Oh Prague. Where do I even begin? Prague is like that cool kid in your class that knows he's cool but will never admit it. People will ooh and ahh as he walks by but he'll always act like he doesn't care. With the exception of Budapest (duh) Prague is THE coolest city in Eastern Europe. The entire city has an old feel to it, but everyone there is super young and the nightlife is killer. Before I recount the days' events I would like to give a special shout out to my brother, Matthew. He spent a semester abroad in Prague and pretty much everything we saw and ate was recommended by him. THAAAAANKSSSSSS MATTHEWWWWWWWW.

During the first day there we checked out the Old-New Synagogue in the Jewish quarter, walked across the Charles Bridge, took way too many pictures at the John Lennon wall, drank beer on top of a hill at this old monastery turned brewery, and went to a rad bar with live music. I ate this potato dumpling dish for lunch, garlic bread at the monastery for a snack, KFC (!!!!!!!!!!!) for dinner, and a fried cheese sandwich for another snack / dessert. Lots of hot wine was also consumed that day, because that's apparently a thing sold on every block.

Here's a picture of me in Prague. The rest of the pictures included in this post will be of food. You've been warned.

If you are looking at this picture and you know what this delicious dish is called please let me know.

A little taste of home<3 also please note the fact that there are REAL french fries and not just potato wedges! Sorcery!

Fried. Cheese. Sandwich. Need I say more?

On day two I was graced with the opportunity to travel around by myself, due to the fact that I caught a flight to Lisbon that afternoon while my travel companions stayed one extra night in Prague. Before we split up we had a delicious breakfast at Bohemia Bagel and I ate my first bagel in just about two months. Then I headed back to the Jewish quarter by myself to see the other things there besides that one synagogue we went into on the first day. The thing that stuck with me most was the inside of the Pinkas Synaguge, where close to 80,000 names of Holocaust victims are written on the walls. After bumming myself out I decided the only way to make myself feel better was to eat a large amount of food, so I headed across the city to Radost FX (some club / lounge / bar / restaurant where Rihanna filmed a music video) and ate the most delicious nachos in the entire world. To anyone out there from Boston who may be reading this, I kid you not these nachos are better than Sunset. Major, major props to my good friend Rachel for convincing me to eat there. Without your constant nagging I would have never made the trip out there, so thank you for being persistent.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

YUM

Overall, Prague was a real winner. Sad to only have a day and a half there because I felt like there was still so much more to see, but it was really great to be able to see exactly why Matthew loved living there so much!

Anddddd she's back with another post! This one's about the second leg of my Fall break trip i.e. Vienna, Austria. I registered for Spring semester classes recently and decided that I'm going to take creative writing, so I'm feeling inspired to write this post in the form of haikus. I anticipate that the first two will be entertaining and then after that they'll just get annoying, but please humor me and try to stick it out until the end.

For those of you unfamiliar with haikus, the format is
5 syllables
7 syllables
5 syllables
and in my opinion it's the easiest and most fun style of poetry to write. Here goes nothing...


Vienna is cool
We didn't do a whole lot
But the food was good

First we ate sausage
From this tiny old lady
And it was yummy

Then we ate schnitzel
It was bigger than my head
Thanks for the tip, Bruce

Steaming hot chocolate
Was also present that trip
Once it had rum, yum!

We didn't just eat
Although it may seem like it
We saw cool stuff, too

Things we saw include
But are not limited to
A huge ferris wheel

Modern art was viewed
At some place called the Mumok
And then we ate more

Vienna is missed
We had a relaxing time
I will be back soon

Hope that wasn't TOO annoying! Check out the pictures below and stay tuned for updates about Prague and Lisbon. If you're (un)lucky I might stretch my creativity even more and try my hand at limericks.

I'm a firm believer in the fact that Figlmuller genetically engineers its schnitzel.

Hot chocolate with rum. Not pictured: the blanket I snuggled up with while drinking this bad boy.

No haiku could do this omelette justice, but this baby was from a cute place called The Breakfast Club.

My apologies in advance for taking so long to update this thing. Time flies when you're having fun! It also flies when you're starting your first 9-5 job and would rather spend your evenings lying in bed watching Netflix with no pants on instead of updating your blog.

I went to four countries over fall break and I think I'm going to go ahead and type up a new post for each one. That way you don't feel like you're typing a novel and I don't feel like I'm writing an unnecessarily long post that no one will read. Win win situations for the win!

First up: Budapest. Let me start by saying that even though we only spent two full days there I LOVE this city so much. I think the fact that it's in a country called Hungary might have something to do with it, but beyond that the atmosphere is perfect for young people and there was never a dull moment during our time there.

We arrived at our hostel (MAJOR shout out to the Budapest Bubble - the staff was so nice and friendly and we had a great time staying there) early Saturday morning and immediately hit the ground running. Here's a list of things we did on the first day:

1. Ate a delicious brunch at some cute cafe. I had eggs with cheese mushrooms tomatoes and basil and they were yummy. Unfortunately I was so hungry that I immediately started eating without taking a picture first (sorry Nikki).

2. Walked around the Grand Market Hall in a single file line because everyone and their grandma was there and the aisles were way thin.

3. WENT TO THE ZOO AND GOT UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH SLOTHS. THIS DESERVES TO BE IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE I LOVE SLOTHS AND I'M STILL EXCITED ABOUT IT.

I like to think that our happiness levels were equal in this very moment.

4. Had a relaxing dip in the thermal baths and saw a bunch of fat naked old people.

I like this picture because my feet look super big

5. ate bacon-wrapped chicken stuffed with cheese in a creamy corn sauce (NOM)

welcome to Nom City, population: this piece of chicken.

6. got a full night sleep because we woke up at 4am that morning to fly to Budapest.

So even though we were absolutely exhausted by the end of it day one was an overall success. We spent most of day 2 on the Pest side of Budapest (more info can be found here). The day's events went something like this:

1. Ate a cheeseburger for breakfast at this rad place called Good Bar Good Burger. Don't worry mom, it was a small burger AND it came with a side salad.

pancakes are SOOO last year

2. Watched a bunch of sweaty Hungarian people run a marathon and pretended like it was marathon Monday

3. Crossed the bridge into Pest and walked up a huge hill / walked around the top of said hill most of the day.

4. Did archery for the first time since like 2005 (hi Camp Pocono Ridge miss ya) and hit the bullseye!!!!! Just kidding... I failed almost as miserably as I did when I was 12.

I volunteer as tribute

5. Ate yummy sausage for lunch and converted my vegetarian friend to a meat-eater for the rest of our travels.

6. Visited the Dohány Street Synagogue aka the largest synagogue in Europe. It was super amazing and was by far the biggest highlight of Budapest (besides the sloths of course)

In this moment I was incredibly thankful that I had my Bat Mitzvah in the cafeteria of an elementary school and not a giant synagogue that could hold 3,000 people.

7. Ate authentic Hungarian goulash and rabbit in a red wine sauce for dinner. I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to rabbits, so eating them is my way of getting back at them for making me sneeze.

This is goulash

This is rabbit

8. Went out to a ruin bar with our new friends from the hostel!

Look mom I have friends!

So in summary: Budapest is amazing, sloths live there, the synagogue is ginormous, the food is delicious, and I'm incredibly confident that I will be back there for an extended period of time some day. It's 11pm here and I have work bright and early tomorrow morning (my internship is going really well by the way!) so I'm going to hold off on posting more about my trip. But to those of you who have been asking for me to update this thing - enjoy.

I don't know how to start this post so I'm just going to go ahead and say it: I think I'm in love with my French professor, Veronique. Not because she's attractive or our personalities really click, but because she knows the quickest way to my heart: FOOD.

Our French class wrapped up last week, and during the last scheduled class we had a French movie night. Veronique brought us cheese of all varieties, fresh baguettes, unidentifiable (yet delicious) meat, homemade chocolate mousse and crepes, and lots and lots of wine. A couple girls in the class also made mojitos which I certainly didn't complain about. We watched some French Saturday Night Fever parody called "Disco" and Veronique even turned the subtitles on, which meant I could focus more on eating and drinking and less on understanding the movie. Up until now I assumed that the best way to wrap up a class was by playing sporcle and cleaning desks with shaving cream, courtesy of every AP class I took in high school. But French 1 definitely set the bar high. Take note, future professors.

Our drink selection for the evening

CHEESE. That is all.

Principles of International Health also wrapped up last week, but in a less exciting way that is not worth blogging about. This week I have a paper to write and a French final to study for, and then I am a free woman for 10 whole days before my internship starts. More on that at the end of this post...so if you don't want to read about all the cool stuff I did this weekend feel free to skip ahead.

On Friday a group of us traveled to Bern, Switzerland AKA the capital. It was much smaller than I expected and we pretty much saw the entire city in less than a day. Not much to report on Bern itself, but the history museum is currently displaying a Terracotta Warrior exhibit that we spent a couple hours at. I'm starting to construct my own personal army of 8,000 warriors to be buried alongside me in my tomb, and I pay great commission if anyone wants to help a sister out. That evening I ate a potato and cream dish called rosti. It was delicious and even though I felt like I was going to vomit immediately after inhaling it it was totally worth ordering.

We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the exhibit, so this is all you get.

You'll be in my heart, from this day on, now and forever more.

On Saturday we had a group excursion to Montreux, where we ate good food and saw yet another lake. I'm becoming more and more convinced that every Swiss city functions around a body of water. Montreux sets itself apart because, in addition to a lake, it has a castle! Didn't really soak in much of the history lesson so I can't tell you a single thing about the castle, but it was pretty and I enjoyed looking at it.

This is a castle. Google "castle in Montreux" for historical context.

On Monday a few of my friends and I took a day trip out to Zurich, Switzerland, which is not the capital but might as well be because I'm pretty sure it's the most well-known city in this country. We walked all over the old town, checked out the lake (see? more water.), drank delicious hot chocolate, and ate some yummy food. Lunch consisted of tomato soup, bruschetta, and margherita pizza from this super cute Italian restaurant, and hot chocolate was courtesy of this huge chocolate shop, Sprungli. We got a beautiful glimpse of Zurich at night and then headed back to the train station to enjoy its version of Oktoberfest. We ate sausage and drank beer and sang songs and if I was dressed up in a dirndl it might have felt like Munich pt 2. A successful day was had by all!

It's a proven fact that Swiss water looks better at night

I love you, hot chocolate.

My Oktoberfest feast

This will probably be my last blog post for a short while. Early Saturday morning I leave for my 10 day Fall break adventure, where I'll be traveling to Budapest, Vienna, Prague, and Lisbon. I haven't been to any of these places so if you are reading this and you have suggestions on what to do or see or eat (duh) in any of these cities please send them my way! I'm specifically looking for tips on Jewish life and culture (Rachel this is where you come in) but am open to anything that sounds fun and interesting.

On October 21st I start my internship at.......the International AIDS Society! I'm the "Journal of the International AIDS Society Intern" which means I will be doing a lot of writing and editing for their online journal. I still don't know much about the specifics of my internship, but I have very high hopes and I'm excited to start working! It's crazy that the first half of my semester is just about done, but I can't wait to see how the rest of my time in Europe will be.

PS: Ellen and Bruce sent me a cheese-themed care package and so they deserve a shout out. Love and miss!

Are they the best or what?

I have a confession: I never loved Disney World. I visited a couple times when I was younger and I really enjoyed it, but I didn't fall in love with it in the way that every little girl falls in love with the Magic Kingdom. I never wanted to be a princess and I wasn't a big fan of Disney movies, especially those that lacked talking animals. I always assumed that my apathy towards Disney World was just a side-effect of my cynical, sarcastic attitude towards most things in life.

However, this weekend proved me wrong. After 20 years I finally realized that the happiest place on Earth is definitely not Disney World, because that title is reserved for Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.

This weekend shattered every expectation I set. I initially pictured a bunch of people drinking in a field, but boy was that an understatement. Oktoberfest is basically a much more fun version of the Montgomery County fair, minus the demolition derby and plus A LOT of beer. People from all over the world dress themselves in lederhosen and dirndls and flock to Munich for this three week long celebration.

I like any place that welcomes me with a sign.

I'm going to skip talking in-depth about the beer because I think it goes without saying that that was a big highlight of the weekend. I mean, that's basically the whole reason for the festival so you know it must be good. What you do need to know is that there were both beer gardens and beer tents (one of each for every brewery represented at the festival), and I had a glorious time in both of those settings.

two is better than one.

Another big highlight of the weekend was obviously the FOOD. Things I ate include but are not limited to....
-a pretzel bigger than my head
-schnitzel
-some large piece of bread with cheese and bacon on top
-Germany's version of mac and cheese, called spaetzle
-CHICKEN. SO MUCH CHICKEN.

I love you, bacon cheesy bread thing.

I also love you, schnitzel.

I also love YOU, German mac and cheese dish.

All in all it was an extremely successful weekend. I dressed up, met people from all over the world, ate and drank delicious things, and made it back to Geneva in one piece. If you ever find yourself in Europe around this time of year and you miss out on the opportunity to visit Oktoberfest consider us no longer friends.

Until next time, Munich. Auf wiedersehen.

If you are my friend / family and you are reading this post please find a seat and brace yourself. I have some huge news to report that may just rock your world. Only continue reading past this point once you are sitting down and have taken three deep breaths....

I am converting. Being here has really opened my eyes to everything I've been missing in this world and I just can't go on living the sheltered life that I've been living. From this point forward I will no longer be part of the church of grape jelly, and instead am starting my conversion process into the life of a blueberry jelly lover.

Sorry for the scare, mom. If you've known me for a while you probably know that I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches more than most things in life. I ate a pb&j for lunch everyday from my first day of kindergarten until my last day of high school, and now that I'm off a meal plan and forced to pack a lunch I've reverted back to my old ways...with one BIG exception. It is virtually impossible to find grape jelly in this part of the world (or at least at the 2 grocery stores I've checked) and so I've had to resort to blueberry jelly as a substitute. I hate to say it, but I think I was deprived during the roughly 12 years of my life that I swore by grape. So long live blueberry! And if you can find it in the US please tell me where so I can pick some up as soon as I get home.

In other news, I had a very fun weekend in Lugano, Switzerland, mostly because I ate super yummy Italian food. Lugano is in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and it basically felt like we were in a different country. On Saturday we even stumbled upon an international food and art festival (Bruce, you would have LOVED this) that only happens once a year. What luck! I probably won't make it to Italy during my time here due to the fact that I've already been all over that country (thanks grandma and grandpa!) so a weekend in Lugano was a nice compromise.

I ate mushroom gnocchi and life was good.

This calzone was filled with tomato, mozzarella, mushroom, artichoke, and prosciutto. I left my heart (and my stomach) in Lugano.

One more fun thing to report: today my French class took place at a chocolate factory. We got to see how chocolate is made and ate an obscene amount of samples. The presentation was done entirely in French so I can't really tell you anything I learned, but what I do know is that there is no chocolate factory in the world that resembles Willy Wonka's factory and also chocolate is delicious and I will never stop loving it.

Ready for surgery....and chocolate tasting.

As promised, here's my canyoning video. Blogspot wouldn't let me upload it so I had to post it on youtube (embarrassing) but hopefully it works!

Insert laughter here.

This upcoming weekend I will be in Munich for Oktoberfest, so if you don't hear from me by Monday morning at the latest it's because I either loved it so much I decided to stay or I drank my weight in beer and popped from liquid overload.

Get ready ladies and gents because I have some BIG updates for you!

Since so many of my friends back home have been asking about the food here, it's important for all of you to know that on Thursday night a group of us got crepes at this cute little restaurant across the lake and boy were they good. Mine consisted of "seasonal fruit" (aka bananas and kiwi) and A LOT of chocolate. Washed that bad boy down with some cider and called it a successful night.

I love you, crepe.

On Friday we got out of class at noon instead of the usual 5pm, which meant we had so much time for activities. First order of business: macarons. Ladurée is some French dessert chain down the street from our building that sells delicious macarons. If you are ever in this part of the world (or NYC, apparently) I highly recommend the strawberry marshmallow, salted caramel, and chocolate flavors.

The swans were fighting for my macarons and I had to fend them off

Friday was the first warm and sunny afternoon all week and you better believe we took full advantage of that. Geneva has this awesome (FREE) bike rental service here, where you can borrow a bike for up to 4 hours! All you need is a 20 franc security deposit, a passport, and a good attitude. You might also need a helmet, considering the fact that those are not free to rent. We rode bikes for a bit during the afternoon and eventually stumbled upon a zoo. Naturally I freaked out and loved every second of it, and even though I have only spent 2 Fridays here this one was definitely the best so far.

I'm still sore.

If there's one thing everyone knows about me it's that I absolutely love cheese. It is my favorite food of all time and if it was sanitary to bathe in it I would do it in a heartbeat. BU paid for a group excursion to Gruyères (aka the birthplace of gruyere aka one of my favorite types of cheese) on Saturday. We visited a cheese "museum" and some fancy castle, but the real point of this post is to tell you about the fondue that I consumed. Things you need to know: it was delicious and I almost cried when it ended.

This is my fondue eating face.

When I told people I was spending fall semester in Switzerland I heard time and time again that I just HAD to visit Interlaken, and boy were they right! For those of you unfamiliar, Interlaken is basically the hub of extreme sports in Europe and it's also currently the top contender for the most beautiful place I've ever been. While I didn't skydive or bungee jump or anything wild like that, I did go canyoning. Here's a video of random people canyoning so you can kind of understand what that entails....

Basically, I rappelled off rocks, slid down water "slides", jumped off cliffs, and peed my pants (not necessarily in that order). It was a very terrifying and thrilling experience. Eventually I'll have a video of myself partaking in these activities and I'll post it here so all 5 of you reading this blog can see.

After canyoning a group of us did a small hike and walked around the lake area for a few hours. Then we boarded the train, took our shoes off, and napped until we arrived back in Geneva.

Feeling a little narcissistic but it's my blog and I'll post my face if I want to.

Basically I love it here and I'm never coming home.


.....just kidding mom see you in December!