Daytrip – Yoojin Cho

Frohe Ostern von Berlin!

How did I let this happen? Seriously? HOW COME I STILL HAVEN’T WRITTEN ABOUT MY FAVORITE WEEKEND TRIP? I blame it on the madness that was April – moving out, packing for Italy and studying for final exams – and May – pigging out on home-cooked meals, shopping with mom and enjoying the Texas sun.

Well, anywho… I did go to Berlin, Deutschland for the long weekend in April, the Easter weekend, and to this day, I love love love telling the story of how we almost ended up in Dresden, instead. Lesson learned: Always double check train’s destination before you hop on it, especially in a foreign country after you’ve been up since 2 a.m. to catch the 6 a.m. flight.

Leaving whatever happened at the Berlin Shoenefield Airport train station behind, Jack and I eventually made it to our hostel, located right next to Berlin Haupbahnhof station. Meininger was the biggest and the most modern hostel we stayed at the entire semester. While small hostels, such as the ones we found in Dublin and Sicily, have their own perks of cozyness, comfort and personal attention, big hostels are well-maintained and offer more big-group activities.

After we dropped off our backpacks, we began our German adventures with…THE FREE TOUR! The same deal as the ones in Dublin and Paris. I quickly found Berlin was full of interesting ironies. Brandenburg Gate, at least 300-year-old historic monument, stood right next to the all-glass, extremely modern Parliament building. The Holocaust Memorial, with no clear sign of what it’s supposed to represent, simply sat in the middle of the city. All in all, we saw numerous historic sights, ate almost too many sausages and fell in love with the German culture.

(Brandenburg Gate)

(Holocaust Memorial)

Since close to two months have already flown by since my trip to Berlin, I will actually make categories and lists of places I visited, food I ate, things I loved, etc. – with lots of pictures, of course!

First things first, FOOD & DRINKS. (I mean, are you surprised?)

1. Bratwurst: Yes, sausages. Why else would you ever visit Germany? Grilled perfectly – burnt a little outside but still tender and juicy inside. Moreover, I discovered something absolutely amazing called CURRYWURST. Jack was daring enough to try it first, but basically, it is perfectly grilled bratwurst cut into small pieces with curry sauce and curry powder on top. I know, sounds a bit weird. The taste, however, is superb. By far my favorite food discovery in Europe.

2. Berliner Pilsner: Great German beer. Regardless of what size beer you ask for, you will most likely end up with a huge stein.

3. Cheap Thai/Vietnamese Food: For only 3 euro, I had a big bowls of Vietnamese noodle for lunch. Then for only about 10 euro, I had a huge plate of Thai noodle for dinner. Yum!

(Sightseeing) ACTIVITIES:

1. Climbing to the top of the Parliament building for a gorgeous city view: One downside is you have to start lining up at around 7:45 a.m. for its 8 a.m. opening time. Multiple upside factors are amazing view and no need to pay to enjoy the view.

2. Pub Crawls: Truth – Berlin S-Bahn and U-Bahn operate 24 hours a day on weekends. Need I say more? Great night life – we went to all sorts of pubs/bars during our pub crawl. We started off at Zapata, an outdoor hangout place, went to Die Fisch (Yes, The Fish!), a hip dance-y bar, then moved on to a bro-ish club and finally, sorta Euro-trash club. So. Much. Fun. We also made friends from NY and Norway. Sweet deal.

3. Picnic at Museuminsel: By Museuminsel, I mean The Museum Island where all the major museums in Berlin surround a gorgeous green. By picnic, I actually mean Currywursts. On a warm afternoon, just try it. Couple of Currywursts and a couple cans of Berliner Pilsner!

[Sidenote: At the Museum Island, you can also visit Pergammon Museum, which houses ancient Greek statues and Babylonian architecture. You can also get student discounts!]

4. Oranianburg Daytrip: About an hour away on the U-Bahn, this site of former concentration camp is definitely worth a visit. We ended up spending an entire afternoon there. Not sure how to describe it in words, but you just learn so much and realize how wonderful it is to have your freedom, happiness and simply, joyful life.

Oh Berlin! What a fun city! Throughout the weekend, I also noticed Berlin was full of tourists – almost more than London! I was a bit thrown off by how many people spoke French and complicated Eastern European languages around me, but nevertheless, blended in just fine and had a great time.

If I ever get a chance, I definitely want to visit Frankfurt, Dresden (not accidentally this time) and Hamburg. And also, practice my German skills!

Picnic at Greenwich Park

The weather in London finally decided to let some sun into the England sky the last week of my semester abroad — which means we ditched studying for finals and went for a picnic in Greenwich Park instead. Obviously, what else is there to do when the sun is shining for the first time in four months? 😉

Technically Greenwich is located about 30-40 minutes of a tube ride on Jubilee line, but thanks to the pre-Olympics construction on London’s public transportation, we had to hop on the ferry from Embankment, down Thames River to East London.

Greenwich is home to the Royal Naval College, which totally beats BU in location, beauty and the view, PRIME MERIDIAN LINE, the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum. While I didn’t have time to browse around the museum, I did have plenty of time to stand in two different time zones at the same time, enjoy some wine and cheese and reflect on my Berlin trip while eating Currywursts at the market.

The picture depicts the Naval College’s quad. The grassy field overlooking the Canary Wharf invites passersby to sit down for a bit, read a little and relax in the sun.

Just look at me, magical. That is…Drumroll please…PRIME MERIDIAN! Am I the only one this excited to take a picture with this marker?

Hill/grass filled with people loving the weather and their picnic. Good to know we weren’t the only ones procrastinating?

In the main part of Greenwich you can find pubs, McDonald’s (without a fail in any city), restaurants and best of all, markets. The indoor market, though I don’t have a picture of it, offered many different kinds of souvenirs, drinks and food. The outdoor market – right by the dock – featured the biggest PICK & MIX collection, Currywursts and Paella. Seriously, can Greenwich get any better than that?

Oh wait, I think it just did. 🙂 What a great photo – courtesy of Madelyn and Christina. And what a wonderful day in the sun with awesome friends.

Ciao Bella! (A lovely week in Italy) Pt. 1

Just a couple days after the volcanic ash ban lifted, Jack and I hopped on an afternoon flight to Palermo, Sicily. Despite the crazy couple of days filled with packing, studying and cleaning, we successfully moved out of our BU housing in South Kensington and embarked on our vacation in Italy.

We landed in Palermo at around 9 p.m. and my first impression? Gorgeous, Warm, Pretty, so many Sicilians, small, crowded. We struggled just a little to find our hostel, but we eventually made it to a small place called Ai Quattro Canti. At first, walking up to the 3rd floor in a building such as this worried me.

When we finally arrived in our room, I quickly realized Ai Quattro Canti actually is a welcoming place for travelers with a friendly owner named Giuseppe. After three days at Giuseppe’s hostel, I highly recommend this place if you ever find yourself in Palermo.

Thanks to Giuseppe’s suggestions, we ate to our hearts’ content, took a daytrip out to Cefalu, visited the Catacomb and simply relaxed in the sun.

One of our nights there, Giuseppe personally took us out to dinner where we enjoyed a huge plate of pasta with mixed seafood, grilled fish, swordfish, prawns, tomato/olives/mozzarella salad and most importantly, an UNLIMITED supply of wine. Honestly, my mouth still waters just thinking about it.

Then who knew… Sicilians love their karaoke machines!

During the day, walking around Palermo gave us this strange feeling that we have not experience before. We have traveled to major cities Europe, such as Berlin, Paris and Brussels, and in all those cities, English helped us survive and order the right food just fine. In Palermo, however, Jack and I were total strangers to the locals. Too bad we didn’t know ANY Italian, whatsoever!

Even when we visited a gorgeous coastal town called Cefalu – about an hour away on the train from Palermo, sandy beaches served as a relaxing home to the locals, not tourists.

Clearly tourism hasn’t invaded Sicily too terribly. Subsequently, we did receive some elongated, yet curious, gaze from dark-haired Sicilians, but nevertheless, being complete foreigners taught us Sicily’s culture, cuisine and attitude quite effectively.

Speaking of unique Sicilian cuisine… Arancine was my personal favorite. How to describe it… A fried ball of rice with sometimes curry or sometimes cheese and prosciutto? All I can say is, DELICIOUS.

After a relaxing stay in Palermo, we took an early flight up to Rome, a bigger city, extremely different than Palermo. I still giggle when I say this, but we stayed at a hostel near Roma Termini, named FUNNY PALACE. I mean… how can you not chuckle just a little? Mabri, the owner, almost as cool as Giuseppe, told us absolutely everything about Rome, and upon learning we only had 1.5 days in that fabulous city, he mapped out a nice little tour route for us.

More importantly, he said, “Free breakfast tomorrow at a Cafe around the corner, just say you’re staying with Mabri.” Then he said, “The Pizzeria on the left, say you know me, 10% discount!” And when we looked at him in amazement, he topped it off with, “The restaurant right here, 15% discount!” Oh Mabri…

So we started our tour of Rome with a bus ride to the Vatican:

Gorgeous building. But just wait till you see the chapel… Not just a chapel, but the SISTINE CHAPEL. The ceiling boasts awesome artworks just like they say in books, articles and journals.

And I may or may not have taken a picture of this… Felt a bit rebellious since the guard there gave me such a hard time about my not-so-short shorts while letting in girls in skimpy dresses without a problem. FINE. BE THAT WAY. (Still angry? Use your own judgment).

Then we moved onto Pantheon…

Then my FAVORITE, Trevi Fountain. Probably the coolest fountain I will ever see. Kind of want it for my backyard. Is that a possibility? Rome, can we negotiate something?

Afterward, a wonderful picnic dinner at Spanish Steps! While watching the gorgeous sunset, we sat on the steps with wine, cheese, bread and prosciutto. Surely people walking by gave us funny, curious, approving looks, but we regardless loved our budget-friendly romantic dinner.

Walking around Rome for about eight hours nonstop did require quite a bit of energy because when we finally got back to our hostel at around 11 p.m., I’m pretty sure I was sound asleep at about 11:05 p.m. The next day, we woke up early to go see the Colosseum, Caesar’s gate, etc.

Ancient ruins and remnants of Roman architecture attracted so many tourist groups bright and early. We walked around, absorbed the sights, ate a gelato (obviously…) and hopped on our train to Florence.

Ahh Firenze… Much to say about that beautiful city, but for now, to be continued.

A Picture Diary? Only Because I Can't Spell ANY of the Spanish Names…

Madrid, Spain: Mid-Semester Break! What a great vacation. Jack and I left at the crack of dawn to catch a bus to Liverpool St. station, then to get on the Stansted Express, and finally to hop on a plane to Madrid, Spain. But the whole week was absolutely worth all that trouble.

I have to say, I definitely enjoyed fratting out with my favorite bro/friend, Alex, and not having to worry about waking up early. In fact, almost every day, we slept in till 2 p.m. – and no one frowned at us, enjoyed lunch till about 4 p.m., took a nap at 8 p.m., and woke up at 10 p.m. for dinner, annnnnnd the nightlife began at around midnight. FANTASTIC!!!

Despite not being able to communicate at all, thanks to Jack, we got around just fine. It did make me a bit sad to find that though I speak English & Korean fluently and can hold basic conversations in German, it was as if I was a total alien. Does that mean now I need to go learn some Spanish? Anyways…

Here is my 5 days in Madrid picture diary:

Day 1

– Here we are… Madrid!

– Velazquez @ Prado Museum

– Look what I found at Plaza de Mayor!

– Paella and Mussels at an AWESOME restaurant whose name ended in …Volcano. 6 euro Paella, can’t beat it

– Hard to explain… Went to this cave bar and they had some sort of a milk-type drink from its ceiling. Didn’t have the guts to try it though.

Day 2

– Visited the Royal Palace of Madrid and Cathedral

– Unfortunately, no photographs allowed inside the Palace. Also, the royal family does not live there anymore. Nevertheless, very pretty!

– Possibly one of the best finds in this city. The biggest pick & mix store I have ever encountered.

– A big blurry, but Plaza de Espana.

– At Kapital. A club with seven floors (with the top flooring being this wonderful lounge). You can find anything from a crazy dance to karaoke. Of course we dominated by singing Bohemian Rhapsody. Win.

– Just to give you an idea of what the dance floor was like… Yeah?

Day 3

– A GORGEOUS day out by the park by Arguelles metro stop

– Look what we found on our way to Reina Sofia! Obviously I HAD to get an iced coffee… Yum!

– One example of some interesting, rather weird, modern art at Sofia.

Day 4

– A day trip to TOLEDO! A quaint Spanish town with great food, plenty of sunshine and wonderful sangria.

– A 2-hour long lunch with sangria. Do not regret it.

– Could spend hours and hours wandering around these narrow streets.

Day 5

– Last day in Madrid… Managed to get by with 20 euro left between Jack and me, all thanks to this wonderful place with 60 cent sandwiches!

– And let’s not forget, 50 cent wine boxes. They also come in forms of small juice boxes! Great portability!

– Of course, ended the trip with a bag of Haribo candies and headed to the airport at 3 a.m.

Overall, I loved spending time in Madrid. I have to say, though, staying there for a long period of time might not be too suitable for me. It was fantastic for a week when I definitely needed some break from London and classes. Now, I am so happy to be back in London. 🙂

Next up, my stories from Notting Hill Arts Club.

-Yoojin