We asked for towels and we got sheets

This week I went to Budapest Hungry, Budapest was tons of fun and a little random, but I am so excited that I got to go... Budapest is actually two cities- Buda and Pest it is divided by the river.
Friday- we took the 3:30 am bus to the airport...And arrived in Budapest by noon. We went the the largest synagogue in Europe and went on a tour. It was really power because during the Nazi invasion it was turned into the Jewish Ghetto, there was a massive grave of about 3,000 Jews. There was almost the most amazing memorial I have ever seen. It was a weeping willow and on every leaf there was a name. If you turned the willow upside down it was a menorah. In the middle there was what looked like an "M" and it symbolizes the missing 10 commandments or the law during WWII or if you flipped it over it was the Hebrew letter for God, questioning His presence during the Nazi occupation.
We continued our own personal tour of Budapest with the Opera House tour. Very cool!! We also saw St. Stephens church which was huge!!! Me and Marissa went to the "House of Terror" it is a temporary exhibition about the building in which the Nazi and later the Russians housed themselves. It was also where they took their prisoners. I saw the actual jail cells and gallows where people died. I saw Soviet propaganda and watched videos of the interviews after those guilty where put on trail.
Satuday- We saw parliament-one of the biggest buildings in Europe and then we went to the Buda Side- we saw a church with a multicolored roof, and we saw the castle...
Then we went to the Turkish Baths..however, we did not bring swimsuits...so we rented them (gross i know but who can pass up the Baths)....and we also go "towels" which was more like a twin white sheet. Asha, one of the girls that went with us, she is not even 5 ft tall...so she couldnt touch in the baths...so we had to carry her...also in one of the baths there was a whirlpool..it was so funny to see everyone get sucked into the whirlpool and go around in circles...Then after drying off and getting dressed again...we went to a Hungarian folk dance performance..it was a lot of clapping and slapping...but it was a good time...
Sunday- i guess it was technically sunday, we had daylights saving time on sunday morning and we left our hostel at 5:30 but really it was 4:30? anyways we were tired and we were in luxembourg by noon......


loveyou.missyou.
Ann

Mind the Gap

This weekend I went to England...I took the eurostar (a really fast train that goes from Brussels to London) it was pretty cool...
Thursday night- my host baby brother was born... Sam...He is very healthy and came home on Monday and is as cute as his other brothers......
Friday-we got in late to a town called Cheltenham, England...My room mate here in Luxembourg had a friend studying there (so we stayed there for free)....
Saturday-We went shopping....Got a cute shirt and a cute pair of shoes...Then we went to Gloster, England and saw the church where part of Harry Potter was filmed... awesome I know.....
Then sunday we got into London and did the whole of London in about 5 hours... We hoped on a bus that took us to all the major sites and hoped off and saw what we needed to see....We took a boat tour from Tower Bridge (not to be confused with London Bridge, which we heard it falls down quiet a lot.....I hope all you get it) down to Big Ben.

*mind the gap is what is side a lot on the famous undergroud tube

Waiting on Sam

This weekend I was hoping to stay home and welcome my new baby host brother to his house...But he is being stubborn.....She was due March 7th and no baby yet and it is March 14th....
So instead this weekend I went to Colonge (Koln), Germany. I went to a really really cool museum...they had this exhibition with all the most photographed people...like James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, JFK, Hilter, Elvis....it was really cool
Sunday i had lunch with my host parents again.... and then wasted the day away doing homework.....
Monday- I took the boys (Pitt and Max) rollerblading behind their house......It was so cute Max thinks i am an skating pro...and he said I was the best skater ever and told everyone that passed that I was a professional....He also explained to one of his friends that I am an American student and I am studying lots of hard stuff and French at big kid school....And that I know 5 Luxembourg words... Hello...Goodbye...Thank you...House...And car....

Ciao Bella

Italy for 10 days...amazing...stressful...beautiful....but most of all unforgetable

"When in Rome"

Thursday- We checked into the youth hostel in Luxembourg City right after classes, then we decided to go find dinner..but we got lost in our own city...what a great way to start our trip i know...
Friday- We got a cab to the train station to catch our 2 and half hour shuttle to the airport. We left Lux at 3:30 in the morning. We arrived in Milano and catch bus to the train station and then we caught a train to Turin. Everything had to go perfectly or else we would miss our event. We got to Turin without a hiccup. So we husted check our baggage and bought our bus pass..and hoped on bus number 4 it was supposted to be a 25 min bus ride that turned into an hour and half because we go on bus number 4 in the wrong direction....it is funny now but not at the time...so we jogged a little to our event and go there just in time to see the start of the hockey game....swe vs cze..7-3 final score....i think i am the biggest hockey fan ever now...although i still dont know all the rules but the canadians sitting next to us just kept on repeating that they arent sore losers and i didnt know what they were talking about...still i am a little confused...
Saturday- We caught an overnight train to Rome at midnight and arrived @ 8 in the morning...We started the day with the Colosseum...(where we ran into Mandy who is studying in florence Crazy) then we took a little nap and then we went to an itlian resturant where the mama of the family still makes the noodles by hand.....yummy...
Quote from the Colosseum: "Hundreds of thousands of Christians may have been crucified, burned, or killed but they were not eaten by lions"-roman tour guide destroying thelioning eating myth!"
Sunday- We went to the vatican museum (sistine chapel and the school of athens) and then to st peter's square.. We went to mass in the vatican and we saw John Paul II's grave...
Monday- We did the rest of rome everything from the trevi fountain to the spanish steps....we even hit up the shopping street although it rained all day long....
Tuesday- We did theMuseum and Gallery Borghese....but they only let 300 people in at a time for a 2 hour block and of course we had to catch a train at 3 and we got the 1 to 3 block so a long story short we had 15 mins to get through one of the largest private collection......We arrived in Venice just in time to get our faces painted for Carnival..in venice it is more of a traditional celebration like mask and victorian dress..but it is apparently the biggest party for carnival.....we caught a autoboat to san marco square and caught a few songs in itlian and then got to watch some fireworks from the boat....beautiful....
As Savannah said "This is the biggest frat party i have ever seen"
Wednesday- We walked around and shoped for a while....then we went to the Accademia...and then we went to mass on ash wednesday....but all day we were walking around wondering why we didnt see anyone with ashes on their forehead we now that they put ashes in your hair....a little difference......
Thursday- We took a train to Florence...Mandy and Sarah(savannah's friend) picked us up at the train station...and we went out to dinner
Friday- We started the day with the Uffize-we waited in line for a while....and there was a huge school group that cut infront of us..i mean like a 100+ kids.....it was quiet aweful....but the rest of us waiting in line joined forces (the germans, the spanish, and the americans)
Saturday- We went to the Accademia in Florence and i saw the real "David" it was pretty amazing........and then we went up to the Michelanglo villa and you could see the whole city from there it was amazing

Sunday- we headed back to luxembourg and found it to be the worst snow luxembourg has seen in 50 years.......and apparently on the first sunday of lent they burn a cross(not a scary thing) and some brush but the newest married couple throws their tourch in first.....


new Webshot!!!! http://community.webshots.com/user/xanniebug1986x