My Trip in Eastern Europe

well i leave soon, i just finished packing and am trying to get everything sorted. i am departing tonight at 10:00 from Madrid to Girona, then catching a plane from Girona to Stockholm, then catching a boat from Stockholm to Tallin (Estonia), very excited!!!! can´t wait!!

Bueno me voy pronto, acabo de terminar de hacer la maleta (bueno la mochila) y me voy esta noche de Madrid a Girona, luego desde Girona voy en avion hasta Estocolmo, y luego voy desde Estocolmo a Tallin en un barco!! no puedo esperar!! que aventura!!

SWEDEN

First impression: "Damn look at all these white people!
Last impression : Damn look at all these white people!

ESTONIA

First Impression: "Feels like you are walking through a Disney Fairy tale with cone shaped tops on all the old buildings"

Well i have been travelling for 2 days and i have finally made it to my destination. I left Madrid on a train to Girona, it was an overnight train and i didn't have a bed, there were seats, it was horrible and the trip took 10 1/2 hours!!! my ass was flat as a pancake when i got off the train. i had to sit with 5 other people, they were all nice and we talked about where we were going and so forth. Then there was a man who got on and sat in our cabin and somehow we found out he was into crystals and rocks and he busted out all these rocks and was telling us how they heal or whatever then somehow we found out he reads tarot cards and he had them on him so there was a tarot reading card session in the cabin, it was all very interesting. then from Girona i had to take a bus to the airport where i caught a flight to Stockholm, when i got to Stockholm i had to catch a bus to Stockholm cause the airport i landed at was no where near flippin Stockholm, was like AARRGGHH i'm so tired i hadn't eaten anything since the day before and now i have to sit on a bus for and hour and a 1/2 to Stockhom (by the way countryside in Sweden...beautiful, and there are Volvo's everywhere)when i got to Stockholm i had to find a way to get to the harbor to catch the boat to Estonia, i didn't have any swedish money on me cause i thought sweden was using the euro....guess not..... so i had to first ask a taxi how much it would it be to the harbor and he said 160 swedish crowns, okay i went to change my 20 euros and i got exactly 160 swedish crowns, perfect, so i went back to where all the taxis were and i asked a driver to take me to the harbor and he said it would cost 260 crowns, i was like no no, this is all i have and your little friend said it was 160, i don't have anymore money, if you want these 160 crowns you can take me to the harbor, so he agreed. when i got to the harbor i went to buy the ticket and they wouldn't accept my card, i freaked out cause the boat was leaving in 40 minutes and i didn't have enough cash on me for the boat ticket and i didn't want to get stuck in stockholm cause it's really expensive. the lady told me there was an ATM like 15 minutes away so i ran with my HUGE backpack uphill to an ATM that took me forever to find and ran back to the harbor, paid in cash and i was one of the last ones on the boat, i was sweaty and stinky my back and knees hurt from my trek to the ATM with my HUGE backpack. They took a picture of me before i got on the boat which i saw later and i looked like a disheveled rodent, all i wanted was to shower eat and sleep lying down not in a chair. The boat was huge it looked like the love boat, i was hoping to find gopher so he could whip me up a martini. anyways they showed me to my cabin which was the lowest deck next to where they park the cars. it was small and quaint. i took a shower and changed. now i had to figure out how to get around this boat thing and find food. i found a cafeteria and ate a veggie pizza. i really wanted a whole pizza to my self cause i was soooooooooo hungry but i didn't really know how much anything was cause they were using two types of currency on the boat, neither of them being euros, so i got the cheapest thing. i walked around and went to the bar and had a beer and participated in a quiz game they had going at the bar. then i sat at the back of the boat for 2 hours and watched the sunset behind the thousands of islands in the Baltic sea. I just listened to the water turning through the rudders and watched all the islands dissapear into the horizon, it was very nice. i thought about where i was on the map and thought about how i got there and how cool it all was that i was cruising through the baltic sea on my way to Estonia. well i was very tired and went to bed. i didn't sleep very well cause my room was next to the engine room nd i kept freaking out cause there were all these horrible noises and the boat would start to really tip and i kept thinking we were going to sink and i kept hearing water rushing everywhere and i was just waiting for it to come under door and i would be trapped like the people on the bottom floors on the titanic. I would wake up and forget where i wast or if i was with anybody and kept thinking i had to get the kids to safety still thinking i was working with the kids still, it was horrible i kept dreaming about the kids and getting them to safety i was still being pursued by the Segovia Camp kids. anyways after all my late night sinking scares i woke up like an hour and a half before we docked. i had breakfast and packed my stuff. when i got off the boat i asked a taxi driver to take me to the street where my hostel was at and he said it was like a ten minute walk which was very nice of him cause he could have charge me all kinds of money to take me 10 minutes away but didn't. i walked (much further than 10 minutes) and i finally found where i was staying at. i couldn't use my card again so i have to call my bank and see what's going on. i paid cash for the room and took my backpack to my room where i am sharing with 5 other people! not to keen on that idea but it's affordable so i have to share. i met a guy in the room whom i asked if he knew an internet place and he said that he was going in 2 minutes and he would go with me. We walked to the internet cafe and i sent an e/mail to spain regarding my card not working. My new friends' name was Georg and he's from Austria. I nearly fell to my knees when he told me that i was like oh my god austria, i love austria, one of my dreams is to go to austria, and he was like why? but i was to embarrased to tell him it was because of the sound of music. we went to have lunch where I asked him about Salzburg and he said it was full of japanese and american tourist buying sound of music t-shirts and staying at sound of music hostels and how annoying it is, as he keeps expressing his love for people visitng his country because of that movie, he said something very interesting which i didn't know. He said no one in Austria has ever seen that movie, including himself, that nobody really knows who the von trapp family were. As i kind of sank into my chair debating whether i should express my deep love for that movie he asked me if i ever saw the Sound of Music i was like "Okay I loooove that movie and that's why i want to go to Salzburg, because i want to run on a little green hill and sing the sound of music, it's one of the best movies EVER, i watch it every month and i know all the songs!" he couldn't believe it, he starting laughing and he asked me what the movie was about, i vaguely explained it and I mentioned that captain von trapp's name was georg like him. he's really cool anyways we had a laugh and then he went to do some shopping and i came here to write this. i am going to explore the city of Tallin now. i'll get back to you tommrow

Well yesterday i walked around the city and took some pictures and tried to find a place to have a glass of wine and damn it if i couldn't find a little bar to have a glass of wine in that was away from the tourists, it was impossible. Tallin is very small and very very touristy, i thoguht it would be less touristy then other places but i thought wrong, and i couldnt get away from the tourists at all so i ended up going to a bar across from my hostal called "Tapas y Vinos" which was an obvious spanish place but i knew they would have a glass of wine in there for me, so i went in and had a glass of wine and sat outside on the chairs and tables outside and made friends with the local pigeons that kept flocking to me for some unknown reason. after i finished my glass of wine i went back to the hostal and georg was there talking to a girl sitting on a bottom bunk. So i hung out for a while and we were talking about all kinds of stuff then decided to go for a walk around the city and go for a drink. The girls name was ana though her real name is "Chaka Wula" which means white cloud. she's mongolian and currently lives in New Zealand. so me and my 2 new friends went for a walk then went to this super cool modern estonian bar/restaurant where all the locals hang, it was cool we ate and had something to drink. then we went back to the hostal to change and to get ready to go out. We went to some cool places then ended up in a flashy cool disco that played a mix of hip-hop and techo and then out of nowhere they played the jackson 5, i was in the bathroom when i heard the song and came flying out of the bathroom and nearly slid across the dance floor on my knees ready to get down. Everyone was dancing on the dance floor, it was a nice change from Spain where few people dance, especially the women, here everyone was dancing and didn't care about what people thought. They played "summertime" from DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, i was so happy i was like aaaahhh yeahhhhh summertime baby woo hoo, because i was like it's summertime i know i'm not cruising in my ride with the top down and i'm not looking fly from the beauty salon, i was in estonia, but it was summertime to me and i was having a great time. after a while we left and ana went back to the hostal, she was tired. So me and Georg went out for another drink and discovered that the crepe place around the corner from our house is a stripclub at night, very interesting, we also discovered that our hostal is underneath a stripclub, that was also interesting as well. anyways we came back to the hostal went into the kitchen and georg had some food so we ate and talked and he told me all kinds of stuff about a professor he had in college that was really mean to him and we exchanged stories and laughed. little did we know what was about to happen next. We went up to our room where there are 3 bunk beds, each bunk bed has 3 beds, okay, get the picture, well i sleep on a bottom bunk and georg sleeps on the bunk above me, and above his bed is another bunk. well we walk in our room and find 2 stinky jamaican guys sleeping in our beds. i mean stinky, like armpit stinky. now i left my bed made with my mickey mouse pillow case over the hostal pillow and my little twin star travel pillow on top of that and my pajamas and bottle of water on the bed, well this stinky jamaican guy was asleep on all my stuff and had his stinky nappy head on my beloved little twin star pillow. the guy on georg bed was like is this your bed mon? and georg's like yeah mon that my bed. and then the guy on the bottom bunk asked me if this was my bed? i was like "ummmm do you own a little twin star pillow and a mickey mouse pillow case and wear penguin pajamas, well I do that's why they are on MY bed. there was only one spare bunk in the room and they both jumped in the bed together, and the WORST part was when they got out of our beds one of them was naked and the other one was wearing his briefs, it was like oh no buddy, naked stinky jamaican man in my bed, with his stinky nappy head stnkin up my treasured little twin star pillow my beloved brother gave me. i was livid, then some guy from the top top bunk, the one above georgs bed sticks his head out and says "that's what happens when you stay in a hostal" i was like "Who are you man from the top bunk that was not invited into this conversation and has nothing to do with anything?" so i went down to reception to get some new sheets and give the stinky ones back, i go back to the room, get my toothbrush and stuff and go to the bathroom and georg was in the bathroom laughing his ass off, he's like man okay i know we have to share showers and stuff but at least for 15 euros a night, i shouldn't have to share my bed! i was sooo pissseddd off cause now my pillow was all stinky and now i have to find a dry cleaners to clean it. I went to bed all mad and trying to ignore the intense odor of B.O. surrounding me. the next day i stayed in bed till 11:30 and Ana was still in the room working on her laptop when i woke up. she had to go down to the internet cafe so we decided to meet in an hour to have lunch. i took a shower and went out to meet ana, we had a nice lunch then ran into georg who was buying a newspaper in the plaza. we all decided to go to Riga tommorow together cause we all wanted to go but at different times and ana was going to go to russia but is now going to riga tommorow. so we are trying to work out the details on where we are all going to stay. so anyways Ana tells me that one of the guys in our room is goign to Riga tommorow and knows of a really cheap hostal. so we all go down to the internet cafe so i can write this and find a place to stay. and it turns out the guy who is knows of the cheap hostal in Riga is the Smart ass fromt the top bunk who is now sitting next to me and seems like a nice guy.

Well my friend Georg, Ana and Mike (guy from top bunk)have made a little group of friends. We walked around Tallin and went for a coffee, took pictures and just basiclaly hung out with each other. We decided to go to the movies where they saw Mr and Mrs. Smith and i opted for Hitchikers guide to the galaxy (which i have read like 10 times and still have the book my aunt Ana gave me) Anyways we were all thinking of going to Riga the next day and Georg thought it would be best for us to get on the first bus to Riga which was at 6:00am. So we all agreed and made plans to get up at 5:30. Mike and i went out to dinner cause i was really hungry and i wanted a real meal. We found a fantastic italian restaurant and had a 3 hour dinner. We went to bed at 2:00am, then woke up at 5:30am, packed our stuff and took a taxi to the bus station. it was a 4-5 hour bus ride and we all slept on the bus, we were so tired. I for one was very tired and hungry which seems to be a constant thing for me. Well when we got to Riga i had to seriously go to the bathroom. My friends waited for me while i ran into the bus station only to find that you have to pay 10 lat cents to go to the bathroom. i had Estonian money on me and that was it, so i had to find an ATM, go back to the bathroom only to find you need like exact change or something, not sure cause i don't understand Latvian and the old woman seemed very bothered i gave her a 10 lat bill, i was like take whatever you want, i'ļl pay 5 bucks just to use the restroom. she gave me my change and muttered something else. well i ran to the bathroom only to find like a gazillion people in there (men and woman)using the bathroom. when there was finally a stall free i went in to find there was no toilet paper anywhere, not even like a toilet paper holder, weird. luckily i had tissues in my bag. well when i finally got out i saw there was like this flouresant pink toilet paper roll next to the window where you pay, i think that was what the lady was telling me to get toilet paper before i went in. it was so funny cause everyone was paying and then taking a little bit of toilet paper with them. Well after my stressful visit to the toilet,i made it back to my friends who were patiently waiting for me, Georg was chosen to lead us to the hostal so we all followed him and found it fine. It seemed like a cool place so we dropped off our stuff and went for soemthing to eat cause i was really hungry. Mike was staying at another hostal so we helped him find it then went back to our hostal and tried to take a nap which didn't happen cause Georg and I talked for 3 hours about Austrian politics and tried to teach each other German and Spanish. After our nap we went for a walk. Before we went for a walk i noticed that the sky was cloudy and it looked like it was goign to rain. I asked them if they thought i should bring my umbrella and mike was like "no, youļl be fine" well like 2 minutes into our walk out of NOWHERE it started to pour! It was like terrential downpour, so we ran under a doorway and huddle together watching the rain pour down, it was amazing how much it was raining. So we kind of just stood there looking at each other and taking pictures while we waited for the rain to clear up. I thanked mike for suggesting i leave my umbrella at the hostal. Then we all decided to go into the mall next door to kill sometime while it rained, after we did a few laps we went back outside where it was still raining, so we went to a cafe and took pictures and drank tea and coffee. Then Georg and I went back to the hostal so he could use the free internet they have there. There was like 15 people in the common room all drinking beers and talking i was like (hey party over here) well i met a ton of people including and indian man who praticed indian medicine and who is also a numerologist and told me my lucky number was 2 and that i was a natural born teacher. i met a guy from Ohio who works for the U.S. government or something and lives in Brussels, then i met an australian women whoš 43 years old and looks like sheš been around the block a bit to many times. there were a few more characters around which made the next 5 hours very interesting. Well i had already made plans with my little group of friends to go out to a place mike suggested. so i got ready and we all met at mikeš hostal where i met 3 spanish guys and found out one of them is my neighbor! then we all walked down into the old part of Riga. We went to like a bar/disco/restaurant where we ordered some food and hung out a bit. i was feeling very very tired so i decided to go back to the hostal. well the next morning ana was trying to wake me up and kept asking me if i was okay cause i was still asleep i said "I'M FINE. I'M SLEEPING" Georg was like "we better let her sleep" anyways we made another friend in the hostal, his name is Pombas and he is from Cyprus. so we all went out for lunch then walked around Riga. I decided to go to the movies and see Madagascar and then bought tickets to see War of the Worlds later on that evening. I needed a bit of a break from my little group and just wanted to be by myself. That night we all saw each other at the hostal and then i suggested we would go out for a drink. Pombas met a girl, her name is Irena, sheš really cool, sheš from Riga and wanted me to teach her how to bowl so i told her we would go bowling tommorow. Anyways i just wanted to go out for a drink so Ana, Mike, Pombas, Irena and I went out for a beer. Georg met 3 french girls so he was like sorry guys i'm staying here with these girls. so anyways we went out for a drink and to make a long story short i came back at 10:00am! I just wanted to go out for a beer and ended up dancing all night and met some russian girls and then somehow ended up on the roof of the tallest building in Riga and saw the sunrise. It was fantastic, those moments when i think "how did i get here" Well after i walked along the river i went back to the hostal showered and went to bed. Mike and Georg were leaving today and i wasn't able to say goodbye. Georg tried to wake me up and i wasn't cooperative which was sad cause i wasn't able to say goodbye to neither of them. Georg had to go back to Austria where i am goign to meet up with him later in my trip and mike only had a week left of vacation and wants to see more places. Well when i woke up i found pombas, ana, and Irene in the common room and Irena wanted to know if i wanted to go bowling, so i was like okay thatš sounds like fun, but i went for something to eat first and then i came here to type this. well i am going to go now cause i have been here at the internet cafe for quite sometime.

i'm staying longer in Riga than i thought i would stay. I'm enjoying myself alot here. yesterday i went out for a drink and played pool with this dutch guy i met at the hostal. we had fun, he's into good music and photography. Today i walked around the city and got invited to a spa! Irena, pambos's friend booked a massage for me cause i mentioned earlier in the week that i wanted one. well we drove in her car to the spa and i had a full hour massage, very nice. For some strange reason there was a bowling alley in the same building as the spa, and so since Irena wanted to learn how to bowl we went bowling for an hour. Then i came back to the hostal and had a siesta and i just woke up a half hour ago. I think tommorow i am going to Lithuania.