TravelStream™ news feed for member kscottho on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kscottho en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:35:26 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/6/1251760046/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/6/1251760046/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/6/1251760046/tpod.html Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:35:26 -0400 Kathleen's Second Try at Krakow

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Krakow, Southern Poland, Poland

I experienced one crazed 24 hours as I flew from Syracuse, Italy to Toronto back to Europe all in the span of two days. This extended absence from the ground is not a recommended experience I would recommend even to my enemies. I slept sporadically on various planes and eventually found my head resting on my very own pillow for a brief instant. I couldn't be more content to see my parents in fine health and a few friends while relaxing in the back porch of my Parents Toronto home. The weather was surprisingly cold as I just came from the desert-like temperatures of Sicily and Tunisia. I left the comforts of home yet again and ventured out without the responsibility of a group leader, to the airport and Vienna. I remember very little of the flight to Vienna as sleep hit me suddenly and fortunately as it was an older plane and not updated with video in the head sets and more leg room. The plane landed and I had 1 hour to rush through the crowds of anxious, sweaty travelers and women dressed in lederhosen peddling smoked meat, cheese and grog.

I arrived at the gate as the flight began to board and was shuffled onto a flight of 20 people on a propeller plane. I was possibly the only person who was not in business attire and sporting a laptop and phone. I felt particularly slobby as I had just come from a 9 hour flight. I had cheese sauce smeared on my shirt from an 'accident' on the previous flight and I hadn't brushed my teeth nor hair in what felt like days. Suffices to say that I was unwelcome amongst my business compatriots with my overstuffed ruck-sac and crazed looks.

At long last I arrived in Krakow. I unpacked, went to the grocery store, showered and went to bed. The next day instead of being ambitious, I stayed in my room and watched terrible comedic films like 'Tropic Thunder', 'Hot Rod' and 'Dead like me'. The latter not an actual comedy but its tragic plot rendered it comedic.

Today I ventured into the sunshine, vowing not stray from becoming a hermit and met with the professor and set up the common room. By the way.... there is a lot of stuff missing and I have presumed they were stolen by the WISCONSIN kids. Don't blame me on my prejudices against Americans. I have a lot of family reading this whom are American and are great people. Its just people from Wisconsin ;)

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/bournemouth_ma/1180447020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/bournemouth_ma/1180447020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/bournemouth_ma/1180447020/tpod.html Tue, 29 May 2007 09:59:08 -0400 The adventures of Kathleen while she is doing her Masters of Museum Studies

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Its just the begining of summer and there are hints of warmpth
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/rsgc_bermuda07/1180187040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/rsgc_bermuda07/1180187040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/rsgc_bermuda07/1180187040/tpod.html Tue, 29 May 2007 09:45:25 -0400 Royal St George's March Break Trip to Bermuda

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1132844340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1132844340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1132844340/tpod.html Mon, 09 Jan 2006 12:11:29 -0500 Polish Cheerios. Kathleen's Travels in Europe

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Warszaw, Poland

Well it has finally happened, there is less than a week of school left. I have officially finished 2 of my classes, final exams and all. I have 3 more exams and my thesis to finish off. That's enough about the scholastics.

Last Thursday I went to go turn Maia's computer on and it declared to me ..."cannot start windows, cannot find system.ini". This is obviously not good! I had a good yell at the computer. Someone had to restrain me from not throwing it out the window, (its still safe) and I got some polish guys to try to fix it for me. Unfortunately, Windows ME sucks and I am doomed till I get home to hopefully get my pictures and my work out of it. This leaves me a particular situation where I am writing my thesis on a IBM from 1994. Brett from the trip has been kind to let me use his really really old computer for my writing. Strange thing is that it can only display 4 lines of text on the screen at a time cause the screen is so small.

Life in Krakow, despite my computer is wonderful. The temperature has dropped and the snow has begun to stay on the ground. The pleasant thing is that there is now in the market square a display for Christmas. There are booths with holiday gifts and decorations for sale, as well as the Kielbasa, smoked cheese and cabbage sold on large grills throughout the stands. Posts have been set up around the square with giant wrapped presents and lights and bells which give a magical feel to the heart of heart of the heart of Europe. Residence is not as festive as I would like, but very few people in Guelph even had a Christmas tree in their house. They have been doing construction on the building for the last few weeks. Every morning we look down our ghetto hall and see cockroaches and ants dodge the falling plaster and paint. The most amazing thing is that people continue to sit and congregate in the halls despite the noise and mess. But that's living in a former communist country for you... you take what you get and cherish it.

We went to Warsaw last weekend with the class. It is the second last trip we are taking as a group. I will be sad to leave the amazing duvet covers and breakfast buffets that the hotels provide. The first night I had the most amazing time. The only event they had planned for us was to visit the Canadian Embassy. It is at this time that I would like to say, I have been inspired. Here we were a group of wide-eyed Canadians hobnobbing with diplomats and the ambassador. We first went in and they had a relatively formal explanation of how the embassy works, including the various departments, but the most significant part was when we were able to ask questions. I have to note here that most people on this semester abroad are either History, Politics, or International Development student and so have a HUGE interest in international affairs. I think that night they inspired 22 people to join the foreign service. I have been thinking for a while now about applying for the foreign service, but I now know that this is what I would really like to do. When i get a steady Internet connection I am going to apply and then when I get home I'll write the exams. After the conference, they invited us down to the 'Beaver Bar' in the basement of the embassy to where we were able to talk one-on-one with the ambassador, diplomats and other staff. They gave me amazing advice for the interviews and exams, but it was really interesting to hear their stories about living in other countries. I could talk about this forever... so if you will wait till I get home I will... By the end of the evening most people were pretty drunk cause they had Canadian Beer and they diplomat serving drinks filled the glasses 3/4 full with alcohol. They were highly impressed with the group in general and we have been invited back, whenever we are in town...hee hee.
The next day we did a bus/walking tour of Warsaw and saw the 'washroom' park and the royal places. We then came home and I did a lot of work on my essays.
Sunday, Dorota, who is from Krakow invited her grandmother to talk to us about being one of the insurgents in the Warsaw Uprising. It was amazing what she had to go through.
We came home Sunday afternoon by train and ever since I have been packing up my room to move stuff to Wellingborough and home with Liz Philp.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1129922220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1129922220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1129922220/tpod.html Mon, 09 Jan 2006 12:04:30 -0500 Polish Cheerios. Kathleen's Travels in Europe

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Berlin, Germany

Well I am terribly sorry, but I haven't been able to post my last two posts. I am here in Berlin with my parents attempting to use a German keyboard. I guess I have been lucky so far using Maia's computer (thanks by the way). So what I am trying to say is that I will post them some time next week.

My parents have been visiting me in Krakow since sundaz night and I have been giving them the grand tour. They are on their 2nd week of traveling throughout Europe and are tired but having a great time. Taking them around Krakow I am realizing how much this citz has become my new home. I know all the cheap (and I mean cheap... 50 Cents for a big bowl of soup!) Anyways. Since its my birthday this weekend (sunday...sunday.. sunday...) I decided that I would like to see Berlin. Strange choice but now that I am here I am realizing how intelligent a decision it is.


Berlin is the best stepping stone to the West, being that the wall was here that divided the two. Its really interesting cause they have all the wealth and amenities of the west but the architecture and influences of Russia.

We took a night train from Poland to Berlin on Thursday night. We arrived early and I set to work with my usual routine of orienting myself and taking charge. Somehow (I know some of you are smirking about my supposed "bossiness") I have earned the reputation to be person who knows how to see everything in the city without getting lost, basically I have awesome orientation skills. I took my parents to see east Berlin. We walked for over 5 hours and it was awesome. We saw the Reighstag, which is the house of parliament, the Brandenburg Gate where the wall was situated in front of, The Berlin Cathedral an amazing Protestant Church with a huge dome (This is the first protestant Church I have seen in 2 months of visiting Catholic churches), The TV tower, Old medieval town, Nicholas Church, and of course Check Point Charlie and the last remain part of the BERLIN WALL. Stange fact:The largest fragment of wall is in Las Vegas.

We came back to the hotel (yeah nice hotel with free Internet) and we met with my brothers Aunt and Uncle for dinner (Note: Hauke, Dad is scheming that you can now come over here soon, especially since you wont get drafted to the German army). We went to a local restaurant for the first of my birthday dinners where they gave me free strudel with a giant sparkler and champagne.

Tomorrow we are doing a boat tour on the Spree river as well as I am doing (without mom and dad cause it would be too much walking) a tour that a friend (Melissa thanks) has recommended to me. I am psyched.

Remember I will write about the last two weekends next week, so don't worry. I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

Later
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1129405440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1129405440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1129405440/tpod.html Mon, 09 Jan 2006 11:09:14 -0500 Polish Cheerios. Kathleen's Travels in Europe

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Chestohowa, Poland

What or who is Chestohowa you ask... well this weekend me Megan and Derek decided to stay within the boundaries of Poland and explore what it has to offer.

Apparently I forgot to write this blog so here goes...

At Chestohowa is house the black Madonna. A painting of pagan origins which has been adopted to become a symbol of Poland. The painting was crowned Queen of Poland. How you may ask does a painting become queen. Well.. it has the same pomp and circumstance as any royalty is bestowed. Though it was painted on wood, the picture is adorned with one of two gowns. The picture is self is very reminiscent of any middle age picture of the Madoona and child but is fabulously executed. The dress is adorned with jewels and diamonds and gold. It took me a moment to figure out how to categorize this sight. Every year hundred of poles make the pilgrimage to the painting.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1135726020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1135726020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1135726020/tpod.html Mon, 02 Jan 2006 18:40:02 -0500 Polish Cheerios. Kathleen's Travels in Europe

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Oxford, United Kingdom

I was very fortunate that Michael and a friend of the family took me too Oxford for the day. I was thoroughly impressed by this city. This is how I imagined a University town, with its ivy-covered buildings, the quadrangles and courtyards, the enormous great hall made famous by Harry Potter (much smaller in person, there is only room for 3 rows of tables not 4....). The large towers of church steeples, and hall towers commanded the city itself. My favourite was looking not far beyond the city and seeing the English countryside, with its green grass and frolicking sheep (Though I am not sure what a real sheep would look like if it really did frolic, but lets assume that this was exactly what they were enjoying their day doing).

I wanted to say one more thing. I won't be able to put up the new years posting until I get back to Canada. This entry is going to be brief. For all who want to know... I am arriving in Toronto at terminal 3 on BA flight 99V from Heathrow, Departing 15:40, Arriving 18:40, that's for anyone who is ambitious to meet me at the arrivals gate. I will see many of you soon and I will miss those that I have just seen. I am off to Manchester tomorow morning and I am staying in a Hotel for my last night. From there I fly home wednesday morning... So long, jolly Old England.

Kath
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1135028700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1135028700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1135028700/tpod.html Mon, 02 Jan 2006 18:26:53 -0500 Polish Cheerios. Kathleen's Travels in Europe

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Wellingborough, United Kingdom

Its Christmas Eve and I am heading out to my cousins friends party. My hair is going wild (never experiment with new mouse when you have to meet new people), and it's pleasantly warm (7 degrees at night). I have been catching up on some well-deserved television watching with a few splatterings of wandering around Wellingborough. Wellingborough is a town located 45 minutes train ride north of London, right smack dab in the middle of the Midlands. It has all the charms of an English town with its old medieval churches and red-bricked houses and of course a Tesco, Sainsbury's, M&S, and Boots. I have been sleeping at my Aunty Betty's and spending most of my time with my cousin Helen, her husband Michael, and their wonderful children, Kirstie, Tom and Fiona who are all close to my age (Kirstie is sitting behind me so I write that to appease her). I have been enjoying each day getting to know my cousins and having my lifetime's worth of tea. I still haven't quite grasped the concept of drinking milky tea 4-5 times a day. I would be in the loo for hours if I continued to drink this amount of liquid.

Helen, has taken me to Milton Keynes a few times to go shopping. This mall is huge, with a Christmas market and skating rink in the center, and an outdoor section. Its a tiring experience to walk around the whole thing is one try.

I have been catching up on my British television watching and am now hooked on Dr. Who... There is a new doctor and I think it's fabulous. Also the quiz shows, which I am getting surprisingly, better at answering (especially when one of the questions was "On what lake is Toronto situated on?" I would like to note that the person answered Erie.. So ba ha..) I think even as I write this Wallace and Gromit is on the tele.

I am sorry to say that my computer is broken and consequently in Canada (care of Liz Philp) and I cannot connect my ipod to the computer so there will be no more pictures to be uploaded. I am sorry. So weirdly enough you are all going to have to wait till I get home (Guelph) to see any sort of adventures abroad. I am not looking forward to the amount of things I have to do when I get home to get ready for the first week of School.

I know I have been kinda lax with my updates these last few weeks. I have spent many a day sitting around and for some reason the couch appears to be much more comfortable than the office chair. I would also like to note that I have written this in two parts and this is the second part.

Christmas was wonderful. We woke up and went to Church where the service was a little different then I was used too. The minister got every child to stand up at the front (I have rarely seen a congregation with so many children so imagine that this took about an hour to go through) and they had to describe their favourite toy that they got from Santa. After the morning service we went home and opened presents and then had a huge tea with turkey, stuffings, veggies, cakes ... well you get the idea. Then the Queen addressed everyone at 3pm and the whole family sat around pleasantly full from Helen's wonderful cooking. I would like to note that whilst everyone was unwrapping the presents, an ever increasing pile of chocolate began to amass. It was from these that for the rest of my time in England I have been filling myself with a daily 'requirement' full. The Toffee Dollars are my favourite. During the next week a cold began passing through the Wright family house. Everyone is almost funny recovered now by the New Year.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1134580020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1134580020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1134580020/tpod.html Tue, 27 Dec 2005 12:29:01 -0500 Polish Cheerios. Kathleen's Travels in Europe

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Paris, France

Bonjour de Paris. Pour les autres come moi qui etaient dans immersion, et qui avaient oubilier comment parler Francais, je peu vous dire que ca prend 4 jour pour etre coupable de parler Francais sans penser en Anglais. For everyone else... It took me 4 days to master the language again. I wasn't aware how much I had lost in the last 5 years of not using it. I could understand everyone but, I couldn't form any coherent scentances without translating in my head. What really freaked me out was that monday night it happened again, I had a dream in french. This dream might have been the weirdest I have ever had... do you remember the Simpson's episode where Homer gets attacked by that crazy badger... well for some reason I was being chased through a forest by this badger... This has no real relevance so,

Anyways... Paris. I had been forewarned that many people don't like Paris on their first impression, but I have also heard otherwise. It is quite lovely actually, once the sun comes out. I had 3 days of mist and grey and then on my last day I was fortunate to have sun and clear skies, but this also meant that I had to deal with colder weather, but from what I hear about Toronto its squalls and 20 cm of snow, so I would rather deal with rain/mist.

The hostel I stayed at was clean but it had this ridiculous lock-out policy where you couldn't be in the building from 11-4. Who knows why, but it sucks when you have shopping bags (groceries for later) and its raining. But whatever.

I have realized that the last time I was here with Aunt Claudja (in grade 9)I had seen everything there was to see in Paris, even Versailles but m memory has added since then. went and re-saw all the sights, Tour Effiel, Champs Elisee, Nortre Dame on my first day. I spent two mornings basking in the warmth and space of art galleries. Melissa, whom had spent last semester in Paris with the University of Guelph, and was also my inspiration for applying to the Krakow semester abroad, had graciously given me a list of things to see in her Paris. And I will agree with her, The Musee D'Orsay was wonderful. I spent something like 4 hours in there and I was surprised by how busy it was...

The Louvre was a phenomenal as its reputation leads it to be. For all of you who do not know, The Monda Lisa is much smaller then reputed. I have seen so far 3 of DiVinci's famous paintings of Women, two of which are housed at the Lourvre and the Other in Krakow at the Czartoryski museum.

My 4 days's in Paris were quite nice and I shall return once again.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1134493500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1134493500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kscottho/poland-2005/1134493500/tpod.html Wed, 14 Dec 2005 12:30:30 -0500 Polish Cheerios. Kathleen's Travels in Europe

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Barcelona, Spain

This is my first day alone and its not so bad... I am not saying that I wouldn't mind some company, especially at night, but Barcelona is wonderful on its own. I just thought about this. I describe every place that I have been as wonderful but I suppose that isn't true. There has to be bad spots but there haven't, as of yet. Barcelona's Las Rambalas is gorgeous. It may have been dark but the streets are lit up with stands of Christmas decorations. I was following the crowd when I stumbled on the Cathedral. I bet it would be gorgeous but for some reason at night with the turrets under lit I was really freaked out by the finials. I don't know but gothic structures freak me out at night. Just as Liz, while in London we were passing Big Ben and I shuddered and had to look away. Its almost as if something is hiding between the flying buttresses. Ah well, I sound a bit absurd I suppose. Anyways...Barcelona. I went straight to my hostel from the aeropuerto, and I highly recommend Hostel Gaudi. It was amazingly central and clean. I spent the night in what was an old office building in the chairman office with fantastic wooden walls and bookcases (Makes me wonder if one day my house can have a "study" in it). At first I was cold but they turned the heater on and then everyone in the room feel asleep. We all woke up to sweating and the room being a sauna. Besides that I was a decent nights sleep.

I saw the Gaudi park and Museum before the sun set. It was really interesting. Entire structures were made from broken tile and his architecture was... well look at the pictures.. I was going to go to the Sagrad Familia Church but as the sun was fading over the city I thought it best to wander around my neighborhood. I was glad for this decision as I ended up in a cloister for a church surrounded by old women and men who were praying. I sat in on the service mainly because I didn't want to make a ruckus as I got up to leave. There was a palm tree right in the middle of the presbytery, I was quite impressed.

I left early for Paris and that is where I sit now... in some Internet cafe sipping actimel (yog) and eating a cookie...
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