Berlin & Denmark

Went to Berlin for a consumer electronics show IFA. That was cool....but I didn't get to see the city because I was at the tradeshow and then the hotel the whole time :P.

Well...that´s not entirely true...I did see some of the city via train. I had to cross Berlin (which is HUGE) from West to East Berlin to go from the tradeshow to the airport. I took a flight from Berlin to Copenhagen to go visit Adam, Karin and Noah.

Passing from West to East Berlin was amazing...you can definitely see the difference. West Berlin is much more modern, while East Berlin in a way seems to be in ruins. I can´t say much because I didn´t get to really get to know the city. I can say for sure that I will go back to Berlin at some point.

Denmark was great. I hadn´t seen my cousin Adam in years and it was really cool to see how he has been living the last few years. For those of you who don´t know....Adam´s wife Karin is Danish and they decided to move to Denmark together and raise their son, Noah. Who is adorably cute :).

They have a really cool house in the countryside outside of Copenhagen. Their house connects to Karin´s parents´ house which is cool for Noah because he has his grandparents right next door.

Adam showed me how to cook pizza and chinese food :). He´s a good cook...I definitely ate well.

Adam has been in Denmark for years...I´ve been in Spain for about 10 months...being away from home so long really makes you realize how much we took things for granted in the US. Really....we were able to relate in that way. It´s like...you have to hunt down things like French´s mustard, bagels, peanut butter, tortillas. It´s not just food....the customs are different. The schedules....work habits....everything. It´s another world.

Pix to come

Slovenia/Croatia

Where am I now? Berlin...IFA tradeshow

In the past week & a half I've been in 5 different countries. Proof...
*Coruna student ID, Munich monthly Metro pass, Euros, British pounds, Hungarian Forint, Croatian Kuna (all of the above where in my wallet just before I left for Denmark)

Ok so first I spent 2.5 days in Ljubljana, Slovenia which is gorgeous....hard to believe that a country's capital city can be so green and peaceful
*View out Grega's window in Ljubljana
*Abel & I in Ljubljana just before he & Grega went to their friend's wedding ceremony
*Me by the river in Ljubljana
Why did I go to Slovenia & Croatia and who did I go with?
My friend, Abel, who is from Galicia/ Spain invited me to meet him and a couple of his friends to go on this trip. Both Grega (from Slovenia) & Luis (from Portugal) studied in Coruna in the past. So we are all connected through Abel.

In Ljubljana we stayed at Grega's parents apartment. I have something to admit....They had horse meat...chorizo/ sausage made from horse meat....and I tried it :O ....it didn't taste bad but I couldn't enjoy it b/c I knew what it was. Anyway, Abel loves it :P go figure.

*Grega, me, Abel & Mateja (from Slovenia) @ the wedding reception

Grega & Abel had a wedding to go to in Ljubljana which is why we were there in the first place. The wedding was held at the castle there and I explored the city a bit while they were there. I went with them to the reception afterwards. :) That was fun. It was actually a Slovenian girl marrying an Israeli guy. So they had a mix of traditions including the Jewish glass breaking tradition and Slovenian folk music. Of course there was wine too....so we had a good time. Especially attempting to dance to Slovenian folk music....Reggaeton style :P
*after a bit of wine @ the wedding reception (Grega, me, Luis, Mateja & Abel)

We went outside of Ljubljana to see some of the countryside and some really cool caves. We were about 60 meters under ground and it was like 10degrees C....which is pretty damn cold. It was pretty amazing. Unfortunatley the pictures inside the cave didn't come out great but outside the caves is beautiful and those pix are good ;)
*Luis & me in the cave.... what? it was bright.....or something
*cave shot
*just outside the caves (Luis, Abel, me & Suzana) Suzana also studied in Coruna...she was Luis's roommate there....she is from Slovenia as well.

Next we went to see a castle.
*yes, I am well aware that I look fantastic in this picture...but anyway...focus on the castle people! it was pretty damn amazing
*near the castle....talk about green gorgeous-ness (yes, i created a word)
***********
So then we drove to Zagreb, Croatia and stayed in an aparment there. Grega's girlfriend Bruna came with us as well. She's from Croatia. When we drove across the Slovenia/ Croatia border (which means leaving the EU) we handed them 5 different passports...the customs agent was like...."uhm....what's this? how do you guys know each other? and why are you coming to croatia?" it was funny. here's a pic:
*Passports- USA, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia & Spain
*Me, Bruna, Abel & Grega sitting in Zagreb
*when you're in Zagreb and you don't have a can openner....fret not, Luis will come to the rescue-knife in hand....sometimes pineapples are worth the risk

I made dinner for everyone since we had a kitchen that night...nothing special but it was fun.
*Luis & I sitting at the table after dinner
*Abel & me after going to meet the "tour group" for a drink in Zagreb

So that night, after dinner we all went out to have a drink with the group of American students who came in....Basically, Grega was hired as a tour guide for a group of about 20 MBA students from Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) It was strange for me to be around so many Americans after so long. They were cool though and we had a good time. We were with them the rest of the time....we all took a bus the next day from Zagreb through the countryside and to the island Pag. Croatia is amazingly beautiful. I'll shut up and show more pix now...
A series of pix from a national park called Plitvicka Jezera (Croatia)




*me, Luis, Grega, Abel & Bruna

So then....we were on to Pag:

*apparently random donkeys roam around....so here we have 3 asses all in a row :P (Luis, el burro, and Grega)

*****Both Slovenia and Croatia are parts of former Yugoslavia...who knew it was actually this gorgeous? The only evidence of war I saw were some houses and buildings with bullet holes in the walls. That I saw in both Croatia and Slovenia*****

On my last night in Croatia...we had a bottle of Port wine (thanks to Luis who's from Porto & brought it for us....and a couple drinks then went out once again with the Americans) I didn't sleep @ all that night because we stayed at the club until 430am and I had to catch a bought to Rijeka (where my flight was leaving out of) at 6am....so yeah that was an experience. Here are some pics:
*me & Grega on the patio of our bungalow in Pag

*me, Abel, Grega, Luis & Chris (the tour company owner from the States)
(Port Wine! Yum)
(Abel & me)
*us 5 again ;) just before going out

So yeah....6am I took a boat to Rijeka...arrived at 8:30am....on 0 hours of sleep....then waited for the bus to the airport to arrive at 12noon! then arrived at the airport at 12:45...and waited for the plane to arrive at 3:45pm....then....I arrived in Leipzig at 6ish....from there I took a train to Berlin...arrived at 8ish and then waited to get the hotel info...then I took a cab to the hotel and arrived finally at around 9 :O longgggg day. Well worth it though ;)

Ok......so I'll have to wait on the Berlin & Denmark updates....sorry...but they should be up within a week or so.... gives you something to look forward to, right? ;)