Pages and Pages of Paige's Tales Abroad

I found that the perfect recipe for our class trip to Vienna, Austria and Venice, Italy included sundresses, palaces, art museums, and gondolas.  We heard from study abroad groups past that this was “THE Trip” of this program, and we couldn’t wait to get started. We left the dorms bright-eyed and ready to start our two-week spring break.  Jan retrieved us from the dorms with a surprise.  His son, Damian, would be joining us on our adventures. Damian is twelve and his job was to count us regularly to make sure we were all together.  I am surprised that one of us hadn’t been assigned that job earlier, honestly. Damian made sure that 26 of us were on the bus and we were off.  The four hours to Vienna flew by.  The countryside was gorgeous heading south to Austria.  The bus ride went something just like this: sleep for 30 minutes, write three postcards (I still have a problem with buying way too many), and wake up Faviola and Zach to say hi.  (I would have talked to Jenny, but

Cafe La Fee in Upper Square I am taking a break from blogging about the amazing adventures we go on to different countries to give you a taste of Olomouc and the day-to-day adventures we get to experience. Olomouc is a city of about 100,000 people. I’m not sure what Olomouc translates to or what word it comes from, but whatever it is, it should be “Home of fountains, churches, and adorable cafes” because there is one of them at every corner.  I am constantly finding “my new favorite spot.”   Today’s favorite spot was a park a stumbled upon just off of Lower Square.  It felt like I walked into a painting.  The birds were chirping, sun was shining, and children were laughing.  Locals were walking their dogs and babies on the path and I found a bench overlooking a small stream. A Monday morning back home I would be heading to a marketing class.  I wanted to soak up every minute I could on that bench! This morning I also decided to stop into a small souvenir shop that looked cute.

Bundled up for Budapest!  Only real friends willingly board a bus with you at 8:00 pm that doesn't arrive to its destination until 5:00 am.  (Take an overnight bus, they said. It won't be that bad, they said.) Easy for "them" to say when they didn't have a complete stranger sleeping on them for an hour. ( I know what you're thinking- "Paige, why didn't you just move him off of your shoulder?" I TRIED. The man was OUT.)  Zach saw what was happening and he giggled from the seat behind us.  "I was ready to fight him if he tried anything" were his comforting words to me after the fact.  He is a real friend for sure. After sleeping beauty woke up, we had a quick layover in Brno until about 1:00 am.  This time was spent facetiming home and drinking McDonald's hot chocolate. The 1:00 am to 5:00 am leg of the journey was character-building time.  I found out a lot about myself on this journey.  For example, I know now that I can