicious cake, some champagne, and a group of really good friends. It was pretty much perfect, which makes me excited because Ali loves birthdays as much as I do!

This weekend is nothing special. Out last night, girls lunch and work on essay today, out again tonight, and tomorrow I have to get up and go to church to meet marijectica...I think she wants me to go to her house after, but I'm not completely sure. Then Monday I am hoping to finish up my paper because on Tuesday Vanessa is coming for the day to visit! YAY someone from home!! I am looking forward to that A LOT. I'm hoping to see her once more when I get back from Croatia. Wednesday is Croatia for the rest of the week/weekend and then BAM it's MAY already. Can you believe it?? I certainly cannot.

May is actually shaping up to be an excellent month for me; first it's my birthday (wehoo) and something is in the works here and I don't know what it is..all I know is that I'm not allowed to leave during the first week. Hrrrmmmm. And then Annette (irish) said she would come with me to Prague for a few days, probably the 13th-16th, so I'm pretty stoked about that because I thought I was going to have to go alone! And then I will work hard on my second paper before I go to BUDAPEST! Found super cheap flights on the 22nd and 25th (10 euro each way) so I am going to see my friend Anna and she is going to show me around. I'm pretty excited for that. Then it's more essays until the beginning of June, then one exam and I'm DONE! Then TURKEY!!!! So excited for that. I think Marie and Laura are coming as well so that's awesome. That will be around the 10th of June I think...and then I come back, one more week in Koper, one week with fam in Ljubljana and Prek, and then BAM it's time to go home! I cannot believeeeeeeeeee how fast these next two months are going to go, it honestly blows my mind.

Title Track: Todd Hunter Band

Photograph

So this is just a picture post! I realized just recently that you have no idea who I am talking about most of the time, so I will try and post as many pictures as I can of my new friends so you can start putting faces to names!

Me and Mario (Spanish)

Me and Carlos (Spanish)

First Girls Lunch- Reka (Hungarian), Laura (Spanish), Alison, Hanna (Finnish), Me, Marie-Eve, Laura, Irene (Spanish), Rocio (Spanish)

Me and Gibs (Scottish) (his real name is David)

/> Me and Dave (Scottish)


Javier and Irene (Spanish)


Team Canada in Vienna! Marie-Eve, Laura, Me, Alison

Me, Shaun (Scottish), Hanna (Finnish), and Marine (French)

Rocio, Irene, Laura (Spanish)

Tom (French), Rocio (Spanish), Alison, Marine (French), Me, Laura, Maxim (French), Laura (Spanish), Clement (French), and Thomas (French)

Me and Catherine (Irish)

Title Track: Jamie Cullum

Hot Hot Hot!

Hazaaaaah it is beautiful out, FINALLY! A lovely, sunny, over +20 degree friday! We did our homework outside :) I bought sunscreen cause I could already feel myself burning.

This week has been pretty tame for once haha. Monday everything was closed, so we just kinda hung out at home and did some reading and such for school. The girls and I went for an early dinner at our fave place, La Storia, and just had a relaxed day. Tuesday we went to Trieste (pictures below) with Hanna to pick up our visas/ spend the lovely day outside walking around. BUT when we finally found the slovenian consulate, it was "closed" even though a man let us in. Then he said we'd have to come back the next day at 9 am to get them. So we said, screw you (not actually) and left. We then had a wonderful lunch outside in the sun, I finally ate cevapcici! They were so yummy, but also pretty pricey...oh well. Then we walked around for a while and found an open air market which was really cool. Made it back to Koper around 6 pm and then went out to a bar called Bellavita for Marine's birthday (french girl)/ latin music night. We danced our asses off, it was good fun. They play such random music here...it was latin, and then a grease medley, and then a 50
s-60's jive/elvis medley...so strange, but hilariously fun.

Wednesday was another school-reading day, so I did that, and then met Hanna and Marie for a coffee (as per every afternoon), and then went to see the scottish boys' new room at Port. They got put in a room meant for disabled people, which, while hilarious, also makes me jealous because the bathroom is HUGE (aka wheelchair accessable). That night it was the French international evening, so we learned about France for a bit and then ate cheese and drank wine. num num num. Later that night we went out dancing, like we do almost every wednesday, but it was pretty dull this time so laura and I left early. Yesterday I finished up some reading for my meeting today and then sat in the sun for a bit in the backyard. We went out for dinner and I had the best carrot soup...it was soooo good. I think the goodness may have been enhanced by the fact that we ALWAYS get beef broth with noodles, so this carrot soup was a rare and wonderful treat. Then last night we went to the movies, as it seems to be our thursday ritual.

Today I sat in the backyard and tanned/read/got a little burnt and then had class. Must start writing my papers ASAP because I want to be done everything before I plan on going to Turkey at the end of may. Good luck brain, you will need it. Then I went and had my afternoon Bela Kava and plans for tonight are still up in the air. That's pretty much it for me, although I will be sending a package home soon, so family, be prepared for that!


Alison, Hanna, and Marie-Eve at lunch


Piazza Unita, Trieste (Marie-Eve, Alison, Me)


mmm free samples


Cheese and Salami!

Title Track: Buster Poindexter

Spiderwebs

PS....we had a little visitor in our apartment last week. MR. GIANT SPIDER!! waahhhhh. Now, my mother thinks I am exaggerating the size, so I will post the pictures here for those who don't have facebook. Luckily, we called in the Scottish exterminators and Gibbs took care of it for us. (Shaun walked in, saw how big it was, and said "shhhhiiiitttt. Gibbs, you can handle this one."


WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


Gibbs saving us...right before he threw it at Marie Eve in the hallway D:

title track: No Doubt

One Hundred Million Years

...that's how long its been since my last post! haha

It's Easter! Since I just ate a butt load of food, I will do a quick recap of my week and then take a nap!

Last weekend was pretty chill...my fellow canadians got back from their road trip in Croatia/Bosnia so we just kinda hung out at home, they showed me pictures, etc etc. Sunday I went to palm sunday mass at the church and then just did some homework (you're shocked, I know)and then later went out for a pint with some of the guys.

Monday I had a meeting with my prof and she gave me some more ideas about which direction to take for my essay, and then recommended some more books, so I have an ass load of reading to do in the next while. On top of that, I still have to decide on my essay topic for my other class, and since I was sick on Friday when the others went to Ljub. to see him, I have yet to confirm a topic/get books/get started! ugh. My stress free life is no more! lame lame lame. Tuesday I honestly, for the life of me, cannot remember what I did...obviously was not a productive day! I know that we went to Atrij and had lunch with Hanna and Reka, but that is about it.

Wednesday we had a girls lunch with Hanna (Finnish), Reka(Hungarian), the Spanish girls, and Marine (French) which was really nice. When we all get together like that (all 10 of us haha), we are so loud! I think the staff at the restaurant were a little afraid. Then we walked to the new mall, Planet Tus, that had opened just that day. There were A MILLION (not literally) people there from all down the istrian coast, but it didn't feel that crowded inside. It is such a great mall...H&M, top shop, Zara, etc. plus a bowling alley/disco and a pool hall..and a cinema! hazaah! Finally something to do! That night it was the Scottish/Irish presentation night, so we all went to that and had a good laugh. The scottish try and claim alexander graham bell as a scottish inventor, but we Canadians know the truth and booed them as loud as we could. All in good fun of course. The more of these presentations that we go to, the more...interactive...they become haha. Then we all went out dancing till the wee hours of the morning..which meant that thursday was pretty much shot haha. I went for coffee with Ali and Laura at Calypso and read some stuff for school, and then when back later with Reka and had another coffee while we discussed the previous nights events. A lovely little girl chat and a coffee by the sea...what could be better??

Friday the others went to Ljub. like i mentioned earlier, but I couldn't stop coughing like a crazy person, so I stayed home. I did lots of reading which was actually good, and also dyed eggs! Good Friday traditions live on! Yesterday was another "do whatever" day, so we went back to Tus to look around and then read some more stuff and Hanna and I climbed the bell tower! 204 steps baby...the view was AMAZING, I will try and post a picture below. Then we went out for chinese food dinner and then to the new club at Tus...it was amazing! so much bigger than anything else here, decent music, no cover, and the drinks were not toooo expensive. Good night had by all, except at the end when some fight broke out and our poor scottish boys got injured. Well, Shaun got injured and Gibs just fell on his butt and now says his butt hurts. Shaun got in an actual fight and ended up breaking a bottle on some guys head which resulted in both of them having to go to Izola to the hospital for stitches. I will post a pic of that too haha.

Today is Easter! I made a huge lunch for my erasmus family and we had a lovely 3 hour chat in the garden while we ate. It was actually super nice! I am so glad I did it. Made it feel like homeeee. That's it for now! Enjoy the lovely photos.


top of the tower!


Shaun's battle wounds..complete with stitches in hand and lip


Lovely Easter Lunch, great food with great people :)

Title Track: M. Ward

On A Train

So I made the million hour trek to Bistrica on Sunday. Oh man do I hate Slovenian trains. HATE.

I got to the station in Koper and bought my ticket for the TRAIN, the lady at the desk then told me I had to take a bus first, and then a train. So I took a bus to a different train station, switched to a train that went all the way past Ljub., and then somehow needed to switch to a bus AGAIN, and if that wasn't enough, had to switch to one more train before finally arriving in Lipovci. For 98% of that trip I either had no idea where I was, had no idea where I was going, had no idea if I was even on the right train, or had no idea where I had to get off. I made friends with three older ladies on the long train, and two of them were going to Lipovci as well, so I just followed them. We made all the changes together and ended up in the same car again on the last train. If it weren't for them, i don't know what I would have done. I was very glad to see Renato and Tina waiting for me at the station.

We went back to the house and Metka and Bojan were waiting. Bojan made me ham and cheese paninis for dinner, and we sat and talked (sorta) for a bit. Thank god Metka and Renato speak english so well. After dinner I went upstairs to Renato and Tina's flat with Metka and we looked at pictures and things. The next day Tina and Metka drove me to Lendeva where Renato works. I had no idea he OWNED his company...his office is really nice! Then we went to Ocean Orchids, which is the largest production of orchids in Slovenia. It reminded me a lot of the conservatory at Ass. Park in Winnipeg; it was really quite beautiful. Then we drove around and Tina got us lost on the way back to the house. She is quite the character, but I really like her, she has a great sense of humor. She is learning English as well now, and tried to practice a bit which was nice. Metka made lunch when we got home...PAPRIKAS! Much better than the one David made a few days before, but don't tell him! For his first try, it was really good, but Metka's was amazinggg. Then I went and did some reading I needed to do for school and hung out with Tina and Renato in their apartment.

On Tuesday we went to Lebar's in the afternoon. Metka came along as translator and Bojan stayed home because he wasn't feeling very well. We were there for about 3 hours and managed to have somewhat of a conversation, although I always feel bad I can't say as much as I'd like to. They asked, somewhat jokingly, if I was married yet, and told me that when I do get married that Olga and Metka would come. I told them they may be waiting for a while. They asked about mark and everyone, and I tried my best to update them, with Metka's help of course. Gregor and I exchanged numbers because he sometimes works in Koper, not that we could talk or anything lol. I think he speaks more English than he lets on...we shall see. Stanko gave us two small bottles and one big one of homebrew and Aga sent us home with pastries. When we got back, I took a walk with Renato, Tina, and Nusa down to the Morje river and we took a ferry-ish thing across. I was concerned that I would have to get into a boat, but then, while we were standing on the dock, the dock started moving. Turns out the dock is, in fact, the boat. It was quite sweet actually. That night we all went out for pizza at a local place and just hung out for a bit.

The next morning Metka took me to the station where I had yet another run around. Luckily on the first train I befriended one of the workers and he helped me A LOT. He told me which stop to get off at and then got off the train with me to show me which track my next train would be coming on. Then he asked if I was ok, gave me a wink and a smile, and got back on his train. My new best friend. The next guy who "helped" me was a bastard! He didn't tell me anything I asked, and he even spoke english. Then he yelled at me when I didn't know what stop to get off at, so I more or less yelled at him back that I was traveling alone and asked him for help earlier and he didn't, then his supervisor came over (oops) and apologized to me and yelled at the guy in Slovenian. That shut him up...jerk. Made it to Ljubljana after three trains, and had an hour wait there. Finally got on a direct train from ljub to Koper, and made it home by about 8:30. 8 hours of traveling...ugh.

As soon as I got home I had a shower and then got a phone call to go out. So I did. I figured I deserved a stiff drink after that insane day. The welcoming committee was in full force; you'd think i'd been away for 3 months or something! So even though I had to say goodbye to my blood family, my makeshift family was ready to fill the void.

Not much going on this week; going to try to get into Croatia to see a friend of mine, but we'll see how that goes. I want to go to Pula!

Title Track: The Waking Eyes

Worked It Out Wrong

So, once a week seems to be the new thing for me...let's hope I can keep it up!

Kinda feeling the beginning of a cold at the moment, I'm hoping to get it under control before it gets worse!

This week was pretty lax. The house party in izola was a lot of fun, and almost all the erasmus people came. Probably about 60 in total. On Monday Laura, Alison, and I had to go to Ljubljana for a lecture, which ended up getting canceled but we didn't know until we had already gotten there. Not to mention it was Laura's 21st birthday that day as well. So, when we got there (around 1pm) we went for lunch along the river, and then walked around and hit up H&M and also went to the University of Ljubljana campus right near centre. Then we bussed all the way to the social sciences campus across town thinking we had a lecture at 4. As it turned out, the man who was supposed to talk to us wasn't able to get to Ljub on time, so our normal prof just picked up where he left off on the history of the universe. Oh joy. Luckily, we lied and told him our last train came at 6:30 (which we thought it did...like not the last one, but that one was coming at 6:30), so we managed to get out at 6. After running to the bus station, we found out that there was no bus at 6:30 (aka the website LIED!)and that the next bus was not until 9:35...BALLS!

So, in honor of our extreme disappointment and also Laura's birthday,we went somewhere nice for dinner and drinks. We found a little mexican place that was SOOO GOOD and had nachos and mojitos for a couple hours and then went and got birthday ice cream. Alison and I tried our best to make it at least a somewhat good birthday for Laura; she seemed to like it. On the way back to Koper we ran into some French guys that are erasmus with us; they had to go to the embassy in Ljub to get their passports back after getting arrested two nights before...but that is another story for another time. We took the bus back with them and then they told us that a bunch of people were at Kapitana, a local coffee/ice cream/beer place very close to our apartment. So we went right from the bus stop to Kapitana to find all of our friends (scottish, spanish, french) sitting there. As soon as they saw us, they sang happy birthday to Laura and got her a piece of cake. We had no candles, so she blew out a lighter. I'm gald she got to celebrate with everyone even though we were back so late!

Wednesday was st.paddy's. We all wore green and went to a local pub which the irish girls had decorated for us. Check out my pics on facebook if you can, it was a lot of fun!! Best st.paddy's day yet!

On sunday this week I am heading to Bistrica to visit the fam until maybe wednesday, depending on school and things of the like.

Title Track: Chris Isaak

Let It Snow

That's right, it snowed. In Koper. In March. First time in 50 years or something like that. FML the weather hates me. I can hear you laughing from Winnipeg right now. Shut it.

It wouldn't be such a big deal, except that the wind practically blows you over. They name the wind Burja; and it was blowing at I think 60 kmph this week. RIDIC. Also, 1 cm of snow shuts down the entire city of Koper. Buses stopped running, stores were closed, even the bar was closed! 1 CENTIMETRE! Although, to be fair, when the wind got at it, it was icy as eff. So, yes, that has been my week. Wind, snow, ice, everything closed, and now it's back to normal ish.

Pretty tame week this week, a few outings but nothing special. Went to church Sunday even after a late night out...I know, impressive. That church is fricken freezing, but also beautiful. Pretty much the same mass that i'm used to; about an hour long, but with more (and slightly better) singing. Didn't really feel like going out in gale force winds during the first few days this week, so we mostly stuck around at home and did some reading and planning for future trips. I managed to plow through the third twilight (628 pages) in two days. That is boredom at it's finest folks.

Last night we had our second international evening at SOUP; Spain! They gave an excellent presentation, made Sangria for everyone, and then taught us all a dance that people do when they are drunk in Spain. All around good night. Then we went to watch soccer, as we seem to do every wednesday night, and then some daring people took a taxi (in the ice and snow) to portoroz where a party was being held at the big club there. Not me! Mom, be proud, I turned down a party to go home and sleep becauseee I actually had class today! I know, you are all shocked. My roommate did not make it though, she was REALLY ill from the night before, which I find hilarious. Anyway, met this prof guy, Mitja Zagar, and he seems nice but BOY does he like to talk. FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT with no break. That was my first lecture. I kinda wanted to die of boredom, but i put on my interested face so he would not suspect my suicidal thoughts. Oh man is he boring. I can't even explain how boring he is...he barely even talked about what he was supposed to be talking about...he, instead, gave us a history of the universe in relation to culture and ethnicity. Yes, I said UNIVERSE. It was four hours after all. So, we have to go to Ljubljana on Monday for a guest lecture (which, I believe is also planned to be 4 hours long, UGH!)and also to plan meetings with Mitja. I don't really want to have to go to Ljub. every other week or whatever, but we will see what he says. I know I have to do a 15ish page paper for him, as well as an oral exam (blech) and he seems pretty intense about it, so lets all cross our fingers for me and hope he is as nice as he is boring! He seems very willing to help us with our papers and give us guidance when we need it, so that is excellent.

Tomorrow is friday!...meaning class at 3 and then later probably going to El Pirata, which is quickly becoming my favourite place EVER. It is the perfect mix of pub and club..its chill but also dancey and very comfortable if not a bit small. Loves it. Saturday we (erasmus people) have been invited to Matej's house in Izola for an party which promises to be a good time. And thennn I will have to start deciding where I want to go while I am here because time is ticking and I want to get to Italy, Budapest, Prague, London, and parts of Croatia, as well as getting over to the other side of the country to see the fam. And I don't want to be away from Koper too much, because I still want to hang out with all my new friends! So much to do, so little time!

Title Track: Michael Buble

Rally

I a bit haggard this afternoon, but I will try to sum up my last week as competently as I can.

Monday was a bit of a nothing day...I honestly can't remember what I did. OH, I wrote part of my article for the Manitoba, and then that night the girls went to see wolfman but I passed on that one. Skyped with some people instead.

Tuesday was my favourite day in a long time. It was warmer outside so I could wear a dress with a sweater and be fine! I finished my article and then had a coffee by the sea and read my book. Oh how lovely that was...sun and hot drink and book...waving to people I knew as they walked by and sometimes stopped for a quick chat. Sigh.
Then I went to get some groceries and on my way back ran into all three of my roommates and also all three of the scottish boys. We had a chat in the street and they invited us to come watch them play soccer with the French and Spanish boys. It was a nice day, so we went. Boring ass game, but it makes the boys feel important to show off their skills and things, so we pretend to be interested. The spanish girls were there watching as well, so at least we had people to talk to. We left there once the sun started going down and it got chilly, but were instructed to meet up in the spanish girls room later for drinks. They have a great great room, although a little far from center. So we stayed there for a bit and then walked to this bar called Bella Vita...which was like 10 years away...well 30 mins but still! So we stayed there till close and started the trek back. The way back took over an hour haha.

Wednesday we had the first international night at the student organization. The tutors talked about Slovenia and made us play stupid ass ice breakers. There is nothing I loathe more than when I am forced to play stupid games as "ice breakers" with people I have already befriended. It was also very disorganized. They talked about the country, each region, the Kurent, Preseren, basically all the stuff I already knew haha. Then we were put in groups and given a list of naughty-ish slovenian words and were told to write a song. I won't put the words up here, but let's just say, my team won. Hazaah bottle of wine! Then they had a "if you learn how to polka, you can drink wine for free game" I won that game :). The guy who was "teaching" me was just like "oh you learn very quickly!" Yah, something like that. I told him after that I already knew, his response? "OH! We can go faster then!" BAM hyper speed polka, nearly killed me, especially after a few glasses of free wine. Then we went to a bar to watch the spain-france soccer game with all the spanish and french boys. HI-LARIOUS. World Cup is going to be a hoot if that was anything to go by. Then we went to Port (the other dorm where the spanish people live) to get ready to go out yet again. We went dancing at "the city" until the wee hours of the morning.

Thursday Laura and Marie left to go on a Ski Trip in Krajnska Gora so Alison and I are alone until Sunday. We just kinda hung out during the day, read our books, got some paperwork sorted and then went out for dinner. That night we called up the scottish guys and went to see "Law Abiding Citizen" at the local theatre. Intense movie...I spent at least 50% of it with my sweater over my face and fingers in my ears. Gory gory stuff. Even Scottish David leaned over and said "I think I may cry soon." haha. Alison and I were dubbed members of team Scotland for the weekend, so my new scottish name is Hamish McDonald. Apparently Erin is too Irish...you can thank Gibby for that one haha.

Friday I was supposed to have class, but since Marie and Laura are both away, my prof said i didn't have to come. I went shopping/lunching with Alison instead. I FINALLY bought normal sized cups, and I'm pretty excited about it. I went to the post office to pick up my package from Joe and Tara which, by the way, was amazing! I had marshmallow peeps when I got home this morning, and it was the most satisfying thing in the world. Eric and Cammy's pictures are already taped up on my fridge. I hung out at home for a while and then Alison and I went to the scottish boys' room to hang out before we went out. We cracked open our victory wine and drank classy like out of the bottle lol. Then we walked to El Pirata and I will leave it at that because it only gets gong-showier from there.

Today I am supposed to see Marijetica and then I think out again tonight with Spanish and Scottish people. I am going to give an honest effort to get to church tomorrow morning though, so I dunno how late I will be out hahaha. Send me emails, fill me in on your lives people, I need to know whats going on! Love, Me.

Title Track: Phoenix

Photograph

We went into a sports bar and made an old man change it from soccer to olympic hockey...and also made him turn the sound on. He was not impressed...UNTIL he saw our Canadian mittens and also our enthusiasm. We basically took over the bar and were stressed out and crazy the whole time. People fell in love with us by the end of the night me thinks...they were all just as invested in the outcome as we were by the end of it...even the crazy man in the corner with no shoes on.

A picture says a thousand words, so I will leave you with this...



Title Track: Jamie Cullum

Vienna

SO, it's been quite a while! I will sum up as best I can.

Last weekend was pretty chill. We had a going away party at this pub/bar called El Pirata for Anna, a girl from Budapest who was here for the last semester and was leaving to go home. She and I actually got to know each other pretty well in the short time we were both in Koper. So we danced all night and it was just a good time, no drama or problems or anything! love it.

Then I woke up on Saturday with big red itchy bumps all over my arms. Bed bugs, allergic reaction? We will never know! Actually, i'm pretty sure i'm just allergic to to the laundry detergent, so i just got a different brand. Fingers crossed for no more hives! Then on Sunday the other girls went to Piran, but I didn't feel well so I just stayed behind.

On Monday we had our first school related meeting at the university which was semi-helpful. There is a lot of confusion with our courses specifically, but we are working on it. David, the other canadian guy, has gone home because he couldn't sort out his course...he needed specific transfer credits and couldn't get them, so he just left. Weirddddddddd. What a waste of a trip to Europe...hang out in Koper for two weeks and then go home lol. Then monday afternoon we picked up our rental car and drove to Vienna! It was a very uneventful drive, minus the speed. Holy crap, I have never steadily traveled at 140 kph in a car for that long EVER. It was fine though, the weather was good, and by the time it was dark, we were in Austria and the highways were lit quite well. We got pretty lost once inside the city because there are an ass load of one ways and turning lanes all over the place. We stopped to ask for directions with no success, so we called the hostel and the man stayed on the phone with us for about 30 minutes guiding us street by street to the hostel. Eg. man-"is there a pretty illuminated building on your right?" Laura- "YES! there IS a pretty illuminated building..." man-"go left". He was wonderfulll. But then we got lost again after finding the hostel while looking for parking because there isn't any. AT ALL. Finally found a spot, or so we thought, and then checked in to the hostel.

It was a great place to stay! Absolutely huge, clean, and had a bar right inside of it, so we didn't even have to leave to "go out". We shared a 6-person room with a girl from brazil who LOVES canada and a guy from Japan who was hilarious. It was a fun room. The next morning we had plans to walk to city centre and wander around a bit and see stuff, but when we went to check on our car..it was gone. Fuck. Construction had started that morning, and they had failed to put up a sign on the side of the street that we parked on, sooo we got towed. Not cool. After a mild panic attack, we ran back to the hostel to ask what we should do. Luckily we had the sweetest desk clerk EVER, and he was so helpful, I don't even know how to explain how amazing he was. He called the tow company for us and asked when/how we pick up the car, then he called a bunch of other places to find out how to get there...and then since we looked to upset and frazzled, he looked at us and asked "is 10 am too early for a shot?". We all said no, and before we could turn around, there were 4 shots on the front counter waiting for us. It actually helped a lot haha. So he found out it was going to cost a small fortune to pick it up, but if we wanted to leave it there until we were leaving on thursday it would only cost 7 euro a day as opposed to the 26 we would have to pay to park near the hostel. So we left it. Stupid opel.

After all the drama, we took a LONG walk into the city centre and stopped at lots of shops on the way. Of course, the lingering cost of the tow stopped us from actually shopping for anything. Then we walked around the museum quarter and basically around that entire center area of the city, and then over to Belvedere Palace and back to the hostel. To put it into context, belvedere palace was about 5 km away from the hostel...so like that, times 4 or 5 haha. It took about 6 hours...i was tireddddd. Not to mention is was kinda cloudy and wet all day. We got back to the hostel and just crashed for an hour, and then went to a cute chinese place for dinner.

The next day we took a day trip to Bratislava in Slovakia. It is a really cute city and I would recommend it to anyone. It's not super expensive, but has all the touristy things of other major cities. Castles, churches, river side, fancy stores, cheap stores, good food, etc. Wouldn't stay more than one day, but for the afternoon it was nice. Again, got back to the hostel and crashed, had dinner at the hostel and drinks with our roommates and new friends. It was really nice...we exchanged info and will hopefully stay in contact! Wooohoo for connections in Brazil and Japan!

The next day we woke up early, checked out, and then went to Schunbron Palace. It was amazingggggg and such a nice day. We did the grand tour and then walked around the gardens SANS JACKET! how lovely. I heard it was mighty cold for you winnipegers yesterday so all i have to say is...HA.HA.HA. After the palace we went to pick up our car (ugh) and started the drive home. Again, uneventful drive, but as soon as we got in and around Koper it got sooo foggy that we could barely see the road. A bit scary, but we got through it and made it home safely.

Today I have my first class in about half and hour (finally, I know) and then tonight I think we are going to El Pirata again, but I'm not sure. Pictures from the weeks adventures will be up on facebook soon, when I am less lazy!

Title Track: The Fray

Party in a Forest (where's Laura?)

reporting back...it was so much fun!

Alison, Laura, Marie-Eve and myself all went out for dinner before we met up with the rest of the group. We went to a little place called Bellavita and it was very nummy and not too expensive.

Then at around 9 we met up with the scottish boys and Hanna (finnish girl), javier and the spanish girls. We all walked to the bus stop and then caught the bus to Portoroz. It took about 30 minutes to get there, but only cost 2.70 euro. Then, those who brought booze with them walked down to the beach to drink it, while the rest of us unprepared folk went to a nearby bar to start the night. Three laskos and one shot of tequila with scottish david-1 later we were ready to move on to the party in the club. We walked there since it was only about one block, paid our cover, tried to check coats but couldn't because it was full, and then started dancing. Some people were dressed up and some weren't, it was pretty much 50-50..but TONNES of people were there. I love european boys because they will actually dance! And not in the pervy way of like attacking a girl from behind, but like will join our circle and "bust a move". Sooo much more fun than our lame-o canadian boys who stand around and are awkward and not dancey (no offense). Soooo the night carried on in the dancey and drinky way until the music stopped and they kicked us out. We walked back to the bus stop and waited for the first morning bus that came at around 5:20 or so. The bus ride was hilarious as we all decided to sing a song from our native country...scotts had that "highland" song, spanish people sang lots of songs, but most notably the "macarena", and us canadians hummed the hockey night in canada theme as well as "this land is your land". We got back to Koper around 5:50, right when our fave 1 euro pizza store opens...needless to say, we stopped in for a slice on the way home. By 6:15 we were all in bed and had planned to meet up today for "lunch" at three. It was a VERY haggard but fun lunch...it's like we are a big family already! Can't wait to see them all again!

Title Track: The wombats (we actually have two girls named Laura in our group, so it's freakishly appropriate)

Nobody Drinks Alone

lovely night out with the boys of erasmus...(sounds like a nudey calendar)

Canadain david and Javier came to the apartment to get us and we all walked to this bar on the beach. Then we drank and the scottish boys joined us. We then moved to another bar slightly further down the beach and continued. Don't worry mom, I didn't drink that much! (i had no cash haha) These scots know all sorts of hilarious drinking games...all to do with logic, which is not in excess when drinking. One called "where is the hat" is almost impossible to figure out because everyone is thinking so hard to solve the riddle. The solution is painfully easy, but I will not share it here because it will ruin it when I try to trick you all when I get home. I talked to Shaun about music for agesss, and he totally digs what I do and was shocked at my knowledge of UK music. Then we had a huge debate over who sings that song "i'm a bitch i'm a lover" etc...they ALL said it was Alanis Morisette, but I knew it wasn't and the only person who backed me was Shaun because we had just talked about music for like 2 hours and he knew I know my stuff. We later found out that I was indeed correct and they must all apologize the next time I see them. We played more games and talked lots, and then went for pizza at midnight. It was such a relaxed, chilled out night...I could totally get used to nights like this. Tomorrow night we are going to Portoroz for a HUGE masquerade party which should be a tonne of fun. I shall report back with my findings!

Title Track: Keith Urban

Saturday Night

hollllllllllllllly crap! Erasmus is amazing! I love Koper!

Yesterday Laura, Alison and I walked down to the port to discover a massive Masquerade parade happening down the main street. There were TONNES of people considering how small this town is. They had huge mechanized floats such as a Caribbean island WITH music and dancers, and a GIANT pirate ship that had cannons that shot confetti everywhere. All the kids and adults were dressed up in the funniest costumes...my fave was the group of ladies dressed up like different kinds of lettuce. They were amazing costumes.

Then the three of us continued walking on the main street, and in the veggie market, until we ran into a table with candy on it. We each grabbed a bag and started choosing things like children...then the lady weighed it and told us how much it cost. Let's just say that I am still rationing this candy because it cost as much as my meals for a day haha. Oh well...oops.

Then we met up with David B, another student from Canada who arrived on Friday. He is at the Dijaski Dom right around the corner from us. We went for lunch at a fish place with a very enthusiastic waiter and then made our way back to the centre to meet David B's roommate Ales (pronounced Alesh) who is a Slovenian student of Humanities here in Koper. Quite the character that one...if he was any more Slovenian I think he would explode. Just his mannerisms and the way he speaks and the way he tells us that whatever anyone else tells us is wrong and he knows the truth yadda yadda...soo funny. I just laughed at him, but Alison and Laura were marginally offended by him I think haha. So then we walked around with him and went to the other dorm, Port, so David B could see about moving there. It's pretty far out of the centre actually, about 15-20 minute walk depending on intoxication level.

On the way back to centre, we ran into some other guys that are in the Dijaski Dom with David and Ales. THEY ARE SCOTTISH BOYS. SCOTTISH BOYS WITH ACCENTS. Ohmahgah I nearly died. They are from Glasgow and are an absolute riot! There are three of them, two of them named...DAVID of course (that brings the David tally to 4 if you're not counting)..and then third is named Shaun. They made plans with David and Ales to go out later and invited us to come along, yeehaw!

We finally made it back to Centre for a coffee at Cafe Calypso. Then another one of David and Ales's friends came to join us. This one is from Spain...Javier...another ohmahgah. Our tutor Mojca also met us there so we could finally meet her. She is very very nice and sounds like she will be a big help to us. Mojca and Javier had a coffee with us and then we decided to walk to Interspar (which is like a walmart type place) which is allllll the way back by the other dorm. Basically we walked back and forth from there to Centre ALL day. We got some booze for later and then Javier went back to port and we all went to our abodes.

3.5 hours later....

Laura, Alison, and I walked to the Dom to David and Ales's room to drink and hang out before going out. It turned into this massive old erasmus/new erasmus party with about 20 people crammed into a dorm room meant for two. It was so much fun! I met two girls from Finland, two girls from Spain, one other guy from Spain, one guy from Izola in Slovenia, one girl from Poland, one from Hungary, and of course the Scottish boys showed up in full Moses-esque masquerade costumes complete with headpiece. Gahd I love them. So we just hung out there for AGES talking to people, getting to know them and exchanging information so we can hang out again before some of them leave next week. I discovered that scottish david-1 loves stereophonics, as do the other two scots, and so we had loaddddsss to talk about haha. Then they cranked it on the sound system and we were all dancing and singing like crazies because no one else knew wtf we were on about. I told Ales that I am half Slovenian and he flipped out and then asked what my surname is and what my family's other names are and where they live,etc. When I said my last name was Lebar from Prek., you should have seen the look on his face, soooo funny. He acted like he actually knew the people/names I was talking about. Gahd he is so crazy. The guy from Izola, Mataj, brought homemade wine that was really really good, but reallllly reallllllly strong. I said I just wanted a little bit, but he filled my whole glass...that is what resulted in me not being able to walk in a straight line on the way to the bar.

At about 1, I think, we decided to go to this dance bar called The City. It's about a 20 minute walk away, so off we went! I talked to Javier and Scottish David-2 on the way and they are amazingly nice and funny. And also provided lovely arm links so I wouldn't fall over haha. Ugh...keepin it classy in Koper. The bar was TINY, like soo sooo small, and also packed. But that did not matter, because we wanted to dance! And dance we did! A few creepy men following me all night, but luckily the erasmus boys are just like the boys at home and protect their girls! I owe scottish david-1 and javier a drink for sure for saving me A LOT of times haha. So we danced for a long time, and then I looked at my watch and it said 5 am. Time to go home haha. So the Spanish people went back to port, and a bunch of us walked back to centre/our homes. Exchanged numbers with the polish girl, Katya, and the Hungarian girl, Anna (who is also a film student in Hungary, hazaah!) and stumbled our way back down the tiny road and to bed.

GOOD NIGHT! These people seem genuinely nice and fun and lovely and I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with them. YAY!

Title Track: McFly

High as the Ceiling

Can I just say....ZOMG KELLY JONESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I have to say that if it was not for the concert, I don't think I would have made such a long trek to Milan, it's not SO great. Laura and I were lucky that by some sort of magical ginger luck, I chose an amazing hostel with little to no information about it. It is called Hostel Diablo and it was about a half hour walk from the center. It cost us 16 euro a night (brekky included!). Yes we had to share rooms; once with a girl who snored SOOO loudly that I wanted to smother her, but I didn't of course. And then we had to move rooms and ended up sharing our last night with two slovakian girls who checked in at about midnight haha. Also, nearby the hostel was a TONNNNNE of food places, including our personal fave, White Knight, which supplied us with delicious paninis day or night. There was also a turkish pizza place and a "kebap" place (no i did not misspell kebab), and gelati just around the corner, mmm mmmmmmm.

So our first day (wed.), Laura and I walked to the centre to check out the Duomo. After that we just kinda wandered around, went to the galleria, went to H&M (hazaah!) and found the most picturesque pizzeria EVER on Magenta street. It had room for maybe 25 people TOPS, and was packed, so Laura and I shared a table with two other women. Best pizza EVAR! Crust was perfect and it was just so Italian and wonderful. After lunch, we continued to walk around, and I made Laura try her first candied orange peel after seeing them in a window. We then wandered to a museum of some sort that we didn't actually go into, but took pictures of the outside which was pretty nice on its own. Then, back in the centre, we had some gelati and started the trek back to the hostel.

Later that night, we discovered this restaurant at the end of our street and decided to check it out. As it turns out, it was a buffet style in which you buy any alcoholic drink and you get a buffet for FREE. Aka it cost us 5 euros each for a drink and all you can eat. AMAZING. We had pasta and pizza roll things, grilled veggies, some filo pasty thing with spinach...basically really good food for no money at all. Then we went to find more gelati to take back to the hostel. Before bed we watched a movie on laura's laptop.

On Thursday we went to the train station to get our tickets sorted out in advance because we are smart like that. Then we bussed/trammed/metro-ed from there to the centre and walked to that Santa Maria church to see the "last supper"...but they were dill holes and wouldn't let us in. So we said poopoo on you, we are going to get some more gelati, and that is precisely what we did! As a congratulations to ourselves for not dying in milan, and also managing to use every form of transportation possible in the city, we got the GRANDE COPPETA of gelati. Yum yum yum. Then we went back to the hostel and watched another movie and planned out route to........THE CONCERT! As it turned out, it was one bus alllll the way from the hostel to the venue, which worked out amazingly and surprisingly well! So we bussed there and waited in line to get in with all the other crazies.

Once inside, it didn't look that full. The opener (Trikobalto) came on at 8 to a mediocre response from the audience. I thought they sounded good and put on a good live show, but they did look quite douchey, so maybe that's why Milan hates them. Then, after a quick equipment change, the phonics were on. OH MAN! I still cannot believe I was two rows away from Kelly Jones, it was the most amazing thing in the world. To put it in perspective for those of you who don't know...being this close to him for me would be like my mom being that close to the beatles. The Stereophonics are MY Beatles. The performance was flawless of course, his raspy voice as amazing live as I had hoped, never once missing a note or straying from perfectionnnnnn. Even Laura was impressed at the caliber of their live performance. YAY! Then the Italians went BERSERK! They started doing that circle-jump into each other-knock people over thing that sometimes happens here, but they were soooooo drunk that it was just dangerous. Also, they are allowed to smoke indoors in Italy, so there was a hellavalot of cigarette smoke around..it was very odd. Anyways, it got really insane by the end of the show, but luckily a guy next to laura and I was kinda watching over us as he was protecting his own girlfriend. He would always look around to make sure we were okay, and it was very nice of him. He blocked us from the crazies near the end. The show went on for almost a full two hours, and ended with one of my fave songs, Dakota. SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD. Laura and I waited for a bit after to see if they were coming out to sign things, but no such luck. I think a couple of people who waited by their bus got stuff signed, but it was raining and we were hungry, so we left. We bussed back to the hostel at around 11:30 and White Knight was open, so we got pizza and panini's (the panini's were for the train ride today...we thought ahead!). Then we went back to the hostel and crashed, although I couldn't sleep due to stereophonics related brain explosions.

This morning we caught an early train at 9:30 and headed back to Koper. I am glad to be back; as much as I like italy, Italians get on my nerves! They assume that because they said "scuzi" that they can just walk in front of you and be a general ass hole. NO SIR!... Not with me...that behavior results in a quick shot to the jugular. And if I hear one more person whistle, I swear I'm gonna kick them. And i'm just gunna say that I am very glad that my idea to rent a car and drive there was only a passing (and incredibly stupid) fancy because as soon as I got in the cab in Milan, I realize that had I been driving, I would have peed myself. NO LANES! YOU CAN TURN ANYWHERE! TRAMS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! WHAA?!

The trip home was pretty uneventful in the best possible way. David was kind enough to pick us up at the bus stop and drive us to the apartment and since then we have walked all the way to the mall and back, gone out for dinner, and searched for the other canadian guy who is here. Still alone in my room as Alison and Laura have set up in the other apartment. The fourth and final girl gets here sunday night! That is all for nows, and be sure to check out my article for the culture section of the Manitoban (it's available online at www.themanitoban.com)

Title Track: Stereophonics (of course!)