First things first. Prague has officially become home for me now in Europe. Besides for Hawaii, this it is the most amazing place I have ever been to and I know I would not have as good a time living abroad anywhere else. I am so comfortable here now; the people the places have become so familiar to me. And the weather. OMG, it's starting to get warm here and it really is spectacular. I walked to school with tears in my eyes the other day because I realized how lucky I was to be living in such an amazing place (j/k about the tears; c'mon now, I'm a football player...we don't cry). I've especially noticed how happy I am coming home after long trips. I get the same feeling coming home to Hawaii after being away at college. It's great being away, as is college, but just like my girl Dorothy said: There's no place like home.
So as of now, I have traveled to the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, and Turkey, visiting various cities in each country. I'll give a very brief summary of each:
Amsterdam in the Netherlands is such a beautiful city. On the plane ride over, I sat next to some emo looking kid with tight jeans, big goofy glasses, and a long blond trendy hairstyle. Looked like a total wierdo to me, but I decided to talk to him because I figured he would have some useful information for me about the 'Stam. The kid ends up being this sick DJ from Berlin, who is about to put on this show in one of the top clubs in Amsterdam. He invites the three of us to take a cab with him to the club and tells us he'll get us in free. It was pretty late so we said, SHOOOOOOOTZ hawaiian, lead the way! (just like that). So the $30 cover fee is waived as we walk in with this guy. Pretty ballin' huh? Yeah I felt like a celeb, NBD. We get into this club and they're playing crrrrrazy techno music. This first thing I notice is the people. I don't know if anyone knows anything about the Dutch, but let me tell you, they are MASSIVE. Jack, Jesse, and I actually looked like dwarfs in this place. We were without a doubt, the shortest PEOPLE in the whole place. To paint a picture: I was at the bar trying to get a drink when some guy accidently hit me in back of my head with his elbow.....HIS ELBOW!! I turned around about to give him dirty lickings, but I realized wouldn't be able to even reach his face. It was pretty brutal. Oh well, the night was great, we raged at this place, taking shots with Peter (DJ), while he spun crazy tunes. The entire trip was really cool. Besides for the fact that it was soooo cold (the coldest I have ever been in my life), it was amazing. We rented bikes and biked around the entire city. Haha, Jack completely broke his bike when he crashed into a tree and almost went over the handle bars...soo funny. We went to the Van Gogh Museum, went ice skating with a bunch of little kids, went to the red light district.... OHHHH the red light district. Basically, it a long street with prostitutes dancing in windows, trying to entice visitors to "have some fun with them". I was pretty terrified. We would walk by and a girl would press her butt cheeks against the window, while winking at us, trying to get us to come in. How degrading right?? Not to sound soft or anything, I would be pretty pissed if I was a parent and saw my daughter dancing naked in a little window, selling herself. I really don't think these girls have to subject themselves to that kind of thing. I don't know, it was cool to see, pretty eye-opening, but also pretty sad. Creepy dudes would walk out of the rooms, with smirks on their faces, while crowds of people just watch. Crazzzziness.
Italy was also extremely beautiful. The first town we went to was Verano, which is where Romeo and Juliet took place. We saw Juliet's balcony, and I touched her statue, which is suppose to make you find love...no luck yet :( haha ewww. We then traveled north to ski the Dolomites in the Italian Alps. I really would like to explain how beautiful this place was but it really is impossible. I have been to a lot of mountains, but this place was by far the most beautiful and biggest. We skied untouched runs all day, in waist high powder. It was mind-blowing. I'll put some pictures up for you to see for yourself. The only bad part about the day was that we did not have any ski clothes at all. We didn't actually think we were gonna go skiing so we did not come prepared at all. Sooooo, I wore jeans and a sweater. Let me give you some advice: don't EVER go skiing in jeans and a sweater. I thought, you now, I'm a pretty good snowboarder. There have been a few days where I haven't fallen. I'll just be really cautious and won't fall so everything stays dry. So we take the lift all the way to the top of the mountain and go off on an unmarked trail that has the perfect untouched powder I was telling you about. I stood at the top and watched Jesse and Jack rip down the hill, screaming because they were so stoked. My turn. I turn sideways, and AS SOON as I start moving, my snowboard got stuck in the powder. I summersaulted down the entire run. I'm talking full on head to feet 360 summersaults. It didn't hurt because the snow was so soft, but when i finally got to the bottom, I was covered head to toe in sticky powdery snow. It was in my pants, down my shirt, in my beanie, my face was covered, I'm talking everything. "HEY SNOWMAN!! Let's go!! I hear Jesse yell, as he's laughing hysterically with Jack. Yeah real good friends I have. Tease me when I'm down. Snowboarding that day was awesome though. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky. I mean, don't get me wrong, my pants were rock solid frozen by the end of the day (no joke, frozen solid), and my sweater was soaked.....but it was grrrreat! Oh yeah, did I mention that me and Jesse almost died?? Forgot about that. So Jesse is insane when it comes to snowboarding. He rushes anything, anywhere. So I am at the bottom of one of the small hill, right after I face planted and almost dislocated my shoulder, with my feet sticking out of the snow, when I hear Jesse yell, "Hey Adam, is this run clear?!?! ANY ROCKS!?!?!" I look up and Jesse is at the top of this SUPER steep hill that has some trees in the middle. There weren't any rocks and though I would have never rushed it, I knew Jesse would be okay. "Go for it braddah!!! You're good!" So I'm sitting at the bottom, watching Jesse get ready to charge this crazy hill. He takes two great turns, then all of a sudden the entire hill starts to move. It all happened so fast, like a blur. All the snow on the hill gave way and I could see Jesse caught in it. I watched as he came in and out of my sight. He banged into trees and tumbled over rocks as he had no control in the avalanche. I thought we were both dead, as I was on the bottom, looking up and watching this entire wave of snow head right in my direction. Fortunately, it stopped one foot in front of me, as huge ice balls rolled by me. If I was ten yards further up, I would have been covered. When the avalanche stopped, I turned to Jesse who just popped out of the snow. His face was covered with blood. I tried to run over to him, but the snow so soft and deep that I couldn't walk. "JESSE! Are you alright!??!" He looked like a deer in headlights, I'll never forget that look. He was so shaken. I watched as he felt around his body for any breaks. Miraculously, he was not injured, besides for some pretty bad scratches on his face. I looked up at the hill and there were huge boulders everywhere. The snow must have just barely been covering the rocks. Fortunately, Jesse fell down the mountain on his butt, instead of face first. If he had hit his head on one of those rocks, this would be a bad tragedy instead of an epic story. Europe 2010 baby!! good times.
Besides for our amazing day of skiing in the Italian Alps, we also went to a Dave Matthews concert in Milan. That was super nuts. We also met this Italian girl on a train. Apparently we were all passed out on our way to Trento, a small town we were going to stay before skiing, when the train stopped and we had no idea where we were. I guess this girl noticed that we were confused so she offered to help us. LONG story short, we end up hanging out with this girl in Trento, her hometown. She showed us around the town and took us to a really cool bar/restaurant. She ends up being this 19 medical student, studying in Bologna, who actually did an exchange program in Georgia. She was really nice and apparently really liked us. So much in fact, that she invited the three of us to stay in her apartment in Bologna. So we went! I thought she was gonna lead us to some house and kill us, but I figured she should be more scared than us. I mean, we were three strangers she had just met. It was pretty ballsy of her to invite us to her place all by herself. Lucky we weren't three psychos. Jeeze Louize. But she made us dinner, we jammed, and had a great night. All in all, Italy was amazing, We ended up going to 9 different cities in 5 days. Whew, good thing for the Bank of mom and dad!! Thanks guys! I'll pay you back with love!!
Last week, we got back from Hungary, where I cruised pahty with my braddah MARC DACANAY!! We had an awesome time. Hungary, to me, is very similar to Prague, in its architecture and nightlife. I was sick a big chunk of the trip because I ate something bad and didn't poop it out in time, so I wasn't feeling at the top of my game. It was still awesome seeing Marc in his hometown and grinding ono food. One small story: We went out one night to this huge crazy nightclub. After a great night of dancing and singing Hungarian Karaoke, we made our way home. Jack and I have a little game we play where he lines up as a receiver and I am a defensive back. He tries to get by me, while I guard him. Anyway, he lines up on the busy streets of Hungary at 3:00 am in the morning with tons of people walking by. It was a challenge so I couldn't back down. I lined up with him, and on HIKE!, he exploded out. I could see the hitch coming so I slowed down. I must say, Jack is quite tricky. He unexpectedly did a stop and go! My feet got tangled up and when I tried to spin I face planted right into the ground in front of a large group of people. My knee scrapped the cement, leaving a huge hole in my jeans and a large strawberry. I laid on the ground as people asked me if I was okay. I was in a lot of pain so I just stayed on the ground for a while. I could hear jack laughing like a hyena. Sucking guy got me. How embarrassing. Oh well, all in good fun!! Europe 2010!!
Well this was just a few stories of my travels to other countries. Obviously, there is so much more, but I'm not J.K. Rowling or anything. I can't write a billion pages. I know it's my fault, I should be doing this more often, but like I said....I'm lazy. haha We've had a lot of good times here in Prague as friends from college have visited, girlfriends of Jack and Jesse, families of Jack, Jesse, and Jazz (I wish my family would come......clearly they don't love me. As a middle child, I'm use to it though. haha, just kidding, maybe if I didn't spend all their money, they could afford it. love you guys!) But yes, it has been great.
Istanbul will come later because I think it needs a separate post. I just got back yesterday from the craziest weekend in my life. It was the biggest culture shock I have ever experienced. You will hear later :) hopefully not in a month, but I'll try to get on it soon.
Well, hope this has given everyone a small picture of what has been going on lately. I wish I could tell you everything but I just can't. Plus I have to save some stories for when I get home. Some just can't be explained in writing. Okie dokes, time for a nap even though I slept 12 hours last night. This writing has really taken a lot out of me. Plus I'm on my spring break, so it's time to relax.
I hope everyone out there is doing great. I am missing everyone so much. It is hard not seeing family and friends for so long and the fact that it is so hard to communicate is very frustrating. All I can do is send out my love to everyone and say thanks for reading, it means a lot. Lami, I hope you are feeling better. I love you so much and I know you will win this fight. Love you all!!
Aloha,
Adam
p.s. for all you who think I am just partying out here....you are mostly right. haha but no, my classes are going great. I am learning a great deal about the history, politics, and literature of central Europe. It really is interesting stuff and I am enjoying all of it. There is also a good deal of work also, so don't think I'm just on vacation out here....Just 99% of the time. shooooootz :)
pps I didn't proofread any of this soooooo comments about spelling and grammar are not allowed. If I hear any, I'm gonna have to start whooping some serious butt...jackie chan style.
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